Walter Smith

Walter Ferguson Smith 24 February 1948 26 October 2021 was a Scottish football player manager and director primarily associated with his two spells as manager of Glasgow club Rangers A defender Smiths playing career consisted of two spells with Dundee United split by a short time at Dumbarton A pelvic injury caused his retirement from playing and Smith moved into coaching at Dundee United working for manager Jim McLean Smith also took charge of the Scotland under18 and under21 teams and assisted Scotland manager Alex Ferguson at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico after it had been announced that he would be moving to Rangers as assistant to Graeme Souness Smith became the manager of Rangers in 1991 succeeding Souness He won thirteen major trophies in seven years including seven league titles in succession After leaving Rangers at the end of the 199798 season he was appointed manager of English Premier League club Everton He was in charge at Goodison Park for four seasons before he was sacked in 2002 After a brief stint as assistant manager to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United Smith was appointed Scotland manager in December 2004 He presided over a revival in their fortunes taking the national team seventy places up the FIFA World Rankings After a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying he resigned as Scotland manager in January 2007 to return to Rangers He won eight trophies during his second spell as Rangers manager and guided the team to the 2008 UEFA Cup final before retiring from management in 2011 Smith is the secondmostsuccessful manager in the history of Rangers behind Bill Struth