The myriad successes that Walter Smith enjoyed at home and abroad during his two stints as Rangers manager were due in no small part to his many admirable traits and assorted personal strengths.
He exuded a quiet authority and commanded respect from everyone he came into contact with. His man management skills were also renowned and his players were always desperate to perform for him. On top of that, he possessed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game and was ferociously competitive.
Yet, the late, great Scot’s ability to cope with the intense pressure, relentless scrutiny and scathing criticism which are part of daily life for the individual who occupies the dugout at Ibrox was a major factor in his longevity as well.
Many of those who have followed him have struggled to deal with the expectation there is on them to lift every domestic trophy as well as the fallout which invariably comes following a failure.
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It was obvious that Derek McInnes, who spent three years playing under his legendary countryman in Govan during the Nine-In-A-Row era back in the 1990s, was cut from the same cloth as the man who was very much his mentor as he was officially unveiled as the new Rangers manager this afternoon.
These sort of affairs at Ibrox, and there have been a few of them in the last few years, tend to follow exactly the same script and can often be fairly stomach-churning love-ins.
The new man speaks about how honoured he is to be taking over, gushes about how impressed he has been with the vision and professionalism of the hierarchy, outlines his football philosophy and vows to do everything in his power to deliver silverware for the fans.
Within a few months, after an ignominious European exit, an indifferent start to the William Hill Premiership season and an excruciating loss to Celtic, those upbeat, optimistic words have been long forgotten by supporters who are clamouring for change.
McInnes, who has served his apprenticeship for the Rangers job at St Johnstone, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and Hearts, certainly made no bones about what it meant to him personally to be taking over at the club he had supported as a boy today.
But there was no gobbledygook about systems, no grandiose promises about the brand of free-flowing, possession-based, high-pressing football that he wants his charges to produce, no bold predictions that he can change the club culture, no ambitious claims about what he can accomplish in Europe.
Smith, who led the Glasgow giants to within 90 minutes of the Champions League final and into the UEFA Cup final, always made winning the Scottish title his top priority every season because he knew that he would only survive if his men got the better of their bitter city rivals.
McInnes clearly understands that finishing first in the Premiership next May is, after just one title win in 15 years, of the utmost importance to him if he is to fare better and last longer than Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Michael Beale, Philippe Clement, Russell Martin and Danny Rohl did. What is more, he knows exactly what is required to do it.
There was a portrait of Smith on the wall just a few yards away from him as he said, “A lot of managers have sat in this position first day and said they were going to do this and going to do that,” he said. “It’s easy to say things, but it’s a lot harder to get it done.
“I want to enjoy being a Rangers manager, and I can only enjoy it if I'm winning. The players can only really enjoy being here by winning games. The heat and all the noise comes on really quickly if you’re not winning.
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“We’ve had a period now where we haven’t won enough and we haven’t done enough to do that. So it’s our job to try and change that. It’s not words that are going to do it. We need to start being more relevant again winning trophies domestically. For me, that is key.”
McInnes was at Rangers at a time when Smith and Dick Advocaat had considerably more money to spend in the transfer market than their Scottish counterparts and brought in some household names from around Europe.
The former Scotland internationalist, who turned down the chance to return to Ibrox in 2017 because he was not convinced all was well behind the scenes, believes the backing that he receives from owners 49ers Enterprises and Andew Cavenagh will be important.
However, he is also acutely aware that spending big money in the transfer market will not guarantee domestic dominance and emphasised that the characters of the individuals that he recruits will be crucial.
“We've got to make teams really struggle when they play against us, make them suffer,” he said. “You need to have quality to be a Rangers player. But it takes a lot more than that, an identity and an intensity.”
McInnes’s sudden departure for Hearts, who he took to within just a few minutes of their first title in 66 years last month, did not go down well with the previously adoring Gorgie faithful.
He was asked, by an STV reporter who openly declared his allegiances to the Tynecastle club, if he had been tempted to stay and could provide any assurances that he would not raid his old employers for any of his former players. He produced a sidestep that Lionel Messi would be proud of and moved on.
There was a smattering of jubilant Rangers fans standing on Edmiston Drive to welcome their returning son McInnes when he arrived at the stadium for his press conference and he happily posed for selfies and signed autographs.
But the 54-year-old has been around long enough to understand that their cheers will quickly turn into jeers if his side fails to deliver on the park. “I’m not kidded,” he said. “I know if we don’t win trophies, there’ll be somebody else sitting here before too long.”
If Derek McInnes can continue to emulate Walter Smith in his words and deeds in the months ahead then he will last a lot longer than those who have gone before him.
