No one could ever accuse Rangers boss Philippe Clement of failing to recognise the importance of Champions League football at Ibrox.
Before August’s qualifier with Dynamo Kyiv, Philippe Clement acknowledged what a seat at Europe’s top table would represent for a club of Rangers’ ‘tradition’, not to mention the ‘exposure’ it would bring to Scottish football as a whole.
There is also the importance of finance. Money may be a dirty word in the eyes of supporters pining for simpler times, but it is reported that Rangers would have been due around £12 million had they secured their place in the competition proper.
Of course, a controversial red card to Jefte – Rangers lost in devastating circumstances to their Ukrainian opponents – scuppered meant another season of Europa League action for the Glasgow giants.
But that is still better than nothing. It’s certainly better than the much-derided Conference League.
The same Conference League Ferencvaros may be playing in next season, so long as the once-Ibrox linked Pascal Jansen cannot find a way to lift the Hungarian outfit above league leaders Puskas Akamedia over the next few months.
Former Rangers target Pascal Jansen yet to convince at Ferencvaros
By his own admission, the Champions League is the goal for Ferencvaros. A 3-1 aggregate defeat to Midtjylland put pay to that, however, Ferencvaros bowing out at the same stage as Rangers did in August.
Furthermore, with their run of six straight Hungarian league titles under threat, Jansen’s team might not even have the qualifiers to look forward to in 2024/25.
Ferencvaros finished 16 points clear at the top last term. And while their points-per-game tally has not diminished much under Jansen, the manner in which Puskas Akademia have flown out of the blocks has left the former AZ Alkmaar boss under some pressure.
To quote Eurosport, ‘the fans often demand Pascal Jansen’s head’ only a few months into the two-year deal he signed back in July.
“Unexpected stumbles have crept in and Fradi’s machine doesn’t look nearly as confident,” they write, before going on to explain that, unlike Rangers, the title is nowhere near being conceded.
“They are only one point behind Puskas.”
Yet, with a win percentage of just over 55, Jansen statistically ranks as the least successful Ferencvaros coach since Ricardo Moniz’s 45-game spell in 2012 and 2013.
Former AZ Alkmaar boss was ‘flattered’ by Rangers’ interest
According to reports, Pascal Jansen was high on Rangers wishlist before Clement stepped into Mick Beale’s shoes 14 months ago. The then-AZ Alkmaar coach would later tells Sky Sports that earning the admiration from such a ‘massive club’ left him ‘flattered’.
But even as Jansen succeeded in establishing AZ as the ‘best of the rest’ in the Netherlands, doubts remained over whether he was the right man to challenge Celtic for Scottish supremacy.
“I’m up and down on AZ. Sometimes I think they are really great, and Pascal Jansen is a really good coach. And then… you just want to shake Pascal Jansen and say ‘do something different!’,” Eredivisie export Michael Bell told the Football Oranje podcast shortly before the London-born 51-year-old received his P45.
“He seems to play the same starting XI week in, week out. I can see all the AZ fans getting frustrated. And, when he was getting linked to Rangers, I saw everyone saying ‘you might do well results-wise but none of your young talents will be getting a game’.
“He’s a frustrating coach. He’s not that next level. He’s not an Arne Slot. He seems to be one of those coaches who does well at AZ, he’s going to get a move somewhere and I don’t think he’ll live up to it.
“I think if he went to Rangers, he would have failed.”
Ferencvaros president demands a lot more from Pascal Jansen
Now, it would be harsh to say Jansen is failing at Ferencvaros. They are, as we touched on already, still on track for a seventh successive league title.
If the Europa League first round was to end tonight, meanwhile, Ferencvaros would be guaranteed a place in the knockout stages, despite a recent 5-0 thrashing by PAOK.
Yet, as frustration grows on the terraces – just like it did at AZ Alkmaar – Jansen has done little over in Hungary to suggest that, with him in charge, the gap between Rangers and Celtic at the top of the Premiership table would be a whole lot smaller.
Gabor Kubatov, Ferencvaros’ president, is certainly not blind to the issues. The statistics may look OK on paper, but there are problems bubbling underneath the surface.
“If we look at the numbers alone, we are doing OK because we are better than last year in terms of points earned in the league,” Kubatov told Nemzeti Sport after Ferencvaros were breached five times apiece by Debrecen and PAOK in the space of only a few days.
“We also had brilliant results in the Europe, but there is always a shadow. It is not good for Ferencvaros to concede ten goals in a week.
“It is also an eternal truth that we either win or learn, and many conclusions can be drawn from every such painful or humiliating defeat, but everyone agrees that this cannot happen again.
“Are we moving fast enough? No, we should be moving forward in leaps and bounds.”
