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Walter Smith was sat in his office bristling at the meeting he was just about to have.

It was early in the September of 1994, just days after the infamous week from hell,

where his side had failed to qualify for the Champions League, had lost the Celtic at Ibrooks and were eliminated from the League Cup, a trophy they had almost exclusive rights to by Falkirk. Now Smith had to summon his star signing back from his home country for crisis talks.

Two months earlier, down the corridor in the blue room, David Murray sparkled as he introduced him to the Scottish media.

There had been more expensive signing, certainly, one at nearly double the price the year before,

but in the chairman's opinion, none is good. This was, in his words, the biggest.

He was going to be the difference in Europe for a ranger's side who couldn't afford to miss out on the elite again. The fourth estate were in no doubt that this was the

most exciting signing in Scottish football for a number of years and the front page of

first editions of the fanzines bore his picture. The player himself seemed to agree. He could

have gone elsewhere, Genoa, Tottenham or Arsenal, but he chose Glasgow not because he liked

the town in his words but because he wanted to play at the level, and that is the European Cup. In order to be successful

at that level, he said, you need skill, experience, good tactics and good players, but the

Rangers were capable of it. Ironic then that so soon after arriving, he would be telling

a very different story to the press.

Or did he? That's what Smith sought to get straight.

Describing Smith's tactics as crazy, he also lambasted his new colleague's attitude

before the crucial tie with Aik Athens as all wrong by saying you just cannot go about winning

such an important game when you're having a laugh in the dressing room half an hour before

the kickoff.

It was a major embarrassment for Smith when he needed at least, but apparently it was all lost in

translation, not for the first time with the new Rangers foreign signing, and all just a big misunderstanding.

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