A year after the death of Walter Smith there is still sadness in the Rangers family whenever his name is mentioned. Still disbelief that he is gone. Still a terrible sense of loss.

Today, however, will be more painful for his family because he was a husband, father and beloved ‘papa’ who doted on them.

His legacy in football is huge - as manager of Rangers he won 10 titles, five Scottish Cups and six League Cups, and took the club he had idolised since he was a boy to the UEFA Cup Final in 2008. There were also spells at Everton and Manchester United and with the Scotland national team.

But wherever he went, he left a lasting impression on and off the park that transcended his coaching talent.

Behind that burning drive to succeed, he found time to keep a perspective on life, to value others. That’s what made him so special, so likeable, so memorable. His integrity and humanity left an indelible mark on everyone who met him.

He was one of the old school of great Scottish managers who took the beautiful game by storm - Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Jock Stein, Alex Ferguson and Walter. All were proudly working class, not intellectual, but with a sharp intelligence that couldn’t be acquired at any university. And hugely talented. They intuitively knew every nuance of football and how to get the best from star players. Football was good to them in the material sense but, crucially, they never forgot their roots - or ever wanted to.

I first met Walter at Ibrox when he was assistant to Graeme Souness. He was sitting at the far end of the manager’s office glued to a portable TV on the day the first Gulf War broke out. He had his training gear on and perched on his knee was a tray with a pot of tea and sandwiches. Souness, in an immaculately cut suit, motioned to Walter to leave. As he passed us, he stopped for a second, expecting Souness to introduce us. He didn’t and there was a slightly awkward moment as Walter briefly nodded at me before sheepishly walking out the door. In truth, Souness had been a tad rude.

Fast forward a couple of years. Walter was now the boss in a smart suit and I arrived in his office to interview him. He remembered our first brief encounter and we had a laugh about it but there was no hint of malice about his predecessor.

He talked movingly about his childhood in Carmyle in Glasgow’s East End. His father was a crane driver and his mother played piano in the local church. Football was his passion thanks to his grandfather Jock who ran the Rangers supporters’ bus and took him to his first game when he was five, lifting him over the turnstiles.

But it could all have gone so wrong for Walter. He was at the Ibrox Disaster on January 2, 1971, when 66 Rangers fans died at the Old Firm game. He had walked down the fateful stairway 13 just a matter of seconds before the awful crush that caused the tragedy.

He said: “My brother and I were about a third of the way down the stairs. I think the majority of the people who died were further down the stairs, around the bottom third, so when we found out later what happened we realised how fortunate we had been. It was only when we got back to Carmyle, where everybody was congregating, that we realised there had been a disaster.”

READ MORE: Pandering VAR conspiracy theory pundits' nonsense could have serious consequences 

While there was great rivalry between Celtic and Rangers fans in the East End, other things mattered in these poor communities, he told me. Making sure there was food on the table of neighbours was more important than which team you followed. People looked after each other regardless of their loyalties. That sense of community never left him, even long after he had moved to Helensburgh. He left the East End but it never left him.

Whenever Davie Bryce, who ran Calton Athletic, the team of recovering drug addicts based in the East End, needed help with getting kit or fundraising, he would phone Walter - and he couldn’t do enough for them. Van loads of Gers gear would somehow mysteriously appear at Calton’s premises in Dennistoun on a regular basis… Celtic icon Tommy Burns, a Calton boy himself, would also pitch in. There was more to Tommy and Walter’s friendship than just football. Both were proud to be from the East End. When they saw people in need they would drop everything to help. That bond was always there between them. When Walter carried Tommy’s coffin, he was devastated at losing a close friend.

Away from football, Walter did a lot of good work in Helensburgh and the local communities. He was loved and respected in the area. On Saturday mornings he would watch his sons Neil and Steven play for Ardencaple Boys’ Club and he was president of the club when he died.

After retiring, for two and a half years he had a serious health issue but it was a private matter, not something he wanted in the public domain.

One of his last public appearances was at a charity golf day on Loch Lomond with Sir Alex Ferguson, Alan Shearer, Kenny Dalglish as well as former Celtic boss and player Neil Lennon among others in aid of the Emmie Smillie Charity Foundation.

Pictures showed him looking frail and clearly unwell. It was, sadly, the last public appearance of the second most successful boss in the history of Rangers, behind only Bill Struth.

Rangers chairman Douglas Park said: “He embodied everything that a Ranger should be. His character and leadership was second to none, and will live long in the memory.”

Everton chairman Bill Kenwight said: "He was one of the very best people I was lucky enough to meet in my lifetime in football. A man of loyalty, integrity and great talent.”

Sir Alex Ferguson said: “Walter was a great friend for years and years. In all that time you were dealing with a man with great moral compass in how he lived his life and the friendship he offered so many people.”

Outside of Walter’s family, the man who probably knew him best, who called him his second father, was Ally McCoist. He captures his dear friend best of all.

He said: “I could sit here and tell you about Walter Smith until the cows come home, about how good a manager, how good a coach and a football man he was.

“But what I will say is this - he was the best husband, father, friend, everything you would expect from a man.”

In what will be an emotional day for Walter’s wife Ethel, his sons Neil and Steven, and the grandchildren, those words will perhaps offer them some comfort.

Walter Smith wasn’t just a football legend. He was so much more than that.