Walter Smith, a former Rangers coach, winner of 21 trophies with the Glasgow club and coach of Scotland from 2004 to 2007, died Tuesday at the age of 73. Tributes are rising across the channel to pay tribute to the Scottish football legend.
The Glasgow football team announced on Tuesday that former Scotland manager and legendary Rangers coach Walter Smith has died at the age of 73. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our former coach, chairman, club legend Walter Smith,” Rangers said in a statement.
In two stints on the club bench, Smith won 21 trophies, including seven Scottish league titles in eight years, during his first stint at Rangers starting in 1991. He then coached for four years at Everton in the English Premiere. The league, and was briefly an assistant to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, before becoming manager of Scotland in 2004.
In 2007, he made his return to Ibrox Park, winning three new league titles and leading Rangers to the final of the 2008 UEFA Cup (the former name of the Europa League), losing to Zenith St Petersburg (0–2). He retired as manager in 2011.
“It is almost impossible to sum up what Walter means to each of us at Rangers,” said club president Douglas Park. “To Rangers fans, he was more than a football coach. Walter was a friend to many, a leader, an ambassador and, above all, a legend.”
Many English and Scottish clubs have also paid tribute to Walter Smith, like Manchester United. Liverpool’s Scottish side Andy Robertson posted a message on his social network to congratulate “a man full of knowledge, worth, integrity and whose legacy will continue”.
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