The stellar Rangers career tarnished by Craig Whyte

Gordon Smith built his Rangers legacy in three stellar years starring in the light blue jersey – yet he knows 245 days tied to the toxic reign of Craig Whyte will always tarnish it.

The fan who became the Ibrox star who fetched the club’s record fee when they sold him to Brighton and Hove Albion against his wishes in 1980 returned to his boyhood heroes as Director of Football in June 2011.

That decision haunts the former SFA Chief Executive to this day.

Smith the normally clever operator admits he didn’t do his due diligence.

He let his heart rule his head to take Whyte’s offer and ended up being part of the hierarchy that took the club into administration in February 2012.

Although Smith waled away 48 hours later he confessed: “Taking that job was a mistake and I regret it to this day.

“It came about because I met Craig Whyte through a mutual contact and he asked for advice.

“I told him that too many Scottish clubs lacked a Director of Football and Rangers needed one to be the bridge between the chairman at Ibrox and the football operation at what was then called Murray Park.

“He came back to me a little later and said he agreed with what I had said and he wanted me to be Director of Football.

“I didn’t know the guy and I had a big decision to make but I decided to do it because it was Rangers.

“I was there to improve the club, it was in a low state and Sir David Murray had sold it for a quid.

“Look I knew we were in trouble but I wanted to help, this is my club that I supported as a kid.”

Smith’s background - he has a degree in business studies allied to the knowledge he had gained at the SFA allied to his playing experience and working as a top-level agent - meant he should have been tailor-made for the Director of Football.

Yet success in these jobs is dictated by key factors, those you work for and the culture of the environment you are operating within.

Whyte was a charlatan and Rangers were a directionless, chaotic mess.

Smith sighed: “I told him that I wanted to do an analysis of the whole club and assess and improve every department.

“I gave him the remit and I looked at youth development, scouting and player recruitment and development and medical.

“I gave him detailed reports on all of this but nothing truly seemed to come of the changes I wanted to see implemented.”

Alarm bells began clanging for Smith almost immediately within the troubled marble halls of a stadium he had graced as a Treble-winning icon in 1978.

There was a brief honeymoon period as Smith settled into work alongside former Queen’s Park Rangers executive Ali Russell who Whyte had appointed as his Chief Operating Officer.

Gordon recalled: “My first trip was to Germany for a pre-season tour and it was a mother and son who ran the hotel.

“I speak German from my days playing in Austria and Switzerland and I got friendly with them.

“That was in July in pre-season and we had an excellent camp and then three months later I got an email from the son saying they had not been paid.

“I went to the financial people and they said Mr Whyte is the one who dictates who gets paid.

“They were owed around £30,000 and a few days later the bill was paid but at that point, I didn’t realise the full extent of it all.”

Within eight months of being unveiled as the new Director of Football Smith stood forlornly on deck when the burning ship went down.

READ MORE: Gordon Smith on Jock Wallace, Juventus & painful Rangers departure

He reveals now that even on that fateful day Whyte was trying to spin a different story from the horrifying financial wreckage at the club.

Smith sighs: “You know, even on the day the club went into administration he was having meetings with the players at Murray Park saying it wouldn't happen.

“We addressed the youth players first, then we were on our way to talk to the first team squad and he went on to the phone for an important call.

“I told Ali Russell that we had to get a move on and he ran off to get him.

“Ali returned shocked and said to me: ‘We’ve just gone into administration.’ He was telling people it wasn’t going to happen on the day it happened!

“I considered my position for 48 hours and I decided I didn’t need to be there anymore.

“I couldn’t do my job and I left after eight torrid months.

“It broke my heart to walk out of Rangers, I was involved when the club went into administration and it hurt me deeply.

“I was a player, a fan, I grew up dreaming of wearing that jersey. Rangers had brought so much positivity into my life and now there was so much negativity.

“Those eight months and being associated with that regime will always haunt me to be honest.”

As a journalist, my relationship with Smith has now spanned over 30 years in many different guises.

From columns in his local paper when I was Sports Editor of The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald as a rookie to navigating thorny issues when he was in charge of the SFA and I was Head of Sport at The Scottish Sun.

More than once we shared the field together as team-mates including a never to be forgotten day for me at The Show Park in my hometown East Kilbride when I could count Andy Goram, Smith and Ally McCoist amongst my team-mates in a fundraiser for my son’s football team.

And, yes, Coisty did score a hat-trick that day…doesn’t he always?

I have always felt those who denigrate Smith, fail to properly understand or know a fascinating football man who broke the mould and spent seasons in Austria and Switzerland at the end of his playing career to broaden his horizons.

He’s always marched to his own beat and led a rich life, once sharing lunch with Beatles legend Paul McCartney at his farm strumming the guitar and playing songs together!

