Smith accepts fans' frustration.
Byline: ANDY HUNTERWALTER SMITH admitted he understood the Everton supporters who rounded on him after Saturday's defeat at Blackburn Rovers and called for his dismissal.
The Everton manager was heckled for a double substitution he made during the 1-0 loss at Ewood Park and there were chants demanding Smith's sacking on the final whistle as the Blues slipped to their fourth consecutive defeat.
But despite the increasing pressure on his job Smith, who deputy chairman Bill Kenwright pledged would see out the final two years of his contract in the summer, has no intention of walking away from Goodison Park and revealed he accepted the fans' frustrations.
"It is expected when your team isn't winning, " said Smith, who saw Duncan Ferguson miss a penalty and his team waste a host of chances before Corrado Grabbi scored his first Premiership goal to win the game for Rovers.
"When the team is on a run like this it is the manager who gets the blame, " he added.
Smith lost pounds 4.5million Tomasz Radzinski with a groin strain just before the game and was left to rue the striker's absence as the Blues dominated Rovers, but failed to find the target for the first time this season.
And the Blues boss reflected: "It's difficult to understand how we lost.
"In the first half-hour we created enough chances to have won a couple of games. We missed one penalty and had another good claim turned down, but even without those we created the chances to have settled the game in that period.
"We've only got ourselves to blame for not beating Blackburn. We created so many chances and paid a heavy price for not taking them."
Smith was subject to fierce criticism when he replaced Thomas Gravesen and Tony Hibbert with David Unsworth and Joe-Max Moore on 73 minutes.
But Graeme Souness, Rovers' manager and long-time friend of Smith's since their time in charge at Glasgow Rangers, defended the decision and backed the Everton boss to halt the team's recent slide.
Souness said: "I think the fans got on Walter's back unfairly and I'm not just saying that as his pal. Everton were chasing the game and needed to do something at 1-0 and I would have done exactly the same.
"Everton should have got something from the game and we know we were bloody lucky."
The Rovers boss added: "They were criticised for not matching Liverpool last week but that was certainly not the case against us. They showed they have the right spirit and on another day they would have won."
CAPTION(S):
UNDER FIRE: Walter Smith
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| Title Annotation: | Sport |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Daily Post (Liverpool, England) |
| Date: | Sep 24, 2001 |
| Words: | 437 |
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