ASKED about reaching the ripe age of 60 today, Walter Smith reprised a choice comment by the American writer Norman Mailer. "One of the advantages of getting old," said Mailer, "is you really don't give a f*** any more."
Smith's employment of Mai
ler's Anglo Saxon expletive serves as a reminder of the earthy passions that continue to drive him. They just don't drive him demented as they once did.
"I think what Mailer said is true and that relieves tension," said Smith. "When you are younger and striving to get there, you have more of that tension. The job may be hectic now but personally I don't find it as tense as previously. I don't get angry as quickly. Everything slows down. You don't get as excited and I suppose that comes with experience. When you are involved in the game for a long time, that is bound to happen."
When managing Rangers in the early 1990s, Smith, then in his 40s, could fix media interrogators with steely, scary stares that almost caused him to appear borderline psychotic. Since his return to Ibrox 14 months ago, he has rarely strayed into such territory, proving an avuncular, garrulous figure in press gatherings away from match days. It has helped that his touch in team building and the transfer market have proved so sure Rangers are in pole position in the Scottish Premier League, the final of the CIS Cup and still in contention for the UEFA Cup and Scottish Cup.
Smith may now deliberately present himself as less old school because to follow his natural instincts would draw attention to the generations, plural, between him and his players; some of whom are now younger than his own children. He admits the age gap nagged at him when he was approached to jettison the Scotland job and sort out the mess left by Paul le Guen. His concerns were allayed by a man who represents the ultimate example of a coach able to move with the times without leaving his hunger behind.
"At international level you only have to relate to players for a number of days, but coming back to a club I did worry about the fact you are directly involved with your workforce all the time. It is not like other types of management when you can be away from them," Smith said.
"I asked Sir Alex (Ferguson] how he saw it and he just said it was a matter of how young I felt. He said I could handle it if I could communicate, because if you can do that then ages don't matter. In the end he is probably right but it was one of the things I had to think over before coming back. I haven't found my age to be that much of a drawback. The only problem is their music in the dressing room...which is just garbage."
Smith is a lover of what might be termed rock's dinosaurs. Artists such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, the Rolling Stones and the Eagles are prized in his collection. All in their 60s, their advancing years have not prevented them being given grand platforms to display their talents. They do not encounter ageism. Certainly not as it is exists in Scottish football, and the British game in general, where senior coaching posts are concerned.
The Rangers manager is a rarity across these isles in operating at the top of his profession despite having waved goodbye to his 50s. Indeed, if the Ibrox men can hold off Celtic in the title race, the ensuing championship success would eclipse any previous honour Smith has earned with the club. He hasn't then merely limped along to achieve his longevity.
"There are not an awful lot of coaches still working at my age in this country," he said. "I was 28 when wee Jim (McLean] asked me to go to Dundee United. That's 32 years I have been doing it. You are lucky – if lucky is the word – to stay in employment for the vast majority of that time and still be involved."
When it comes to this potentially memorable campaign, the problem for Smith, and his squad, might be that they are too involved. The late goal against Panathiniakos in Athens on Thursday night that booked Rangers a UEFA Cup last-16 tie with Werder Bremen nudges the club closer to one 60 that is sure to leave Smith feeling a little uneasy.
The Ibrox club's hosting of Gretna this afternoon will mark their 42nd match of the season. A further 17 games are guaranteed. That number will climb if Hibernian are overcome in the fifth round Scottish Cup replay in a fortnight – one of ten encounters Smith's side will play between now and the end of March.
In addition, Rangers have three outstanding SPL fixtures to fit in, by necessity post-split. The logjam practically ensures they will be playing every three to four days between now and the end of the season. Should they progress to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, finding dates for their postponed league fixtures could become hugely problematic. To say nothing of the strain it would place on the Ibrox club's playing resources.
Smith did his best to remain sanguine in the face of enquiries over whether the season might need to be extended, the complication of his Scottish internationalists being asked to play a friendly against Croatia on March 26 and the need to consider rotating personnel. Centre back pairing David Weir and Carlos Cuellar, goalkeeper Allan McGregor and captain Barry Ferguson have been the constants around which all others have revolved. They will remain so for as long as their limbs allow.
"I can only hope they continue to stay injury-free, but the amount of games we have is a lot to ask of anybody, we will just have to see how we go," the Rangers manager said. "We have injury doubts over Brahim Hemdani, Sasa Papac and Lee McCulloch for Gretna, so changes in the team selection will happen naturally. We had eight players unavailable to us in Athens, counting the suspended Jean Claude Darcheville and Andy Webster and Steven Smith, who are coming back after long periods out. It will probably take injuries for players to get a break."
It is some sort of achievement that UEFA Cup commitments will deny Rangers free midweeks at so advanced a stage in the season. The pair-ups with Bremen mean the club will have played more ties in continental competition across this campaign – a total of 14 games – than in any previous season in their history. Never mind that they haven't won any of their past six such outings. The Ibrox men's continued interest in the UEFA Cup doesn't exactly sit snuggly with their hopes of lifting a first trophy in three seasons when facing Dundee United in the CIS Cup final on March 16.
"I'm a wee bit surprised they scheduled it after a European midweek," Smith said. "They obviously thought we wouldn't be there. There is the possibility of having to play the Thursday night then the Sunday final because it is the German leg of our UEFA tie before the final. We can't demand it is played on the Wednesday."
Even without winning anything – "the big challenge" in the next few months – Smith believes his team have "over-achieved" and shown "really good resilience and lots of determination". Qualities of the man himself. These will burn brightly long after the candles on his 60th birthday cake have been extinguished.
