"IN THE end, it's the winning that matters more than anything else," said Walter Smith this week. Come around 2:45pm this afternoon, it will be a case of taking your pick as to whether that is an expression of the Rangers manager's impressive mindset or a possible epitaph for his Ibrox career.
Rangers' debts, coupled with the deep-rooted deficiencies of both Old Firm title challengers, means, more than ever, there is an all-in aspect of today's dramatic denouement for Smith. Should his team register the victory at Tannadice that will end t
he club's longest separation from the league championship in almost quarter of a century, it will represent his greatest achievement across two silverware-laden spells at Ibrox. Should the three points prove elusive against Dundee United and Celtic defeat Hearts, it will mark the lowest ebb of 14-and-a-half years in management service to his beloved Rangers.
Several times this week Smith was asked if lifting the championship might offer a natural juncture for him to step aside. That would allow him to do so on the ultimate high, fortified by thev knowledge he had come good on the ultimate – and what seemed faintly impossible – objective after returning for a second stint in January 2007 with the team an utter shambles. Each time he gave the answer that the winning or the losing of the title today would have "no bearing" on what he would do, but "might have a bearing on what the chairman does". And if that was the case, he added, then "that's football".
Smith's seven previous championships were achieved when his team were the financial big hitters and Celtic's were near bankrupt. Now, while the gap is not as pronounced, effectively the two clubs have swapped places.
Yet, Smith maintains he would not derive extra satisfaction should his team come out on top today from a position of relative weakness. Maybe, the fact he can also count the championship earned as assistant to Jim McLean at the corner shop of Dundee United among his league successes explains his even-handed thinking.
"I don't think you can separate them and just feel lucky that I've managed to win a few," Smith said. "Every time I have won one, the competitive element of my own nature brings out the pleasure. I don't think you can separate them. I was delighted the first time at United and then when I went to Rangers as assistant and manager.
"It is hard to compare the championships I've won because there are always different circumstances. It can be trying, but I missed it (when he was Scotland manager] and its great to be involved handling these game and this pressure. However much experience of it, you never do it any better."
Smith accepts there are no excuses for not seeing the job through this times around, unlike 12 months ago when he says the glut of games was "a reason not an excuse" for their last-day defeat at Aberdeen. "The circumstances this time are different," he said. "We have had a clear run and come all this way and now we are just talking about one match."
