Rangers crashed out of the Champions League against Malmo in a result which could damage the club to the tune of £30m–£40m depending on what paper you read this morning.
The financial implications of the club’s failure to reach the group stages of Europe’s elite competition are gargantuan – there is no other way to spin it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwPe8vdrwPs
The Ibrox club were criminally underprepared for the clash with Malmo and paid the price against an ordinary – if not talented – side who did a number on a Gers team toiling for form.
But now, things could yet go from bad to worse as Scottish Premiership success becomes the number one aim of a season which has yet to fully get started.
The victors of the division this season – for which only ten days ago Rangers were immense favourites – attain automatic qualification for the Champions League Group Stages and the riches that come with it.
This becomes infinitely harder if the Gers have to sell one of their main talents, which at the moment look to be Colombian striker Alfredo Morelos of Finnish midfielder Glen Kamara.
Not only this, but at the same time Celtic are in their upswing – albeit in the early part of the season – Rangers’ bottle appears to be crashing.
Early talk of a waltz to 56 appears – at this stage at least – to have been premature. It’s a complacency we’re all guilty of.
For a season which promised so much we’re already scrambling to salvage the embers with Europa League qualification another vital financial target the club must reach.
However, the club’s bottle is once again set to be tested in a Europa League Playoff tie which will take us either to Armenia or Kazakhstan – about as far East as you can go in Europe.
Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan are set to travel to Alashkert of Armenia on Thursday for a place in the Playoff against Rangers with the tie currently 0-0 on aggregate.
Rangers will be sizeable favourites for this clash but whoever gets through tonight will have one eye on Malmo and see that both the performances and mentality of this Gers side are weak at present.
Not only this, but there is a monumental trip ahead no matter we get in the Playoff.
There’s a whopping 3700 miles between Glasgow and Yerevan – and if that sounds bad enough it’s 4600 to Almaty.
Both are undesirable trips made infinitely worse by the fact that only three days later – and at lunchtime – the Gers host a Celtic team building momentum in the first Old Firm of the season at Ibrox.
It highlights the monumental knock-on effect of this team’s failure to overcome 10-men in 45 minutes in front of 50k of their own fans.
The Champions League exit was a cock-up of gargantuan financial magnitude, but in raw playing terms, there could yet be more damage to come.
Rangers fans have been questioning the inclusion of one Ibrox star in the Malmo defeat with plenty feeling the player “looks crocked”.
