It can be mayhem but a maverick like Morelos is worth his weight in goals
IN TWO spells as Rangers manager Walter Smith resigned himself to a fact of life. When a talented, skilled player moves to Scottish football it’s an indication that he might have a thread hanging loose.
There were times when Paul Gascoigne drove the legendary manager to distraction. Ditto Andy Goram. On the other side of Glasgow the late Tommy Burns went from red to grey managing Paolo Di Canio, Jorge Cadete and Pierre van Hooijdonk. Assessing the divisive figure of Alfredo Morelos, Smith sees another one for the list. Another flawed genius just about worth the grief.
‘Listen, we have had them here,’ said the Rangers icon. ‘They don’t come in a clinical package. They don’t.
‘We have had players who have come into Scottish football in recent years like Paolo Di Canio, Paul Gascoigne, guys who are a wee bit off the wall. We have had a lot of them. You get them.
‘Do they enhance our football? Aye, they do. But everybody doesn’t come in this nice package where they come out and do all these nice things and everybody says he’s a good player and a lovely lad. It doesn’t work like that.’
In contrast with the tempestuous years of Gascoigne, the Colombian’s flaws tend to come through on the pitch.
In dealing with Gazza, Smith leaned on a pearl of invaluable advice from Celtic supporter Sir Billy Connolly.
‘Always remember this, Walter,’ said the Big Yin. ‘You will always have to live with the genius — the genius will not live with you.’
Thereafter, Smith resolved to accommodate the grief and the foibles because the contribution to the team was worth it.
‘I don’t think anybody knew what they were taking on with Morelos,’ pondered Smith. ‘Maybe later on they did. They could maybe have reacted quicker than they did do. You don’t know.
‘But what you have got to say is he can finish, he can get you goals. At the end of the day, we all want everybody to represent our club in a good manner, but it doesn’t work like that. There are things you have got to handle.’
Where people asked last season if the red cards and the suspensions were a price worth paying for Rangers, the narrative has now changed. In the last 48 hours, Rangers fans have worried that Morelos himself might decide enough is enough after Police Scotland launched an investigation into allegations of a man tampering with the striker’s car on Tuesday night.
Smith harbours no doubts that he will leave eventually. The stark financial realities of the SPFL render it inevitable.
‘Listen, Scottish football is in a certain circumstance. Celtic have been doing it for years,’ he said. ‘They bring a player in and then sell him on. Why didn’t they keep (Virgil) van Dijk?
‘If Morelos wants to go, we are in a circumstance here where the normal situation for our clubs is to bring a player in and if Premier League clubs want to come and get him it is good business for our clubs.
‘If Morelos does leave Rangers — and I hope he doesn’t in the short term — we need to go and try and get somebody else. ‘Celtic have been doing that better than probably any club over the last few years. There is nothing wrong with that aspect.’
The need for another Rangers striker before tonight’s midnight deadline is amplified by two things. An untimely injury for Jermain Defoe and the proximity of Morelos to another suspension. Genk playmaker Ianis Hagi, son of football icon Gheorghe, flew into the country yesterday.
The expectation is that a forward will follow, with the club having made an approach for Hibs striker Florian Kamberi on an initial loan deal, with an option to buy, while they are also being linked with Livingston’s Lyndon Dykes and Swansea’s Spanish striker Borja Baston.
‘I don’t know if Steven Gerrard will want a striker,’ added Smith. ‘It doesn’t matter who he wants. There are two problems. Can they afford it? And can they get who they want to come in?
‘Whether it is a striker, a midfielder or a defender, whoever they get has to improve the team. I don’t think he will bring people in if they don’t.’
All this Rangers transfer business is discussed in the unlikely setting of Celtic’s boardroom. More of which later. Turning his attention to a nip and tuck title race, the legendary Ibrox boss still thinks Celtic’s experience of winning trophies gives them the edge.
‘Steven has taken on a harder task than I took on my second time,’ he claimed. ‘Once I was there, a financial aspect came up when the bank came and the club was put up for sale.
‘But initially we were able to get in a number of players who were the foundation of my second spell there. Steven has not had that. It is very difficult to do that.
‘You have got to appreciate that for the board itself to try and get out of the trouble that they were in previously they have had to work extremely hard. They are doing so and they are getting there.
‘But, when you have gone through the spell Rangers have gone through over the last so many years, it’s not just about building up a challenge.
‘It’s getting players in your team to realise what it really takes to win a championship. Rangers are getting a bit of stability on and off the pitch.
‘But Celtic have had that for a great number of years now and that’s a benefit to them. That’s what Rangers have to overcome.
‘And the people who are there at the moment probably have as hard a job as any board or team have ever had in trying to win a league.
It’s a difficult task to come back from where they were. Especially at a club which had never been in those circumstances before. They had never had to work their way through the divisions and it’s a hard mentality for football clubs to get.’
Smith was at Celtic Park to promote a golf day and Ball in honour of Lisbon Lions captain Billy McNeill and the Battle Against Dementia campaign. The proceeds of the event on May 29 will go to help professional ex-footballers and families afflicted by the disease.
‘I was a team-mate of Frank Kopel for many years at Dundee United,’ said Smith. ‘His wife fought really hard to bring it into the public domain, the fact that footballers are maybe more likely to suffer from dementia, given they’ve been heading footballs throughout a career. So it’s a good thing people are looking into it.
‘Listen, it’s late in coming. But it takes time to look at these things. Years and years ago, people started to realise alcohol and smoking wasn’t good for you. But a lot of people still do it. We need to continue to make people aware of what’s what.’
● ‘Billy Against Dementia’ will take place along with Battle Against Dementia, The McNeill Family & Panoptic Events at Mar Hall on May 29.