Rangers Out Of The Champs League

[craigmcfc]

Whilst rangers aren't my most favorite team, i always like British teams to do well in Europe so its disappointing on that front. Not been a good start in Europe for Scottish teams with Dundee Utd unluckily knocked out.

Especially considering the fact that they had the early start to the Scottish season so that the teams playing in Europe would be "flying out of the traps"!

[lets all have a disco]

Yeah, let's remove the right of Champions to play in the Champions League. Quality. And all the little countries that never win anything, they don't really need to be in there, do they? In fact, let's get rid of qualification altogether and just draw lots between man u, barcelona, madrid, milan and munich as to who gets the cup each year. Or you could rotate it.

And this could be just the beginning.

Why stop with football? Take Ethiopia. I mean, what do they contribute, when it comes down to it? They can go. And any country with -stan at the end. They do nothing for the international community, so they can go. And Wales. Why? What is the fucking point of Wales? They can go.

It's a start at least.

Whats the matter they get seeded in the Europa league.

[colonel_muck]

Yeah, let's remove the right of Champions to play in the Champions League. Quality. And all the little countries that never win anything, they don't really need to be in there, do they? In fact, let's get rid of qualification altogether and just draw lots between man u, barcelona, madrid, milan and munich as to who gets the cup each year. Or you could rotate it.

And this could be just the beginning.

Why stop with football? Take Ethiopia. I mean, what do they contribute, when it comes down to it? They can go. And any country with -stan at the end. They do nothing for the international community, so they can go. And Wales. Why? What is the fucking point of Wales? They can go.

It's a start at least.

well be honest it already is. with the seeded draw the 'little countries' get lumped in with the more established teams in the group stages and very rarely come through it. i for one would like to see an open draw in CL. i know if the 'little teams' get lumped in with Barca, Milan and Lyon in a group they're getting a big payday and the fans will love it, but i bet they'd prefer a more realistic shot at winning the thing by letting larger sides eliminate eachother.

[colonel_muck]

I've just realised last night wasn't even the final qualifying round before the group stages!?!

Thats gotta be a kick in the teeth for the SFA that they have to go through two qualifying rounds when only a few years ago Rangers were granted automatic qualification to the group stages

at the end of the day that league is fucking stupid. feel sorry for the fans up there cos they love their football but it really is fucking stupid.

[Chad]

We're not calling it the Chumps league this season then?

[CityGer]

Piss poor but not unexpected. Truth is, standards have slipped so badly in Scottish football recently why should the Scottish champions beat the Swedish champions? Or Dundee UTD beat the team who finished second on the Polish league? There are some very ordinary players who are considered mainstays of this rangers team and if you compare last night's side with the one that qualified ten years ago, the standard of player has dropped significantly.

Rangers played Maribor in a champs league qualifier in 2001, that squad contained Tore Andre Flo, Claudio Caniggia, Dutch internationals in Artur Numan, Ronald De Boer. Giovani Van Bronkhorst and Bert Konterman, German internationals in Albertz, Nerlinger and Klos, an Italian International in Porrini and Claudio Reyna.

Just shows how low the game is in Scotland. The only Rangers player who would hold down a place in a decent premiership side now is the keeper.

Not just the quality of the game, crowds must be real worry for some clubs. Aberdeen's average gate was below 8k last year. Most grounds, Rangers, Celtic, Hearts the exceptions, were less than half full for 90% of games and average gates, with the old firm excluded, were below League Two.

Vicious circle as well, the worse the teams do, the lower the co efficient drops. I think champions league football will be a rarity for either of the old firm from now on.

[Goaters 103]

Id agree with that CityGer; I went to the Rangers v Hearts game a couple of weeks ago and SPL footy remains headed down the toilet.

The current Gers team isnt a patch on what it was 10-15 years ago, and quite honestly how Gers won the league last year is a mystery. Walter Smith performed miracles with no money and a tiny squad last year, so Coisty is on a hiding to nothing given he expected to work the same miracle with a low-quality squad. End of the day, they arent good enough so its hardly a surprise they were beaten.

[Wonderwall]

Id agree with that CityGer; I went to the Rangers v Hearts game a couple of weeks ago and SPL footy remains headed down the toilet.

The current Gers team isnt a patch on what it was 10-15 years ago, and quite honestly how Gers won the league last year is a mystery. Walter Smith performed miracles with no money and a tiny squad last year, so Coisty is on a hiding to nothing given he expected to work the same miracle with a low-quality squad. End of the day, they arent good enough so its hardly a surprise they were beaten.

