While the Walter Smith story will be with us forever, one thing stands out. One thing about our Manager which gives us huge comfort at his passing.

After the nightmare of what Rangers went through in 2012, after what he saw his successor and friend Ally McCoist go through as well as his friend and yet another club legend in Sandy Jardine, Walter was with us long enough to get to see 55.

Ok, he wasn’t strong enough to be there on Flag Day, or to hold the trophy, but he was alive to witness it, and even to put in one last public appearance in September, at that golf day.

But it’s the fact he got to see his team win the title once more, and the close bond he had with Steven Gerrard who he helped guide to that title, that will have given him a sense of real comfort and closure that he was able to be part of it still.

He wasn’t with us long enough to see us return to the CL, but the one that really counted, 55, he bore witness to.

He did not pass with any ‘what might have beens’ or any real regrets – he got to bow out with his team as champions, and of course, as still top of the league.

We will miss him dreadfully, but at least he is at peace, and headed to the big pitch in the sky with Rangers as champions again.

He got to see that.

And we’ll be forever grateful.