We have indulged in a fascinating study of two Old Firm managers these past ten months – the first, said to be edgy, prickly, and often rude; the second, held up as a calm, assured, dignified man, seasoned by the wisdom of his 60 years.
In truth, neither portrait of Gordon Strachan or Walter Smith is wholly accurate – they’ve both had their moments, good and bad. And just try to imagine this: what must it be like to have your every waking step reported, analysed and commented upon?
Strachan was said to be back to his testy best at Tannadice last Thursday night. In the very moment of Celtic’s extraordinary championship success, quite a few in the media went into a huff because the Celtic manager chose to either shun them or be singularly brief in his reaction to Celtic’s triumph. It was said that Strachan even spurned the Setanta television people altogether, prompting Rob McLean, the station’s anchor, not unreasonably, to wonder aloud what had been done to cause offence.
When the newspaper boys finally met Strachan at 11pm inside Tannadice, he gave us all of 20 seconds of his time, in which he thanked his players, thanked us (pah!) and promptly left. It resulted in some dark mutterings – just who does this little so-and-so think he is, and so forth. I have to admit I always enjoy it when we in the media get into a huff. There is no finer sight than watching prickly, huffy reporters getting into a strop because of someone else’s prickliness or huffiness.
Meanwhile, over at Ibrox, there is Walter – The Man With No Surname – best defined in the media’s affection these days by the oft-cited joke, “Arise, Sir Walter...”. The Rangers manager has been held up as a sharp contrast to Strachan, with his calm, good-natured presence and easy demeanour in the public eye.
And much of it is true. Smith has been an exemplary figurehead for Rangers this season, enduring all the dips and turns of his fate with good grace and even a certain equanimity. Hampden Park on Saturday night, when Smith reflected again with us on the season just passed, was another occasion of spending pleasant moments in his company. Even when such thorny questions as the future of Kris Boyd, or Kenny Miller’s imminent signing, were posed, the Rangers manager responded with an easy humour. Smith, it is also true, can be intimidating. If you get to know him you soon learn to appreciate that withering stare – a sort of glacial look at the questioner that suggests the Ibrox manager is not best pleased with a particular line of inquiry.
It is quite a weapon to possess and, in Smith’s case, is aided and abetted by a dry, slightly pawky humour which disarms the questioner even more. If you are around Walter Smith then, as much as he is a good bloke, you need to stand your ground.
The contrast between Smith and Strachan also needs to be set in the context of age and experience. I hope it is isn’t too impertinent to report that I don’t recall Smith being quite this charming and gracious the first time around at Ibrox. In fact, my recollection is that he was positively Strachan-esque much of the time, often snapping at people who crossed his path. He could be quite a curmudgeon.
At that time there was still a sort of seasoned old guard of Scottish reporters on the scene and Smith was highly comfortable with them, because he knew that they wouldn’t really criticise him – let alone cross him – in print. In those days there was also a new, younger generation of writers coming through, upon whom Smith was less keen. I can vividly remember walking into the Ibrox press room of the 1990s and seeing the cold, intimidating Smith eyeing me warily. He is, we have discovered, an essentially warm man, but with some people that heat can take years to build up.
Perhaps Strachan today is going through what Smith went through ten or 15 years ago. If you are an Old Firm manager there is a heavy burden to be borne – the expectation of supporters, the success of the team, the scrutiny of the media, the fear of failure – and it must be draining. Smith was 43 when he became the manager of Rangers, in relative terms still quite young.
From today’s vantage point, he has been through it all before and has returned to Rangers a much more confident man, comfortable in his moorings.
Strachan, on the other hand, even after three years in Glasgow, is still exasperated by much of what goes on. Three years, you say... well how long does it take to adjust? The answer to that can be found in the other Old Firm manager’s office across Glasgow. Smith has undertaken quite a journey to reach his current state of contentment.
The aspect I enjoy most about the Rangers manager is his honesty. It is a quality that is glibly stated of many people in football, when quite often it isn’t true, but in Smith’s case it is enjoyably accurate. Throughout a successful but still quite teething season for Rangers, Smith has spared himself little in answering questions: about his team’s lack of flair, or the Kris Boyd issue, or other matters that troubled Rangers. He is as open and honest as any football manager can be these days and it is a highly admirable trait.
When Smith was sacked by Everton after various troubles in 2002, and Davie Moyes then arrived and immediately appeared to make a better fist of things at Goodison Park, it was utterly typical of the Rangers manager to say later: “I had my difficulties at Everton but I think Davie came in and probably handled them better than I did.” Such expressions, and moments like Smith’s affectionate and witty tribute to Tommy Burns last week, mark him out as a man to be respected.
People say that Strachan has some way to go to emulate this kind of demeanour, and maybe he has. But Strachan, frankly, cannot help his loathing for those parts of the media that he views as simply absurd. He doesn’t stand back, as Smith does, and view it all with a wry smile. On the contrary, the Celtic manager is offended by it. Strachan has a flashpoint that Smith used to have but has long-since cured.
Strangely, when Celtic secured their triumph at Tannadice last Thursday night, Strachan, rather than crowing about it to us, instead opted to say a few simple words and leave. Given the number of pundits whom Celtic had proved wrong, and the communal egg being wiped off various faces, the Celtic manager might have indulged in a bit of ridicule, but chose not to. In the middle of the frenzy, Strachan was actually quite calm.
Let’s see Smith next season, if or when adversity strikes. Let’s see then how he handles the sharks and choppy waters around him. That is what intrigues me most about the Rangers manager right now. In football the randomness of fate is quite amazing: one minute a man’s ticket is hot, the next they are queueing up to build a gallows for him.
Earlier this season, when I wrote that the chances are that Smith will eventually be sacked by Rangers, he hauled me up good-naturedly and said: “Here I was thinking I was bowling along not badly and you’ve got me getting the sack.” It wasn’t what I had meant – as well he knew – but the truth is that adversity will strike Smith sooner or later. In such instances Ibrox is an unforgiving arena, so let’s see how he handles it.
They are two fascinating Old Firm managers on a highly dramatic stage.
