Among the countless qualities which made him such a giant of a human being, Walter Smith had a wonderful way with words.
He’d never use five of them when just one or two would do. And he’d almost always cut straight to the heart of the point, regardless of how layered or nuanced it might have seemed at the time. Smith had a knack for simplifying the kind of complexities which would tie most others up in verbal knots.
“There is no secret to managing Rangers,” was one of his favourites, even though so many before and after have been evidently stumped by this very conundrum.
“It’s actually very simple,” Smith used to mull out loud over a morning latte, “You just have to find a way to win.”
Not only that. It would be accompanied by a mystified shrug of the shoulders as if he could never quite understand why everyone else hadn’t cracked this code for themselves already.
It was Smith at his self-deferential, problem-solving best.
The most simple of theories, applied to the most troublesome of realities.
And, this evening, it is up to Giovanni van Bronckhorst to put it into practice, now the Dutchman stands on the brink of following in Smith’s footsteps and leading the Ibrox club all the way to the holy grail of European final.
All that stands between van Bronckhorst and a place in history is two legs of football against the best side in the Bundesliga. Be in no doubt, the statistics show that’s exactly what RB Leipzig have become over the last half of the German domestic season, since former boss Jesse Marsch moved on at the start of December, replaced by Domenico Tedesco.
Over the last 10 league games Lepizig have performed better than Champions Bayern Munich – pipping them to first position on goal difference – all of which means van Bronckhorst could hardly have picked a more powerful opponent at a more perilous point in his own first season at the helm.
So perhaps there is one question he ought to be asking himself as he frets over a severely depleted first team squad which has had its most prolific attacking options obliterated by injury and wretched misfortune at such a critical moment: What would Walter do?
If ever there was a pragmatist capable of coming up with a strategy, purpose built for such a challenge it was this colossus of a man who passed away in October last year, just a couple of weeks before van Bronckhorst was appointed to his favourite dugout.
Smith kept a low public profile throughout the last few years of his life as he battled stoically against ill health. But, in private, he was gushing in his praise for the recent reinvention of his old team under previous boss Steven Gerrard.
“I had players like Gascoigne, Laudrup, Hateley and McCoist,” he would say by way of offering a comparison, “And any one of them could win a match on their own. With the best will in the world, Steven doesn’t have that kind of individual quality.”
Smith found it incredible Gerrard’s players were so consistently capable of hitting high levels of performance throughout their title winning season.
He went on: “My teams could get by on 60 per cent and still win games because one of these guys would come up with a crucial goal. But, to win the number of games that Rangers have won under Steven, this team has to be playing at almost 100 per cent week in week out. It’s been a magnificent coaching achievement.”
Of course – and perfectly in keeping with his unwavering sense of humility – Smith always avoided dwelling on those times when finding a way to win was not just as simple as he himself liked to make out.
The run he masterminded to the UEFA Cup Final in Manchester in 2008 was the perfect case in point. In truth, it was a triumph over adversity and a brush with history which ought to have been way beyond the sum of the players he had at his disposal during that second stint in charge.
What Smith squeezed out of that group should be revered for the rest of time and held up as a case study of the special kind of alchemy that only the true managerial greats can create when the odds are stacking up against them.
Yes, Smith had the likes of Barry Ferguson, Steven Davis and Kevin Thomson running his midfield with David Weir and Carlos Cuellar commanding his defence. All of which gave him half a chance.
And yet, for every one of them there was a Christian Dailly, Kirk Broadfoot or a Jean-Claude Darcheville making up the numbers.
But Smith found a way to keep on winning regardless of the shortcomings in his squad – even if it meant boring the opposition into submission.
After Rangers ground out a 0-0 draw at home to the magicians of Barcelona earlier in that same season, Lionel Messi famously complained that Smith’s side was guilty of playing ‘anti-football’. The man himself was pleased with that one.
“Messi was right,” Smith used to smile with considerable pride, “It was anti-football. What was he expecting? Did he honestly think we were going to take him on at his own game?”
That’s not to say van Bronckhorst should adopt those dark arts in two legs against Leipzig. Even if he wanted to, his squad is simply not built for it.
As Smith himself would concede, the players Gerrard left behind are cut from a different cloth.
But, even so, the great man would most probably look upon this opportunity as Rangers being just three draws and two penalty shoot outs away from lifting a first European trophy since 1972. And it would seem foolish to argue with that kind of logic.
