Walter Smith tribute: Motherwell manager Graham Alexander pays tribute to his "genius" ex-Scotland boss

Motherwell manager Graham Alexander has paid a moving tribute to his former Scotland boss Walter Smith, who has died at the age of 73.
Graham Alexander won 40 Scotland caps between 2002 and 2009Graham Alexander won 40 Scotland caps between 2002 and 2009
Graham Alexander won 40 Scotland caps between 2002 and 2009

Smith – who won 21 trophies in two spells as Rangers manager – was well respected across the Old Firm divide and led Scotland between 2004 and 2007, with Alexander a part of the national squad which Smith led to Kirin Cup victory in Japan in 2006 and a famous 1-0 home Euro 2008 qualifying win over France in October 2006.

Alexander said: “It’s terrible news. Everyone knew he’d been ill this year.

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"I didn’t realise to what extent. There are just fantastic memories of the man for me.

"He sent me a great message when I came to work at Motherwell. Fantastic man to think of me at that time.

"I owe the resurgence of my Scotland career to him.

"He called me up after a while out of the squad. And I had without doubt my best spell as a Scotland player playing for Walter.

"Brilliant man first and foremost from my experience of him, how he was on a human side of it, how he treated everybody.

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"To play under him was an absolute privilege. Actually being picked by Walter I thought I had won already because it was an achievement just to be picked by him.

"He was just a genius of a man.”

The sixth placed Steelmen, who have lost their last three Premiership games, face a crucial looking home clash against St Mirren tomorrow night, Wednesday, as they look to arrest the slide.

Alexander said: “For us every game’s extremely important and we’re looking forward to it. I stand by what I said at the weekend, I thought we played really well and deserved more from the game.

"We understand that the game is about scoring more than the opposition which we didn’t manage to do so we have to improve some of the details at both ends.

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"I watcched St Mirren on Sunday, they’re a good team. We played them more than any other team last season in my spell.

"I got to know their strengths and they know ours as well. It’s a good game, I think the players are in a good place and we know the challenge in front of us.

"We have evryone available that was available on Saturday and that’s great for us. We need to maintain that strength in depth.”

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