GET ME OUT OF HERE! Walter More Than Happy to Take His Leave after a Season That Made the Headlines for Everything Apart from Football

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Byline: by PETER JARDINE

IT WAS the year the football died, and Walter Smith -- the former Rangers manager -- reckons he knows exactly when it happened. When Celtic started writing letters to Hampden seeking 'clarification' on refereeing decisions.

The Ibrox icon spent yesterday on a plane to the United States where he will embark on a white-water rafting charity event with the 'new' management of Ally McCoist, Kenny McDowall and Ian Durrant.

And it gave him plenty of time to reflect on his successes with Rangers, on a tense title battle with Neil Lennon's Celtic and on a troubled campaign for Scottish football.

The cumulative effect of the latter left the 63-year-old expressing the view that he 'has to get out of here', such has been the level of stress this past season has inflicted on those at the sharp end.

Smith didn't explain whether that escape …