THE most important person at any football club, and this also goes for international football, is the manager.

Next it’s the players and everyone else – directors, backroom people and, yes, the supporters – are a distant third; certainly when it comes to the business of winning matches.

When the manager is respected, admired and even feared – see Brendan Rodgers, Steve Clarke and Neil Lennon – there tends to be more wins than losses.

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If the players don’t think the boss is worth listening to and view him as weak – see Pedro Caixinha and Ian Cathro – then things never go well. It’s not rocket science.

When news broke that Walter Smith was the Scottish Football Association’s preferred choice for the national team manager’s job, a quick call round of Scotland players – past and present – found a universally positive reaction.

Indeed, two current internationalists told me they were surprised the SFA didn’t go for Smith in the first place and that the squad would be delighted if next time they meet up Smith is there to greet them at the door.

Ergo, Smith is the right appointment.

If the players all want him, which does seem to be the case, then it’s a pretty obvious if unimaginative choice, although isn’t it funny how often the correct choice is straightforward rather than left-field?

But, and this sounds more than odd given what Smith has already achieved in the game, he is still going to have to prove himself.

It’s been seven years since he last managed or coached a football team. He turns 70 in a couple of weeks. He did walk out on his country in 2007 for Rangers, just when we were doing well.

However, I’m confident Smith still knows how to pick 11 players, give a team talk and put on a training session. His age isn’t a factor. When you meet the man, you’d swear he was 10 years younger.

As a supporter, I was disappointed when Smith quit for Rangers, but the decision was completely understandable. And, anyway, if he can get us to the European Championships then that will never be brought up again.

Personally, Smith would not have been my first choice, but in saying that I don’t get the strength of the criticism aimed towards him which tends to come from those who don’t follow Rangers.

What the SFA should have done was to cast their line and see who was out there once the decision was taken to relieve Strachan of his duties. Who knows, maybe a top European coach who ticked a lot of boxes might just have fancied the job.

If you don’t ask, you don’t get. 

Steve Clarke would be a great shout, if awfully unfair on Kilmarnock who made the best decision of this season in making him their manager.
It does look like it’s going to be Smith and while the bunting remains packed, I think this might be the road to go down.

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What did us in under Gordon Strachan, apart from that he never knew his best team, was that, defensively, too many cross balls – be it from open play or from set-pieces – were never defended properly or even at all.

Now, if there is one thing Walter Smith knows it’s how to set up a team that can clear its lines.

And it’s not as if has nothing to work with in terms of a back three, four or five. Kieran Tierney is a superstar, I would make him captain, Andy Robertson is cutting it at Liverpool, while the best defensive partnership in the country is Christophe Berra and John Souttar.

Hibs have a fine 18-year-old centre-half in Ryan Porteous, Aberdeen’s Scott McKenna has attracted interest from down south and former Partick Thistle man Liam Lindsay is doing so well at Barnsley that it seems a summer move to the Premier League is inevitable.

Scotland could have qualified for the past two tournaments. That we didn’t even make the play-off was down to the manager who couldn’t get the best from the group. This is Smith’s speciality.

It might be the easy option but something tells me the SFA might have done something right for once.

AND ANOTHER THING

ANTHONY STOKES is going to have an awful lot of regrets when he retires.

The Irishman has more talent than most and yet finds himself without a club having been let go by Hibernian.

Neil Lennon’s tolerance was broken after an incident involving Stokes during their winter training camp in Portugal.

Reportedly a fire extinguisher was used in a way it should not have been and the subsequent alarms woke everyone up.

Stokes, by the way, turns 30 this year.

He’s managed to have a good if not great career. His best days came at Celtic where he won a lot of trophies but his best day came with Hibs when he scored twice and won man of the match in their famous Scottish Cup final win over Rangers.

When Stokes could be bothered, he was some player. But he’s clearly immature and not one lesson has been learned.

What a waste.