DEREK MCINNES has revealed how Walter Smith phoned to offer him advice and encouragement just days before his death.

McInnes was devastated to hear of the Rangers legend’s passing on Tuesday following a battle with illness.

Former Aberdeen boss McInnes was brought to Ibrox as a player by Smith in 1995 and remained close with the vastly respected manager.

And McInnes, who has been out of work since leaving the Dons dugout in March, insists the 73 was still thinking of others even as his health deteriorated.

McInnes said: “I spoke to him last Wednesday night, he phoned me. We were on the phone for about 40 minutes talking about everything and anything but him.

“You could never have known how he had been suffering in the last few weeks and he had to overcome so much. 

“When he spoke to me last Wednesday I never had any sense it was going to be quick as it was that less than a week later he’s gone. It’s a huge loss for us all. 

“For him to take the time to phone me last week and see how I was doing and talking about my next steps, he was putting me first again and he put so many people first.

“He was my gaffer and I would do anything for him but as a manager I felt he always looked out for me. 

“He was there because he lived it and experienced it and I think he enjoyed helping me, in those early stages in particular

“Those last few times with the LMA dinners and events, him being a LMA mentor, he just took the time and he invested in you.

“As a younger manager and certainly as recently as last week, giving me some advice and encouragement, that means an awful lot - particularly given that he had been suffering of late. 

“He had that ability that special people have of making you feel better when you walked away from him.

“He was always a huge source of support for me. 

“I don’t lean on too many people for advice but if I was ever going to speak to anybody about any key decision in my career, Walter was the first person. 

“His opinion meant more weight to me than anybodies’. I’m eternally grateful for that.”

McInnes insists Smith was also magnanimous in defeat, even after he masterminded a shock 4-1 defeat of Rangers as St Johnstone boss in 2010.

Speaking to BBC Scotland, McInnes added: “Even the decency in defeat and he didn’t lose many. 

“I remember we beat Rangers 4-1 at St Johnstone, a midweek game. 

“We absolutely skelped Rangers 4-1 and sometimes you don’t get a lot of managers coming into your office after you’ve beaten them and it says more about them. 

“He came in, he was absolutely fizzing about his team’s performance, but him, Coisty (Ally McCoist) Kenny McDowell and Jim Stewart and Durranty (Ian Durrant) drank my mini bar dry. 

“They sat there for 45 minutes, they finished every beer and wine that was in there. 

“I know how fuming he was because I could hear him after the game, but he shook my hand, spent the time and then went on the bus. 

“It’s easy to be the good guy when you’re winning most of the time and he did win most of the time, but there was a thing there that he thought was the right thing to do. If there was a right thing to do, he did it.”