Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has described European football as being “top of the agenda” as he discussed the financial implications of qualifying for Europe.
The Ibrox boss was speaking as the club look ahead to the crunch Europa League qualifying tie with FC Midtjylland.
And he suggested that making it to the group stages isn’t just huge for the club’s fans, but the financial benefits mean the board take it very seriously indeed.
“I think sitting here right now [European football], it’s the priority because it’s the next game,” explains Gerrard.
“From a financial point of view it gets made very clear to me before I took the job and obviously every board gathering I’ve had, European football is always on the agenda, at the top of the agenda of importance because financially, for the club, it’s very important.
“We’re all well aware of that but we can’t focus on that when the games come around, we’ve got to focus on doing what we do.”
“Which is me to try and give the players a game plan that’ll help get us over the line and into the qualifying rounds.”
Those comments simply reaffirm what we already knew.
Without the financial benefits that European football will bring to Ibrox, the club will realistically not be able to grow and develop as it desires.
It is a massive part of what Rangers are trying to achieve and Steven Gerrard is doing brilliantly to shift the pressure off the players and get results.
He’s also warned them of complacency going into the next match.
“What it showed last night [the Celtic defeat to Cluj] is that European ties are never over, even when you get a positive result in the first leg,” said Gerrard.
“Some of these teams that people don’t know much about, Cluj from Romania for example and Midtjylland from Denmark, they carry a huge threat.
“They’re so desperate for financial reasons to progress in Europe, like most of us.”
Rangers lead the tie with FC Midtjylland 4-2 from the first leg, with the return at Ibrox set to be screened on RangersTV.
