Ferguson: Mourning Walter Smith is the one who taught Cristiano Ronaldo to pass

Last month, Walter Smith (pictured right), former Assistant Coach of Manchester United and former coach of Glasgow Rangers, Everton and the Scottish national team, died of cancer at the age of 73. A few days ago, his memorial service was held at Glasgow Cathedral, many football people attended the mourning, and former Manchester United manager Ferguson also came to the scene, recalling how the assistant and compatriot taught C Ronaldo to improve his passing ability.

Ferguson recalls that the first time he met and saw Walter Smith's coaching talent was when the two attended a course training together in 1972. Both were still players, with Ferguson playing for Falkirk and Walter Smith playing at Dumbarton. Ferguson said: "Seeing his imagination, the control of the training session, I know that he [as a coach] will succeed." ”

Walter Smith then moved to Dundee United, where he became a coach, serving as an assistant coach for Jim McLean, who has coached Dundee United for more than 20 years. Ferguson had tried to poach Walter Smith to his team early on, but was unsuccessful. However, later in the Scottish team and Manchester United, the two still had two short-term cooperation.

Ferguson then recalled how Walter Smith was a referee during a training session at Manchester United. He will take a very lenient penalty against Ronaldo for those fouls, because Ronaldo "has all the skills of players in the world and wants to beat all opponents."

"He [Ronaldo] walked up to me and said, 'Boss, you guys haven't fouled in Scotland?' <b>He learned something from that, which is passing. He should thank Walter for that, no doubt. </b>”

Finally, Ferguson borrowed a phrase that Walter Smith's younger brother, Ian Smith, had previously described his brother, "I wanted to sum up this guy in one word, and that was definitely 'giant.'"

Walter Smith has twice coached the Glasgow Rangers and has won 21 trophies of various kinds, including seven consecutive titles in the Soviet Premier League in the 1990s. He then went to Everton, and his replacement at Goodison Park was Moyes.

(Felix Cat)