Smith reveals Wenger admiration

30 July 2009 15:22
Smith is a huge admirer of Gunners counterpart Arsene Wenger, who has operated on a fraction of the budget of his Premier League rivals while still managing to produce world-class talent. Rangers play Arsenal in the Emirates Cup on Sunday, where Smith will get to see Wenger's latest crop of youngsters at close quarters. Light Blues boss Smith has not dipped into the transfer market at all this summer, with the collapse of the Scottish Premier League's Setanta television deal appearing to spark a further tightening of the purse strings at Ibrox. Even before the broadcaster's demise, Rangers needed to sell in order to balance the books. It is therefore no surprise that Smith has been keeping a close eye on the way Wenger has focused on youth development while Arsenal pay for their new stadium. "If you take into account the things Arsene has won, he has achieved a lot and handled his club very well financially," Smith told Rangers News. "When you consider they were building a new stadium and their outgoings were restricted by that, they have done very well. "They haven't had the luxury of being able to spend the same amounts of money the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool have spent. "Arsene has done a fantastic job there to keep his team in touch with those other three and to keep producing a high level of football. "He obviously has a scouting policy of looking in depth at young players and, when you do that, you're always at the mercy of clubs that will spend lots of money. "There are clubs in England and abroad who will spend cash and Arsenal have benefited from that. "When Arsene's club's finances have been drained because of the money going towards the new stadium, it has been a big achievement to keep Arsenal in touch with the rest." Smith added: "I've come across Arsene on a number of occasions, both when I was the manager of Everton and since then as well. "That said, I don't think you need to meet him or know him to have a great amount of admiration for the man. "He's now in his 14th season at Arsenal and that's fantastic. Everybody always looks at his teams and talks about what a fantastic level of football they play. "He had a great level of success with players who had already been at the club and gradually evolved to play in a manner his team has played in in recent years. "Arsene isn't somebody who came in and discarded everyone right away but still did very well. "That's good management and I think you can look at him as one of the best we've had in Britain over the last 25 years or so." With Champions League games on the horizon, Smith believes this weekend's Emirates Cup is the ideal way to step up Rangers' pre-season preparations. "I don't think we could get a tougher game than the one we have coming up against Arsenal," Smith said. "It's going to be a tough weekend against both PSG and Arsenal because they are both very decent sides. "When you take into account we'll still have Manchester City and Portsmouth to play, we feel that's a good build-up ahead of the new season."

Source: Team_Talk