 Welcome to Toffy TV on a sad day for Everton Football Club, former manager Walter Smith has passed away at the age of 73, joined the club in 1998 and left the club in 2002 just before David Moyes took over the club and it's a strange one isn't it with him because his years at the club were a struggle. We worked under such a really difficult situation Peter Johnson was obviously the chairman who brought him in and he was succeeded by Bill Cernright but the numbers don't really fit in with what he had to put up with as a manager at Everton was a real struggle. He came in and he was working at the club actually at the time he came in and he remember us getting him and we just had obviously, we just stayed up and Howard Kendall left the club that summer and then Walter Smith you know I think he was talking to Sheffield Wednesday as well at the time and there was rumours he was going there and Everton nipped in and got him and he was coming to Everton obviously won so many trophies in Scotland. He was hugely successful with ranges and I think rather naively at the time you think oh well this fella's going to come in and transform us he's done well up there but to be honest the first summer you know we got Olivier Decor, John Collins, Marco Materatti all coming through the door and it was exciting that first summer and Collins was at the Whale Cup in Scotland and he scored a penalty against Brazil I think in the first game and so they come in. So you're looking at it thinking well there's some good young players at the club you know Danny Kadamati broken through and Michael Ball and you know there was players like John Osterly people still had hopes for and Dunk was there and you were adding Decor and Materatti and people like that into it so there was a lot of optimism when he came in and you know a huge experience manager won trophies like you say. And it was mad because the first few games of his tenure Everton couldn't score at all. We had a penalty after about ten minutes against Villar on the opening day. I think Gareth Barry made his debut that day. We had a penalty and John Collins missed it and I kind of set the time not only I think for Collins as Everton Cree but just for the first few home games where we could score away but at home we just couldn't score a goal and I think we scored one till about November it was mad. I was really excited when we got him and hugely disciplined manager and him and Artie Knox facing the pair of them with Arthur's nails but you're absolutely right at his time as blighted by financial restrictions. Yeah because you know when he came you know the season before when Howard Kendall took over for the third spell we were promised all kinds of top names as the manager. It never happened of course that season was a real struggle and we survived on the final day with a draw against Coventry. He then brought Walter Smith in and it was you know it felt like Howard had been a placeholder for that year and that's why he didn't give him any money and then suddenly there was money available and we're bringing in Marko Mataratti really talented young centre back and we all know what he went on to do. Oliver de Coeur you know again another from you know real promising player you again had a great career. John Collins like he said there was a player who was coming back from France we'd seen him play for Celtic and looked like a real leader and kind of character that we needed. And then he went on he went on board of course David Unsworth from Villa and there was he wanted more players after it and it felt like he'd been promised more money but it was the Unsworth signing and actually sort of stopped him developing the team anymore. That was sort of like the alarm bell that actually everything wasn't going to be what he wanted you know he was almost like promised a big pot of money and that was the signing that actually now there's not going to be loads of money. You've had what you're going to get and of course at the end of that season we then start to see him start losing those players when we were when we were looking like we were going to build something. And again that's a story for so many ever managers you've got you've got a good collection of players you're trying to bring them together you're trying to pull trying to start moving from one team to another team. And again the the rug was pulled from under his feet and obviously losing Duncan Ferguson selling them to Newcastle was a huge moment because it it was almost a signal to him as like I've got to start putting my foot down yet which he did and in many ways that led to Peter Johnson selling the club to Bill Kenwright. And you know we were all hoping for happier times and he just it just felt like every time he was looking like he was going to get something going something the financial situation and haven't stopped him moving forward and that literally was you know that was literally you know. Because as I said it was just all the time and he said it was you know one step forward two steps back all the time under his regime and it was just it was just a weird weird time again it was a weird time to be never telling him but a man with such high standards I think had never quite conveyed him at the club because the club never quite had the standards to match. No it was difficult obviously we got to that end of the first season and we played some nice football but it had been it had been rocky obviously and we got you know we had obviously broke Kevin Campbell in which basically saved us you know we were struggling because Duncan had been sold from under you know behind his back we had Duncan in the studio and he was telling us. You know that he was coming down the stairs that new castle