Early new year 75 and the young Gubster is lying on the floor watching a Scottish Cup tie with Kilmarnock and Hearts on the telly, I’m sure it went to three games, but the game I was watching ended up 3-3 at Rugby Park.
The wise old sage, or auld bassa sitting behind me, depending how you look at it, is telling me ‘We need to buy that boy Smith. He is not as good as his namesake, but the way he runs at defenders. We need to buy that boy!’
The name Gordon Smith should always be remembered. The original one was part of the Hib’s Famous Five; but he also played for THREE Scottish clubs in the European Cup. Yes, I did say THREE. Hibs, Hearts and Dundee.
My granda said that the Gordon Smith of Hibs, was Nijinsky, elegance, perfection itself. However, he’d rather have Willie Waddell playing for Scotland rather than Smith. Not that he was biased, but the auld yin, knew his stuff, apparently.
So lets fast forward back to the 70s. My old man (Him on the chair, whilst I’m on the flair) is beside himself when the Gordon Smith we watched at Kilmarnock was signed by Jock Wallace for Rangers.
That Gordon Smith now bereft of the beard, takes Rangers by storm and has a wonderful debut season at Ibrox as Jock Wallace nicks a second treble in three years.
That Gordon Smith was never to be seen again, not at Ibrox at any rate. The fact is, the elegant, classy footballer we enjoyed under Wallace in 77/78 was not to surface under the next manager, John Greig. He did get a fanzine called after him, mind you. These things happen in football.
Now we get to the meaty bits. Gordon Smith, a gentleman has decided to stand down from his position as head honcho of The SFA.
I’ve got conflicting thoughts here. In my mind, no person with Rangers leanings should get involved with anyone who is anti-Rangers. The SFA assuredly is anti-Rangers.
Gordon Smith, El Presidente o’ the SFA was always on a hiding to nothing, especially with the Scottish press and it is hard to look further than his Rangers background.
You don’t believe me? Well wrap your logic around the following, when set against the whispering campaign that was in motion as soon as Gordon Smith was appointed. In the 1990s, the President of the SFA was a man who had open business links with a convicted child molester. No one, and I mean absolutely no one in the Scottish press questioned this appointment. Where was their outrage when Scottish football needed them most?
So Gordon Smith, him with the beard, but not of the Famous Five is out of football. The question is, after his experience, could he do another job at Ibrox? I mean we’ve been missing Campbell Ogilvie since he was squeezed out. I reckon we need another Campbell Ogilvie, and Gordon Smith, might just fit the bill.