Walter Smith: The boyhood Rangers fan from Carmyle who became the King of Ibrox

Yet, Smith still attained the same legendary status as the icons he worshipped during the two spells that he spent in the dugout at Ibrox; the sad news of his passing at the age of 73 today was greeted with the same mass outpouring a grief that is reserved for an all-time great player.

The heartfelt tributes have been entirely fitting. His achievements as Rangers manager are unparalleled in the modern era. He won the League Cup six times, the Scottish Cup five times and the Scottish title on no fewer than 10 occasions.

Only Bill Struth, who was in charge of the Govan giants for 34 years during an altogether more innocent age, amassed more trophies.

However, Smith surpassed many of the accomplishments of his revered predecessor. In 1997 he became the first man to lead a side to nine consecutive league triumphs since Jock Stein had done so with Celtic 23 years earlier. 

He did not, like Stein, lift silverware in Europe. But he was no stranger to success on the continent despite operating at a time when the growing financial might of the English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish leagues made it increasingly difficult for clubs from this country to compete at that level. 

Rangers went undefeated in 10 games in the inaugural Champions League in the 1992/93 season – including in home and away group matches with eventual winners Olympique Marseille – and came agonisingly close to securing a place in the final. 

He also steered the Ibrox club through to the UEFA Cup final against Zenit St Petersburg in Manchester in 2008. Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen, Sporting Lisbon and Fiorentina were all overcome during a remarkable run.

The affection and esteem that Smith was held in by players, supporters and his fellow managers, though, were not just down to the myriad wins that he oversaw at home and abroad between 1991 and 1998 and 2007 and 2011.

Football in the West of Scotland has long been blighted by sectarianism and the Old Firm rivalry can be poisonous and even violent.  

Having stood in the terraces cheering on Scot Symon’s team in derby matches against their fierce city rivals with a red, white and blue scarf wrapped around his neck as a youngster, there was never any doubt about where Smith’s allegiances lay.

But he was a decent man and who felt privileged to be in his position and appreciated the responsibility he had as a figurehead of a national institution. He always conducted himself with the utmost decorum. He earned the grudging respect of his rivals as a result.

That he transcended tribal loyalties was apparent when he helped to carry the coffin of Parkhead legend Tommy Burns, who he had appointed to his backroom team when he was made Scotland manager, in 2008.

Smith could, like his mentor Jim McLean and close friend Sir Alex Ferguson, be a fiery character at times as well as an animated presence on the touchline during the heat of the battle. He was, too, a formidable individual who you crossed at your peril.

Journalists who incurred his displeasure with their line of questioning following a bad result or during a poor spell of form still shudder at the memory of the steely glare he invariably fixed them with.  

The interview he did with BBC Scotland reporter Chick Young in 1994 – which was never, due to the expletives contained within, aired on terrestrial television – has since become a You Tube classic.

Still, he handled being in such a high-pressure and high-profile role with aplomb. He understood Rangers, knew what success meant to their hundreds of thousands of followers around the globe and was unaffected by the outcry that would follow any failure.

Managing irrepressible characters like Ian Durrant, Paul Gascoigne, Andy Goram and Ally McCoist certainly presented its challenges. But he was a football man at heart and enjoyed a laugh and a joke with his charges. Provided, that is, they were producing the goods on the park.  

Smith was, after working as a coach with Dundee United and the Scotland Under-18 and Under-21 teams and a lengthy stint as assistant to Graeme Souness, promoted to the top job at Ibrox in 1991 when Rangers were lavishing huge sums on household names in the transfer market. 

Being able to outspend Celtic put them at a distinct advantage domestically. Still, he was more, far, far more, than a cheque book manager. He was a strict disciplinarian and a shrewd tactician. His man management skills were renowned. Would anyone else have got so much out of a troubled genius like Gascoigne?

He also used the money he was given wisely. There were certainly some expensive failures. But Jorg Albertz, Carlos Cuellar, Steven Davis, Gordon Durie, Gascoigne, Andy Goram, Brian Laudrup, Stuart McCall, Steven Naismith and Dave Weir, to name just a handful, all delivered for him and then some.

When he answered an appeal from then Rangers owner Sir David Murray and returned to Ibrox in the wake of the ill-fated Paul Le Guen experiment in early 2007, Celtic had put their off-field troubles firmly in the past and were very much the dominant force in the land.

Slowly but surely, he turned around their fortunes. He won the Premier League three years straight before retiring amid emotional scenes in 2011.

Scottish football has produced many great footballers and managers over the decades. Walter Smith was never one of the former. The highlight of his unremarkable playing career was an appearance for Dundee United in the Scottish Cup final in 1974. His team lost 3-0. He set a record at Tannadice by playing 360 games for their reserve team.

But he was certainly one of the latter. His name deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Sir Matt Busby, Sir Alex Ferguson, Jim McLean, Bill Shankly and Jock Stein. It always will be by Rangers fans.