Walter Smith at today’s press conference ahead of the midweek Dundee cup tie threatened to walk out after being repeatedly quizzed on his comments in his post-match interview after the SPL home tie against Hibernian at the weekend. Smith was asked about the club’s position on selling players in the January transfer window and refused blankly to discuss the matter any further.
“I said the club issued a statement last night and that’s it as far as I’m concerned, that’s it finished with.”
Rangers issued a statement on Saturday evening on the official club website which stated the club had no buyer lined up and that the bank was NOT in control at the club – adding also that the club did NOT need to sell players in the January transfer window, contrary to reports in the tabloids.
Smith then said he would walk out of the press conference if the questions were repeated continually. The media has been in uproar since his comments at the weekend stating that the club was being run by the bank – bringing a whole wave of rumours of new owners, theories of impending administration and talk of the club being on the bring of going bust. Amazing what a couple of comments can bring with the media in Scotland, who have shown in recent years that take are happy to take any opportunity to pounce on the club.
Smith said: “If there is a level of negativity around the place, it affects everyone, not just the players.
“The thing that we have to concentrate on is the results of the games.
“We had an extremely poor result in the Champions League last week and we had a decent game with Hibs, and both teams deserve a bit of credit for the way they played.
“Now we have a difficult cup tie coming up and, while there may be levels of negativity around the place, we don’t and can’t allow it to affect us.
“You’ve got to overcome that aspect of it.”
Smith looks to the midweek cup tie with a raft of players carrying knocks and injuries, and will be looking to the team to produce a win against first division side Dundee after drawing with Hibernian at the weekend.