Rangers won the league with Weiss, this season they have no Weiss = No league :-)

[Goaters 103]

Id agree with that CityGer; I went to the Rangers v Hearts game a couple of weeks ago and SPL footy remains headed down the toilet.

The current Gers team isnt a patch on what it was 10-15 years ago, and quite honestly how Gers won the league last year is a mystery. Walter Smith performed miracles with no money and a tiny squad last year, so Coisty is on a hiding to nothing given he expected to work the same miracle with a low-quality squad. End of the day, they arent good enough so its hardly a surprise they were beaten.

Rangers won the league with Weiss, this season they have no Weiss = No league :-)

Weiss did OK last season but didnt tear up any trees. Tbh I expected him to have more of an impact, but he was never a pivotal figure.

[Wonderwall]

Id agree with that CityGer; I went to the Rangers v Hearts game a couple of weeks ago and SPL footy remains headed down the toilet.

The current Gers team isnt a patch on what it was 10-15 years ago, and quite honestly how Gers won the league last year is a mystery. Walter Smith performed miracles with no money and a tiny squad last year, so Coisty is on a hiding to nothing given he expected to work the same miracle with a low-quality squad. End of the day, they arent good enough so its hardly a surprise they were beaten.

Rangers won the league with Weiss, this season they have no Weiss = No league :-)

Weiss did OK last season but didnt tear up any trees. Tbh I expected him to have more of an impact, but he was never a pivotal figure.

Yeah I know, it just sounds better put that way ;-)

[Dameerto]

We're not calling it the Chumps league this season then?

Of course not! We're in it!

[Wonderwall]

We're not calling it the Chumps league this season then?

Of course not! We're in it!

ha, that made me LOL

[Lev Bronstein]

In too bothered about Rangers getting beat, but the decline of Scottish football - which has produced some great players over the years is a sad sign of the times. The CL has been a carve up for years, indeed it was set up to benefit the "big clubs" from the "big countries" and head off a breakaway league. And it's worked. I can only think of Dortmund and Porto (and maybe Inter) who've bucked the trend in the last 10 years.

Realistically, the odds are that this years CL will be won from a team from either the Prem or La Liga. You might get an Italian or German team there or thereabouts but, for example, what chance Ajax got of ever winning the thing again, or even getting to the semis - none. When was the last time a team from eastern Europe got as far as the semis_? Let alone Sweden or Belgium producung finalists.

As football has got richer the power seems to have been concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.

Unless a club has our luck and finds a sugar daddy with bottomless pockets we're just going to get Groundhog Day as the same half dozen clubs rotate the spoils amongst themselves.

[halnone]

In too bothered about Rangers getting beat, but the decline of Scottish football - which has produced some great players over the years is a sad sign of the times. The CL has been a carve up for years, indeed it was set up to benefit the "big clubs" from the "big countries" and head off a breakaway league. And it's worked. I can only think of Dortmund and Porto (and maybe Inter) who've bucked the trend in the last 10 years.

Realistically, the odds are that this years CL will be won from a team from either the Prem or La Liga. You might get an Italian or German team there or thereabouts but, for example, what chance Ajax got of ever winning the thing again, or even getting to the semis - none. When was the last time a team from eastern Europe got as far as the semis_? Let alone Sweden or Belgium producung finalists.

As football has got richer the power seems to have been concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.

Unless a club has our luck and finds a sugar daddy with bottomless pockets we're just going to get Groundhog Day as the same half dozen clubs rotate the spoils amongst themselves.

Great post. Was going to say something similar but you said it better than I could have.

[The Original Special One]

Karma!

[smurfsdabomb]

Yeah, let's remove the right of Champions to play in the Champions League. Quality. And all the little countries that never win anything, they don't really need to be in there, do they? In fact, let's get rid of qualification altogether and just draw lots between man u, barcelona, madrid, milan and munich as to who gets the cup each year. Or you could rotate it.

And this could be just the beginning.

Why stop with football? Take Ethiopia. I mean, what do they contribute, when it comes down to it? They can go. And any country with -stan at the end. They do nothing for the international community, so they can go. And Wales. Why? What is the fucking point of Wales? They can go.

It's a start at least.

Scotland isn't a proper country to be fair.