game and he said to Walter like I thought you'd have done more to keep me in Walter was like what are you on about you know he'd been sold and that he threatened to quit off the back of that Walter and you're absolutely right it was it's me or you basically defeated Johnson and I think. Johnson realised he wasn't going to eat at issues with DJ spuddles and all of the stuff at me and things like that and his money he was started to peel the money back because he worried hoped to be able to spend he was getting hit in other areas so he forced him on. He forced him on. We got to the end of that season Campbell coming we were playing some really good football you know you think of the West Ham 6-0 at home and I remember everyone there was room as the curve was going and everyone was singing his name he was out standing that day he was on the gas that day and I think he played at Southampton a week later and I think he lost it was the last game and that was really he was sold behind his back not behind his back but he was sold matter that he went back to Italy and all of a sudden these players he had gone in. We had gone out the door again and that midfield that had you know a core in a barn being collins and it was playing some lovely football at the time and ended up going for it. You know we had that Donald Tishon as well you know when we spoke to Donald Tishon about him he said he had him up against the throat one game you know and the next when he thought he was done he said I thought my time was over he dragged me up against the wall and bought me because he had to go back in him. He called him into his office and given the captaincy and said you stood up for yourself and all that and I think Hutz loved him but again finance dictated that as well so it was a man who struggled through his time at Everton because times were generally difficult and he ended up having to wake wonders and you know like I said he broke Kevin Campbell in and Kevin Campbell kept us up. It was unbelievable he kept us up because we couldn't score a goal in that season and things were just going from bats away 20 so you'd have to be grateful for that aspect as well but it was very difficult times and we did play some nice football. Donald Tishon was brilliant for him and obviously Franny Jeff has come in. He was doing well with Kevin Campbell and we got our groove on a little bit again and we looked like we might start to do things and Nick Barnby went in that summer. Summer of 2000 when we were in England and went to Liverpool and all kinds of things happened and he just really had to just keep trying to just go with what he had and sell him players and trying to wheel and deal. We brought Lee Casley to the club who David Moyes had such great turned into a really good player. Tobias Lindaroth I think was another one. You brought one of your favourites, Richard Goff. A couple of years out of him. Richard Goff was unbelievable, unbelievable. Brought him in whenever needed organising. Dave Watson was done and we'd lost Mr organiser. We had no one really at the back. Michael Ball played with Goff and the pair of them were brilliant and Ball obviously got a move off the back of playing there but Goff was incredible coming for nothing and was fantastic for the couple of years. As you say, he got all of the court in. Lee Casley brought Lee Casley in with David Ginole but Lee Casley turned out to be no one inspired signing because Moyes gave him that role. It was so key, him and obviously Cale. I think Walter brought in Steve Watson didn't he? He brought in Radzinski. Alessandro Pustoni. We had that summer didn't we? Bill Ken Knight took over and we had the thing where again sliding doors with the NTL deal and NTL were giving everything 20 million I think it was which was a huge amount of money. If other teams had added Newcastle and a couple of other teams had added television deal for anyone who doesn't know what it was it was they had their own company in it. It was like private equity wasn't it? They were going to buy shares and everyone was jumping on it. Private equity, Man United was supposed to be getting bored by Skype but that was stopped. Conflict of Interest, Liverpool got money, Villa, Newcastle. It just seemed like free money didn't it? Everyone was getting this free money because these cable companies were coming in. It turned out to almost ruined football of course because it nearly destroyed the football league but yeah. 25 minutes before we signed the deal and it was 25 minutes before they put a stop to it and then the next minute I think they went out of business or whatever. So everything on the basis of that rightly or wrongly had been spending money that summer and we had to be brought in people like you know Stephen Hughes, Mark Hughes. Gaza. Gaza coming that summer. Group of Vegas from back from Newcastle and we'd had a lot of it. It just looked like things were finally moving and he was getting plays he wanted to get. Typical event in fashion, the breaks were slammed on because the NCL thing went through the floor. It's sacrilegel that Goli was in great but no. Stevenson and Jarad. Well Jarad was Joe Royal. Oh when he was using them wasn't he? Well Steve Simmons was massively highly rated at the time here and he was hitting this because he looked good sometimes. There was that summer wasn't there? I think I went to, I think we played Preston, I think we might have beat them 5-0. 