Silver Smith: The Biography of Walter Smith - Tapa dura

'Walter has football running through his veins. What he has achieved is remarkable and I have huge respect for him' -- Sir Alex Ferguson

After 250 appearances for Dundee United, Walter Smith was appointed coach of the Scotland Under 18 team in 1978, helping the team to win the European Youth Championship in 1982. This was the start to what has been a long and successful career in both coaching and management, first with the SFA where he acted as assistant manager to Alex Ferguson during the 1986 Mexico World Cup. He enjoyed an illustrious career in management at Rangers, joining the Souness revolution in 1987, winning seven successive league titles, a domestic treble in 1992/93 and winning both the Scottish Cup and the League Cup three times each. Following this stirring success in Scotland, Smith accepted a position across the border in the English Premier League with Everton in 1998, where he was manager for three years, before reuniting with Sir Alex Ferguson as an assistant manager at Manchester Untied in 2004.In December of that year, Smith was appointed manager of the Scottish national team. During his tenure at the helm, Scotland enjoyed their most successful period of international football for several years, rising almost forty places in the World Rankings and earning Smith the "Scot of the Year" award at the prestigious Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland awards in 2006. Midway through the qualifying rounds for Euro 2008, however, and with Scotland leading the group, Smith controversially accepted an offer to quit the SFA for a return to Ibrox in January 2007. Walter Smith is one of the most talked about and respected managers in British football. This insightful biography casts a reflective and analytical eye over his life and career, examining this shrewd professional through the many highs and lows that he has experienced as a player and a manager.