Now 68, when we caught up for this interview Smith was as energetic and positive as ever.

He has no intention of retiring, instead, he is deeply involved in a franchise called Flow Sport which he feels can critically influence how coaches and managers interact with their players.

Before we examine this in-depth Gordon reasons: “If a young player is confident they call them big-heads, if they don’t have that level of confidence they worry about them.

“Years ago I did some training camps in Scandinavia and I saw this phenomenal talent on the field in Sweden.

“He was only 19 and I was staggered by his physique and skill and they told me his name was Ibrahimovic.

“I said he looked confident and my co-coach said: ‘If you tell him he is brilliant, Zlatan will tell you he is better than that!

“They were shaking their heads about him but I knew he was going to need that at the top level, which was where he was heading.

“I believe mentality is now massive at the sharp end of the game, it’s a crucial element.

“Fitness and ability matter, of course, they do, but so much of what matters most is in the brain.

“There are loads of players who don’t make it because they don’t have the right mental strength.

“Pressure at the highest level comes from the fans, the managers, your team-mates, your family at times. Everywhere.

“Players don’t get the help they need to cope with the challenges they face.”

Smith became fascinated with a US enterprise called Flowcess.

Originally a huge hit in businesses it is now commonly used within top American collegiate sporting environments.

He revealed: “My daughter’s husband and I were speaking about a test that can detect your personality, it’s called your Intangible Driver.

“We are all different in how we operate as people. In the States, they are already using this to help athletes and I see a fascinating avenue for it in sport.

“A team is made up of so many different personalities and this helps determine what motivates or demotivates a player.

“It can tell a manager how to deal with players and I have definitely experienced coaches treating every player in the exact same fashion.

“Take me. If you tell me to do something I’m not comfortable with, ask me to do it and I am comfortable.

“I’ve been a top-level player and I feel mentality is the main aspect of what makes the difference.

“Flowcess is used at collegiate level in the States and we are trying to find the right way into football here.

“There are obstacles with sceptical managers and sports scientists but I truly believe this could provide an edge.”

It’s an intriguing area to study. Consider the language of top coaches now.

Liverpool at their best under Jurgen Klopp were tagged "mentality monsters" by the Kop boss himself.

Faced by a daunting three games in six days schedule early in his reign the current Rangers boss Michael Beale called it his "mentality week".

Smith pointed out: “Clubs could use it in recruitment, do they have the personality to handle playing for your club?

“From the Rangers and Celtic point of view, there is no more pressure than being at a club where two defeats in a row is a crisis.

“They must win home and away. You don’t appreciate the pressure you are under until you move away.

“When I went to Brighton we won my first game against Wolves and the second match was at Ipswich Town.

“We were on the bus to Portman Road and I asked one of the players what the stadium was like.

“He turned and said to me: ‘It’s nice enough but we won’t win here, we never win here.’

“I was staggered, you don’t say things like that on a Rangers bus.

“The essence of this is communication, some players can handle the carrot and the stick.

“There are others that you will lose now by speaking like that.

“I feel psychology is major now and it is about getting the best out of players but if you understand their personality first then you have that edge.”

READ MORE: Tommy Wilson interview: Using Rangers lessons in America

Smith the football student is enjoying watching the Beale era unfold.

He flirted with coaching and management in his own career before his keen intellect led him down different sporting avenues.

The way Beale deals with his players resonates with the man who once sent Ibrox wild as his header had Juventus spinning out of the European Cup.

He reasoned: “I went into financial services when I came out of football and they asked me what the difference was between coaching and training.

“I said they were the same thing. They are not. They showed me how to coach someone on how they could react to what they did on the field and improve the next time.

“Training was me telling them what I felt they did wrong and what they should have done.

“When I went back in as a coach I was so much more effective and players improved.

“I remember Bill Shankly explained the difference between technique and skill.

“He said technique was having a great first touch, receiving the ball and then passing it to your intended target.

“Skill was doing it with Tommy Smith up yer arse!”

As a player who experienced the different management styles of Jock Wallace and John Greig in those three years at Ibrox, I have to ask.

What would big Jock have made of sports science and psychologists in his backroom staff?

Smith reflects: “Jock got the team right and his main quality was man-management, he knew how to get the best out of people.

Rangers' Gordon Smith (left), manager Jock Wallace (centre) and Derek Johnstone celebrate with the Scottish Cup in 1978. (Image: SNS)

“I remember I’d had a poor game and he once again pulled me out of my seat because I was sitting with my head down.

“He said: ‘See when you give me the effort you gave me today you will always be in this team.’

“I’d had a bad game but he lifted me when I was down.

“He was first-class at knowing people, Greigy was harder on you as a person but better tactically than Jock in my view.

“So I Iearned so much about psychology in that Treble year and the season that followed, it was an education that will live with me for the rest of my life.”