Alex Smith has learned one painful truth in more than 50 years of coaching. Loyalty is blind.
The former Aberdeen manager worked at the coalface of Scottish football for so long that nothing surprises him anymore.
Since retiring and moving to Australia in 2018, the 81 year-old has had time to reflect on his vast experience in the game and he remains convinced past achievements count for nothing.
No matter what you achieve, whether it is winning a trophy or surviving a relegation dogfight, the day where your jacket is on a shoogly peg, to use a well-known idiom, is inescapable.
Smith said: “Loyalty is blind in football. I remember Jack Charlton taking time out from a visit to Aberdeen where he was due to speak at a function to come and watch us train. It was been just before Christmas in 1991.
“He stood and watched the whole session then came over for a chat and he said how much he had enjoyed it. He asked me how long I had been at the club and I told him this was my fourth season and he said I should pack my case, get out and go to England to manage another club.
“He was adamant after four or five years the murmurs start and then a manager has to override a crisis of some sort.
“Fans become restless and the media pick up on it. Before you know it the narrative becomes about a manager being under pressure and then a change is made. Once that happens there is the excitement of who the replacement will be and then the honeymoon period the successor enjoys.
“I said to him ‘Jack, I love it here. I love the fans, the club and all the people I work with. I don’t want to go anywhere else.’ Six weeks later I was on my way after being told my services were no longer required.
“We had gone through a tough spell with three or four experienced players out but despite that we had managed to bring through the talented Scottish under-21 lads led be Eoin Jess and Scott Booth. They had all played near 40 games.
“But less than a year after taking the league title race to the last day of the season it was all over.”
Smith operated in a different era at Pittodrie than the current incumbent Derek McInnes does but the pressure remains the same.
Their years of service are separated by more than two decades but they share one common trait from their respective tenures, as ever manager does, namely an ongoing battle to keep fans on side.
A public display of placards aimed at then chairman Ian Donald read ‘Eh….Smith must go!’ during the club’s struggling campaign of 1991-92.
Coming a season after taking the title race to a winner-takes-all final day game against Rangers at Ibrox, it showed the work done by Smith, who had won the cup double in 1989-90 with Jocky Scott, counted for little.
Ian Donald, who had succeeded his father Richard, made the change and Smith departed with the distinction of being the first manager to be sacked in the club’s history.
The environment may have changed but for Smith, a distinct lack of patience among too many people in the game remains. He hopes McInnes is shown some.
He said: “Changing a manager is always a risk. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But what always happens is a new manager comes in and some players see it a fresh start while others, who have been playing regularly, find themselves bombed out and heading out the door.
“The other issue is a lack of patience. You just need to look at England to see that where a world class player and promising young manager in Frank Lampard has been ushered out the door at Chelsea at the first sign of trouble.
“The fans will not appreciate me saying this and I’ve heard the same answer every year to this question but I would ask who is out there who can do a better job than Derek has?
“Supporters of most clubs are not interested in answering that one and the reply I always get is that’s the board’s job.
“It is as if the previous years don’t matter. It’s gone stale, the football is not the same, we’re not progressing, we need to freshen it up. It’s a vicious circle.
“Look at the Scottish Premiership this season. How many managers have lost their jobs? Stephen Robinson, Alex Dyer, Gary Holt and Stuart Kettlewell have all gone. That’s a third of the league.
“Scotland’s top league has one club more than 20 points clear of their nearest challengers and almost 30 clear of the third placed team. I believe continuity, a vision and developing players is the only way you can close that gap.”
Smith was fortunate to have the embers of Sir Alex Ferguson’s era to work with as a base but he was also able to attract players of a significant calibre to Pittodrie.
McInnes, and many who have come before him, have not has the same luxury, but the former Dons boss believes the current incumbent’s achievements should not be underestimated or ignored.
He said: “It was tough when I managed there with Jocky Scott but we were able to build a network which led to us signing top class Dutch players. We paid £550,000 for a European Cup winner and a Dutch international in Hans Gillhaus.
“We had Scottish internationals throughout the team in guys like Stewart McKimmie, Willie Miller, Alex McLeish, Bobby Connor and Charlie Nicholas and Jim Bett. That is why we were successful.
“When I look at Scottish football now I see a manager in Derek McInnes who has brought in players and sold them on for profit and he has kept the club in the top four for seven years running. I did it for three.
“Derek has sold players for profit and that, along with his consistency, has helped increase the level the club now operates at. They have been in Europe every season despite constant rebuilds.”
