Wolves favourite Alex Rae today insisted Walter Smith would be the “ideal man” for the Molineux hot-seat and possesses the hunger to lead the club to Premier League safety.

Former Rangers, Scotland and Everton boss Smith was last night offered the job until the end of the season and is considering the offer after rejecting an initial, longer-term stint on Tuesday.

Wolves, whose chief executive Jez Moxey knows Smith from their time together at Rangers in the early 1990s, turned to the 63-year-old after Alan Curbishley turned them down for a second time on Tuesday and Reading manager Brian McDermott signed a new, three-and-a-half-year contract following an approach from Molineux.

Former midfielder Rae worked with Smith as a youngster at Rangers in the mid-1980s and is convinced he has the top-class credentials to help Wolves survive.

“I worked with Walter when he was right-hand man to Graeme Souness in 1986-87,” said Rae, who was at the 5-1 defeat to Albion that sealed Mick McCarthy’s fate 10 days ago.

“He had the know-how of that level then having worked with Jim McLean at Dundee United, where he was very successful.

“First and foremost, he’s a top-class coach and different class as a person.

“Since I first knew him, he’s gone on to enjoy huge success in management and I think he’d be the ideal man for Wolves.”

Smith has been out of work since last summer, when he handed over the reins of his second spell at Rangers having become the second most successful manager in the club’s history.

Rae insists Smith possesses the drive to succeed again despite being in his 60s, like Sir Alex Ferguson and Albion boss Roy Hodgson.

“I have been fortunate enough to attend a few dinners with Walter recently and he’s been asked if he would manage again, and he said yes if the right job was presented to him, so I have no doubt he still has the appetite for it,” added Rae.

Rae’s praise for Smith is outshone by Britain’s most successful manager of all time Sir Alex Ferguson, who has twice employed Smith as his assistant, for Scotland during the 1986 World Cup and at Manchester United in 2004.

“There are few people in the game with his experience, knowledge and technical ability,” said Ferguson.