The Rangers manager has an unsettling habit of going quiet and then staring intently at his interviewer who, more often than not, find him or herself reduced to stammering, stuttering wrecks.
It is not something he does through sheer malevolence, however. The stare may be there to remind others not to follow a similar line of questioning but the silence also usually speaks volumes. It generally means that it is a subject that he won’t openly talk about but that the questioner can deduce his thoughts on the subject without the need for Smith to articulate further.
Of late, it has been a tactic used to bat away questions about whether Rangers will be signing anyone this summer or whether there will be new contracts dished out to those approaching the end of their deals.
It was the latter that got the stare and silence treatment on Saturday, the question surrounding whether Kris Boyd, who had just scored twice in the 4-1 defeat of Hamilton Academical, would soon be the recipient of an extended contract given his current one expires at the end of the season.
“I think you’ll notice that nobody’s contract has been looked at,” Smith said. “So he’ll not be different to anybody else.”
Will there be a date when that might be looked at? The stare returned followed by a terse “no”. End of story.
The player himself was not for giving much away either, presumably with the knowledge that if Rangers feel they need to sell him, either in what remains of this transfer window or in the next, then he will probably have little say in the matter.
The striker dug his heels in back in January when a move to Birmingham City looked a racing certainty but may not have that luxury this time around given the state of Rangers’ financial affairs.
Looking uncomfortable, Boyd answered questions about his future in a non-committal manner.
“The thing for me was to get myself on the park, score goals and get three points for the team,” he said, neatly side-stepping the issue. “Whatever happens, happens. I’ll just get my head down and we’ll take it from there. There’s not much else I can do from there.”
Boyd was more expansive when asked about his favourite topic: pillaging goals left, right and centre for Rangers. His double took him to joint first place in the league’s top-scorers list, alongside St Mirren’s Stephen McGinn and Danny Cadamarteri of Dundee United, and more importantly above team-mate Lee McCulloch.
“I’m happy to have shut Lee up for a wee while,” he added. “I was fed up listening to him talking about being top goalscorer.
“When you’re at club like this, with the amount of chances created for you, you can’t fail to score if you keep getting into positions in the box. If I can get anywhere near last year’s tally [31 in all competitions] I’ll be happy.”
Hamilton rarely looked like causing an upset and seemed a beaten side as soon as Steven Whittaker put Rangers in front. They have lost all three matches this season but Billy Reid, their manager, still saw signs of recovery at Ibrox.
“That wasn’t too bad,” he insisted. “It was actually an improvement although you might find that hard to believe.”
n Rangers have confirmed Aaron Niguez has left to sign for Celta Vigo.
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