5-0 in the Archwell. It just looked amazing. Graveson? Graveson. We had Steve Watson, Pistoni, Gazelle was on the bench and you had Stephen. Did we bring Nicholas Alexander? Alexander was from Sheffield Wednesday. And you used to have all these players who? Jesper Blomkust. Jesper, give them, yeah. He'd come in from the January. He had a collection of players and it was just, I don't know, it was just, you know, we had a client and he brought him for free and played it right back. But I remember going to like Sheffield Wednesday, sorry, not Sheffield Wednesday, Villa. I think Kevin Campbell played centre midfield because we had nothing else. He brought in your favorites as well didn't he, Mark Hughes? And that's the kind of luck we had, like Kevin Campbell playing centre midfield. I think we did the game there on the end. He played Dunklef, Wenge against Ipshire Tirell. He just never had a complete collection of players. And there was always injuries and Dunklef's suffering with his back. And it was all Kevin Campbell got the knee injury, which basically, you know, Kevin Campbell was in great form. And then he got that knee injury. And everything just felt a bit. I didn't tell Gary Naismith, one of the couple that we brought in anyway. And it was just a really weird time because it was just, it was just, we were finishing 13th, 14th under him really. And he just, he couldn't get any momentum. And he couldn't get us going anyway. And as I said, it was always one step forward to his back. Very dignified. Man, I'd say it wasn't anything he was always very, I don't, whenever I think of Walter, just because that time was bad, I always think of him, very disappointed. It was that fierce face thing. But we did have some great performances under him as well we had. Middles for five, nill under him and the things like that. We had some really good, some really good stuff. We had some really good, when he could get his team that he wanted onto the pitch, it was good, but in them days, your right don't come back. I think we'd lost Sunil to Leeds on the opening day and he was subbing and he'd come on, he played against it, or he'd come on against Charlton around it. And he scored two, he won three nill. And the centre back was a reefers' brefys, was a hyn. I think Richard Reefers were the big centre. Richard Reefers was when he threw the back of him and done his cash out of the scar. Done his calf and he was out for three months. That was a terrible tackle, terrible injury. And it was little things like that which would stop Walter being able to get his bestie. I think he just lost his way in the end. He brought Alan Stubbs in the knee as well. I remember being at Stoke when we won the Omnil. It was a lot of Stoke, a baron legion his job. When we walked off, Stubbs smashed one in, the fans actually sung his name. I think it was either the next hand, Middlesbrough wasn't it? Middlesbrough was the closest. We got B3 nailing. It was just an absolute mess and obviously that was his last game. But I look at the reactions to passing away in players like Kevin Campbell, Don O'Chenton, Duncan Fakeson, who spoke to you about it. He was like a proper man. That tells you everything you need to know. Players loved him and I don't think anyone blames him for what happened at Everton. It was just the circumstances at the time. He just couldn't do more with what he had. Some of the players that come in really helped Moise move us forward. Players like Stubbs, players like Graveson, players like Carsley helped Moise take us forward. Steve Watson couldn't get you off of Moise for a few years. Walter brought Davey Ware. Davey Ware, 250g, 2000l. He was going to Liverpool and he jumped in and used his contract to get him and Ware was brilliant for us. Again he brought players in and you all loved him. I think that says more about you can look at league positions and 14, 13, 16, 16. 28.5% win-rate. You look at that and you think, oh my God, he must have been hated. But I think people understood that he was managing with his hands behind his back. Like you just said there, every time there was a situation where we had some money. The rug was pulled from under half feet, whether it be Peter Johnson or like you said, the NTL deal. The club wasn't generating any money. It couldn't generate money. The money coming in from sky, it was just before that sort of, you know, when the Premier League really exploded. Like hit America, hit the Far East, started bringing in mad over it. It was just before that sort of, you know, when the Premier League really exploded. Like hit America, hit the Far East, started bringing in mad overseas deals. Yes, it had a good deal in this country, but it didn't have that extra little bit from overseas. And it was, we were getting a lot of, we were bringing in a lot of like your gazes and your ginolas and those kind of places. I think at the end, he lost his way. He built momentum up in 3000 and he lost his way. You know, when Donaldson, who I still, I don't really, I don't blame Walter Smith daily for it. I think my, could he have done more, I don't know, I don't know the exact situation, but the football club decided against giving Donaldson what he deserved. And he was that captain and he was absolutely brilliant at that time. And it was things like that, you know, he'd got him in and he was doing brilliantly and him and Kevin Campbell were fantastic. And there was real, it looked like things were progressing. And then all of a sudden he loses his captain because the club won't give him the deal that he should do. You know, it was, it did feel like whenever he, and I think once you're a manager that is, you've come into the club. You've been very successful in your last job and you've come into the football club. And then all of a sudden you want to do your best and every time it seems like someone's putting an obstacle in your way. Very difficult and I think he just lost the energy in the end, I think. It's how many times you can go back to the well, isn't it? And I think