In Walter Smith - and Rangers - I trust!

When I watch Match of the Day, and Arsenal are at home, I’m always struck by the banner that is displayed behind one of the goals. ‘In Arsene we trust’ it says, and every time I see it I always ask myself: Do they really?

Part of football's global appeal is its simplicity. We’ve all played it so we know what it takes, and as such our opinion is as valid as the next persons. Add to that the time and money we invest in our team and this opinion isn’t just valid, it usually has a right to be aired.

And yet you only have to listen to your local radio phone-in to realise that most of us actually don’t know what we’re talking about and our opinions are ill informed, prejudiced and reactionary in the extreme. That being the case why don’t we trust our teams manager more, after all they are well informed, professional, considered and experienced, and most of them aren’t even fans of the club that employs them so they shouldn’t be prejudiced either!

Yet when we see the team line-up how many of us think why is such-and-such playing or why don’t we play him through the middle. My team manager has just turned 60, he has literally got a lifetime of experience, he’s assisted three of the most successful managers my country has ever produced, he’s respected throughout the game, has managed successfully at international level, has won our league 12 times as an assistant or as a manager in his own right and he even grew up supporting the team he now manages.

He currently has us four points clear at the top of the league. We’re in the final of the League Cup, still in the Scottish Cup and enjoying nights in Europe we could only dream of previously. So why don’t we fully trust him? What more does he have to do before we stop questioning why he’s chosen Charlie Adam again, why Daniel Cousin is on instead of Kris Boyd and why has he bought Christian Dailly?

And it’s not just us. I clearly remember a Manchester United fanzine in the late 80s demanding Ferguson be sacked and replaced with Lou Macari! What about Spurs or Newcastle or Fulham, and where would Charlton be today if they’d trusted more last season?

So I’ve decided I’m trusting our manager from now on. He knows more than me, he sees all the players every day and he has a great track record. In Walter I trust; I’m a believer; I feel good for it; it’s cathartic. My life is in the hands of another now, halleluiah! Well until the next defeat anyway.