It was Walter Smith’s motto. And no one heard it drummed out more often than his right-hand man, Archie Knox.
‘There’s no secret to being a successful Rangers manager – you just have to find a way to win.” The great man’s theory may sound simplistic, especially in these modern times of powerpoint presentations, defensive transitions and sports science. But even so, those very words were ringing in the ears of Smith’s old pal yesterday as the clock raced down towards a lunchtime showdown at Parkhead which is likely to determine the outcome of another league campaign.
One way or the other. And Knox believes they’ve never resonated as loudly as they do right now - at a moment in time when current boss Michael Beale’s Ibrox career may hinge upon upholding Smith’s message. Speaking exclusively to Record Sport yesterday, the man who helped Smith lead the club to nine successive top-flight titles said: “I’m sure Michael will have realised already these games are going to determine everything from this point forward. Back in our day you had Aberdeen and Dundee United for a wee while and Hearts and Hibs would be there or there abouts. But, for the foreseeable future, it’s going to be Rangers and Celtic.
“If you want to win the title in these circumstances, then these are the games you have to win, 100 per cent. If you get them in the cup then you have to beat them in that as well.
“Michael will be aware of that. But actually doing it is a different kettle of fish. First, he has to convince his players that they are good enough.”
That might take some doing, given Rangers have only won six times at the home of their city rivals since the turn of the century – with Smith responsible for three of them during his second stint at the helm. Knox finds those stats hard to swallow.
Which is a sign of the company he kept throughout a coaching career that also involved assistant managers roles under Sir Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen and Manchester United. He said: “I’ve looked it up and in the time I was with Walter we had 10 wins there, three draws and four defeats – 19 goals scored and five against.
“It was never a question of ‘can’ we win these games. It was only a matter of we ‘have’ to win them, it was as simple as that. If you went to Parkhead and you didn’t win then the whole time between then and the next Old Firm game was ruined.
"We had so many good players who wouldn’t tolerate anything less. It was the same thing under Fergie at Aberdeen and at Manchester United. If you want to win titles you have to win the big games, no matter where.
“That’s the situation Rangers are in right now as well. Michael Beale has done a very good job in a short space of time but this is when it comes to the crunch. They have to win at Parkhead and have to follow it up by beating Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final at the end of the month.
“Whenever you go to these clubs, that’s just something you have to accept. OK, when we first went to Manchester United they were in a slightly different position as there was a lot of catching up to do.
“And when Walter took over from Graeme Souness Rangers were already well on their way. They’d won three championships in succession and Walter then took it on to the nine. But he knew it was games like this which made the difference.
“He had watched the Rangers all his days – he was a Rangers supporter – so he knew what was required. If you were going to Parkhead, or playing them at Ibrox, only one thing mattered. You had to win.
“Walter found a way of doing that. I remember him going on about it and saying, ‘If we defend well we can win these games’. Because when you had people like McCoist and Hateley in your team you always knew you could score goals against anyone.
“They were regular scorers against Celtic so we always felt confident going into these games. But it didn’t make you any less nervous!
“Even with the players we had, you always felt the pressure leading up to it. You knew you were going into the most important game of the season.”
So what exactly was Smith’s magic formula? Knox smiled fondly and said: “Do you know what it was? It was just Walter being himself.
“Alright, he’d be as nervous as any of us. But he could always get his point across in terms of what we had to do – if you do this we’ll be OK.
“There was never any doubt about how the team was going to perform in Walter’s mind. The players took that on board, that made all the difference.
“But the most important thing of all was the level of players we had. It was the Laudrups, Gascoignes, Hateleys and McCoists who were going to win us the game. But at the other end of the pitch, you had to rely on guys like Stuart McCall, Richard Gough, Ian Durrant, John Brown and The Goalie for God’s sake! How many times did he bail us out in Old Firm games?
“They all knew exactly what this fixture was about. And they knew they had to win it, just before we were going out for one game at Parkhead, I said, ‘Look, I know you’re all international players, you’ve played in Europe and at World Cups. But you’ll never come across a f****** game like this! So just make sure you win it!’
“Brian Laudrup looked at me and piped up, ‘Well, no pressure there Archie eh?’. I probably shouldn’t have said it. But I wanted them to know this was the biggest game they’d ever play in, forget the World Cup Final! And that was Laudrup’s response.
“But I tell you one thing, they went out there and won it. Of course they did.”
And Knox believes the implementation of a similar mindset could be the making of Beale’s own Rangers tenure.
He said: “It would give his career one helluva boost because people will start to have a real belief. Fair dos to the guy, he’s made a great start. But this is when it matters most of all, this is when finding a way to win is really all that matters.”
