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WHEN you deliver enough silverware over the years to fill an old Spanish galleon, your contribution to the cause becomes cast in bronze.
On the morning of the Scottish Cup final, the late Walter Smith’s impact at Rangers will be recognised with the unveiling of a statue on a corner of the stadium between Edmiston House and the Copland Road stand.
Across two spells in charge, the man from Carmyle delivered 10 league titles, five Scottish Cups and six League Cups.
The second most decorated manager in the Ibrox club’s history, an acknowledgment of his achievements, following his untimely death in 2021, is entirely fitting.
For Rangers supporters, though, Smith’s legacy will always be viewed as more than those ultimate moments of triumph. It was his ability to dig out big results, often against the odds, that made them possible.
Trips across town in the 1990s were often preceded by the Rangers manager giving an injury update that sounded more like a roll call after a military advance.
Walter Smith celebrates title success in 2011, having once again had the measure of Celtic
The Rangers manager celebrates another victory over his great Glasgow rivals
A strange paradox often played out. When Smith could call upon a full quota of players, visits to Celtic Park frequently ended in defeat. When his side was badly hampered by injuries and suspensions, an away win was invariably the outcome.
‘Put it on my tombstone — Andy Goram broke my heart,’ Tommy Burns famously said after an extraordinary rearguard action by the keeper helped Smith’s side to a crucial 0-0 draw at Celtic Park en route to the title in 1996.
This ability to avoid defeat in the toughest game on the Scottish card was a cornerstone of the success Smith (right) and his players lapped up in those times.
In the storied nine-in-a-row era between 1988/89 and 1996/97, they registered at least one away league victory in Old Firm games per season (including the 1994-95 season when Celtic played at Hampden).
While the points gained through those derbies were no more than those on offer against other top-flight rivals, Smith, who took charge towards the end of 1990-91, knew the psychological importance of winning at Parkhead — both for his side and for Celtic.
Just as Rangers’ ability to regularly record triumphs in the east end of Glasgow was intrinsically linked to that long cycle of titles, a wretched run in recent years at Celtic Park has gone hand-in-hand with a barren era.
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When Philippe Clement’s side were defeated 2-1 on December 30, they chalked up their fourth straight loss on Kerrydale Street.
Their last victory there, a 2-0 win, came in the Covid season of 2020-21 when there were no fans present.
The previous year, as Steven Gerrard and his charges celebrated a 2-1 victory at Parkhead in front of a pocket of visiting fans, the expectation was that they would go on and win the title. This was not how it played out.
Smith was actually the last Rangers manager to win at Celtic Park — under normal circumstances — and then close out a championship.
That was at the