what happened was that final season, it just for whatever reason wasn't working, things weren't working. There wasn't any money there. You know, there was, we were linked with some good players. You know, Mario Stanic, you remember him, he'd been brilliant for Croatia, he wanted him. But he was the one that got away, wasn't he? He was coming, but there was the money because it was used elsewhere. It wasn't available and to get that over the line. There'd been two of three others. Ibrahim a Bachiyoko, he brought in, Walter brought in, you know, based on football manager. Now he was brought in and people thought he might do well and he didn't do well either. And it was, there was a lot of Michael Mada come in and, you know, there's all of it. You can go right back over the, over the time and go look at him. It was a difficult period for Evan and it ended up with him. You know, Lee Carsley, I remember getting him thinking. And he was there, coventry, you know, when he'd come in. And he'd done well for us. Well, he wasn't there long enough to help Walter, but it wasn't much used. Tobias Lindarott coming in and he was highly rated, but we just seemed to spend money on him, but there was others who were better and we didn't have the money at the time. It was seemed to be whenever we could raise the money, I don't know whether it was waited the next TV deal, drops and we couldn't sell it. And it ended up like you say, we had to, you know, Lee, we tried that. He was free, he was a last road, a dice for Walter. I think we just, just wasn't ready. I think towards the end, I think we just had too many players of a certain age and there was no energy and he couldn't provide any energy. And I think it needed that freshness of something like David Moyes coming in and grabbing hold of it and bringing in a more youthful understanding of what was to come next, sports science and all the rest of it. So, old school. And, you know, after he left Heaven, he became system manager in Man United. Obviously he went back to Rangers and the national team, so... He still won a couple of later at the end. Oh, yeah, of course. And he's obviously adored by them. You know, and even when he got sacked, he said, you know, Bill Kenright's spoken today saying, you know, he said, OK Bill, who are we going to get to manage this great club of ours? And actually he spoke to David Moyes, didn't he? He spoke to David Moyes on the Wednesday night. Moyes was appointed, I think, confirmed on the Thursday. Moyes went and had dinner with him on the Wednesday night and he said, he said to me, it's an unbelievable job getting there and doing well. I think he'd actually recommended Moyes for Bill Kenright. I think he'd been nearly impressed, as I was, when Preston came to go. Passed us off to beat them. As you're at in London, it's got two pins, I think, but he was brilliant that day. And I remember, I sat right by the dugout, by the Evanton dugout and the family enclosure was breaking in. That's where he got some tickets for dinner. And I remember Moyes didn't shut up. I was thinking, he's this fella, this cap on. He stood up the whole game, didn't shut up the whole game. And I think he'd impressed Walter Smith from that time. And obviously being Scottish, he looked out for him and seeing his results. And that just shows you, I suppose, the class of the man when you've just lost your job to then go right, this fella's the one you should get. He's full of energy. Cos, let's be honest, we possibly would have got relegated had we not made change. I mean, the players had threw their hands in. The fans were looking resigned. We'd just gone off the quarter fine. The FA Cup was kind of like that thing that we were hoping it would carry us on like it did in 1995. Cos it won't filter it, but it wasn't. We were losing not only league games, we then went off the cup. And I think the atta make that change. But that shows you're at dignified. He had to say, you know, Evans next man as he was. And to be fair, he got it right there, didn't he? Cos with no money, he's put us in a much, much better position. Very, very sad day. You get the measure of someone by the tributes and the comments that people make. Like I said, I spoke to Duncan Van today. And he's, you know, he loved him. Absolutly, he loved him. Ali McOist said he's like a second father. Don't know, it's interesting for a funny story on Twitter then. Cos obviously, before last season, Wals Smith was the last person to managing Everton team when I'm feeling he said the next day, he said, get your trackies on. I took them off a breaky in town. I said, we're going to walk into town proud. You know, daddy's one of the dabion for everyone to know. I like that, that's a nice touch. He told us that, didn't he? When he was on put, he said he sat in the middle of Liverpool city centre in the cafe with the revenue and things on and giving it the big ones. So there's a lot of nice stories and, you know, people like Dave Prentis from the echo, you know, had a great bond with them. Alan Myers used to go to Italy, didn't he? And actually Knox had worked in the mountains and all that. So everyone's got great memories of him. And as I said, like you've just said there, you know, you don't get that from being, if you're a terrible manager everyone will call you a terrible manager. That'll be the end of you and we've had a few of them. But for Walter Smith, there's obviously a little bit more to it. And it's a sad day. It is a sad day. So let us know your thoughts. There'll be a lot of people watching who might be old enough to remember Walter Smith and those teams. But yeah, let us know your thoughts in the comments. Yeah, it's a sad day for football. Thanks for watching. See you later.