Redundant 'undermined' Smith points finger of blame at Whyte

Chief football writer

Friday 24 February 2012

GORDON Smith accepted redundancy from Rangers yesterday and then accused shamed owner Craig Whyte of ignoring and undermining him throughout his eight months as director of football.

Craig Whyte and Gordon Smith

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Michael Grant

Smith's period covered a spate of transfer market failures, communication breakdowns and mixed messages from within Ibrox, and last night he pinned the blame for that firmly on Whyte.

The toppling of the Whyte regime began in earnest yesterday when his right-hand man, chief operating officer Ali Russell, also agreed to leave after meetings with Paul Clark and David Whitehouse from administrators Duff and Phelps.

Smith and Russell were asked to stay with the club until the end of the month and will do so. It will be next week before any decision is made on whether redundancies will be necessary among the players, coaching team or other staff.As it emerged last night that the administrators had passed information about Whyte's ownership to Strathclyde Police, who will consult the Crown Office about possible criminality, Clark made a point of praising Smith and Russell and publicly distancing them from the owner who brought them to Ibrox. "There is nothing to suggest that either of them did anything but strive to act in the best interests of Rangers during their terms of office," he said.With Whyte, Russell, Smith and Ally McCoist all involved in transfer negotiations, Rangers' moves in the summer and January windows were repeatedly confused, embarrassing, and unsuccessful. Undermining everything was the fact Whyte could not – or would not – provide the money to make realistic bids, notably when a time-wasting £1m offer was made for Grant Holt after Norwich City had already rejected a £2.1m bid from Leicester City.Smith, formerly the chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, said it was a "tremendous wrench" to leave Rangers. "I admit that under the current circumstances it has not come as a major surprise to me," he said. "I was brought in by Craig Whyte but because his control and reputation has been damaged by recent disclosures, I feel my own position has been undermined by association. "I would make the point that I was very frustrated in my job as I was unable to fulfil the job specification which was originally outlined for me. This was to control the major aspects of the football department outwith the first-team operations."These were to include recruitment, scouting, transfer negotiations and youth development. I wasn't in control of any of these activities despite constantly making it clear to Craig Whyte that this was to be my remit."I outlined my medium to long-term strategies for the club on numerous occasions to no avail. There's no point in being a director of football unless you can control these areas, so, in that respect I'm totally comfortable with being made redundant at this time. The main thing for me is that Rangers survives and continues to operate as a great football club and I offer my full support going forward to ensure this happens." The Holt farce was only one of Rangers' embarrassments when trying to recruit players under Whyte's ownership. They made a series of below-the-value bids for David Goodwillie and even submitted one while he was having a medical with Blackburn Rovers. St Johnstone called them "ridiculous" for bidding £150,000 for Murray Davidson and Honduran club Motagua said they were "absurd" for the offer made to Jorge Claros, who joined Hibernian instead. Trialist Zlatan Muslimovic left after only one training session. Rangers confirmed an interest in Pawel Brozek who joined Celtic within days. Steve Lomas, the St Johnstone manager, said Rangers were "a big club behaving like a little one" as they failed to get Francisco Sandaza on a pre-contract agreement. Craig Conway and Enar Jaager were wanted by McCoist and brought to Rangers, but never offered deals.Smith and Russell will be paid until the end of the month. Russell, a former commercial director at Hearts, was appointed on the same day as Smith last June. Russell made no criticism of Whyte as he said he hoped his own departure would help save other jobs. "It has been a great honour to have worked for Rangers FC. I only wish the circumstances could have been better. I hope my departure will help others keep their jobs."Administrator Clark said the pair had agreed to go under the cost-cutting review which began last week. "At our request, both agreed to stay on and assist the club until the end of this month and we are very grateful for their co-operation and willingness to do what they can during this period. Meetings have also been held with Ally McCoist and we had discussions regarding the potential impact of the administration process on the football department and we will continue to consult fully with him."It is understood by all that the football department costs will come under review as is the case with all departments within the business. No decisions regarding staffing have been taken at this point and will not be taken until next week."Events yesterday made it seem inevitable that Whyte will leave the club. Former director Paul Murray and current board member Dave King will hold talks with the administrators about forming a consortium with a view to a takeover bid.

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Redundant 'undermined' Smith points finger of blame at Whyte

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