When great men or women die the high esteem in which they were held by ordinary people becomes very obvious. Walter Smith has just affirmed this truth once more. Beneath a low winter sun on the south side of Glasgow yesterday, 6,000 mourners gathered outside Ibrox before Smith’s funeral to pay their respects to that giant among Rangers managers, who died last week at the age of 73.
The love and affection of the Rangers support for their departed manager, who on top of winning 21 trophies came to represent the club with class and humility, was clear. Scarves and flowers were already strewn around the stadium as, at 3.05pm, the three-car cortège bearing Smith’s coffin, his wife, children, and grandchildren, came into view and began to proceed slowly down Edmiston Drive.
The front car bearing Smith was quickly met with flowers and scarves tossed from the crowd. Fans who had been standing solemnly and patiently for up to 30 minutes broke into applause as their hero passed them for one final time. The cortege drew to a halt for three minutes outside the main entrance to Ibrox, where the applause ringing against the stadium’s famous redbrick facade was warm and moving.
Among the flowers, scarves and strips that were laid out around the stadium were some very telling tributes to Smith. One read: “Walter. Thanks for the memories. You were — and always will be — Simply The Best.” Another said: “The Boss. Forever in our hearts. RIP and thank you.” Among a number of Celtic strips laid out side by side with those of their great rivals, one Celtic fan wrote: “RIP Walter. One of the few men to unite this city.”
