and the woes keep coming...

I have given myself one day. I tried to sit and come to terms with the situation. No matter how I look at it though, it was terrible disaster of a way to start the season for our beloved ‘Gers. My eyes well up as I write this, but something had to be said, and this is the best and only way for me to truly let it all out.

My Rangers are knocked out of Europe competition. It’s true. Sad but true, and it aches in heart like the loss of a loved one. Kaunas FC of Lithuania, defeated my boys in the second leg of their second round of Champions League play, 2-1. To put it simply, the boys just didn’t show up.

Rangers fielded an incredibly talented side, and even managed draw first blood in the first half. But after that, it seemed the light blues lost the plot, and fairly quickly after the restart, Kaunas FC even the score board by leveling the match at one all. The boy from Glasgow still had the advantage by having scored the away goal, but in the 85th minute, Kaunas FC dashed our European dreams with a late goal from a corner.

Last season, Rangers complained of fixture overload, having to extend their season drastically to fit in all their extra tournament fixtures. There will be none of that this go round as the light blues, one round away, were unable to secure a place in the UEFA Cup tournament by losing in the second round. Many in the office at the Ibrox will point to the fixture cram put on by the Scottish FA, as the reason they were unable to secure their SPL title, finishing second to their Old Firm rivals Celtic. By finishing second, Rangers were not granted a straight bid into the third round of the Champions League, and had to play through the first two qualifying rounds. Either way, the performance from the boys from Glasgow was poor, and that hurts to say from a true supporter.

The ramifications of this are tremendous. Because they are no longer in European competition, Rangers are missing out on millions of pounds in revenue from added fixtures and extra attendance to major tournament games. Because they are missing out on all this European cash, it is of the utmost importance that they secure the SPL title this year, or their funds for the following seasons will have plummeted to next to nothing after player wages, chairman salaries, and stadium up keep just to name a few. For this season, they will also suffer from the loss of extra fixture funds. Last season, they beefed up their roster in order to deal with all the added games. Now that they don’t have as many games, they still have to pay the players wages. Since they don’t have as many games, it will be time to seriously consider dropping some of our big name players, and save up for the next European campaign, assuming we finish in a position on the table that results in a European bid.

It really hurts to see all this have to happen to our squad, but it is part of the game and as a true supporter, you have to stick with the club through it’s ups and it’s downs. No matter how hard it gets and how painful it feels. Walter Smith has quite a lot to think about, and I sure hope he has some tricks left up his sleeve. He sure did a lot with a team that wasn’t created by him, last season. Here is hoping Celtic get knocked out as soon as possible.
Come on you ‘Gers!