Champions League exit would test Craig Whyte's resolve at Ibrox

Published on Wednesday 27 July 2011 20:57

THERE are six million good reasons why Rangers' stumbling performance on Tuesday night, which took them to the edge of the Champions League qualifying precipice, would have been the source of considerable dismay inside the Ibrox boardroom.

When he slapped down his solitary quid to purchase the club from Sir David Murray back on 6 May, Craig Whyte had no way of knowing whether his first season in charge would include participation in Europe's elite tournament. At that stage, with the outcome of the SPL title still uncertain, the businessman could not factor the prospect of Champions League group stage income into his plans.

But Whyte, who at the same time took ownership of Rangers' 18 million debt, would certainly have entertained visions of a start to the campaign which did not include the kind of anti-climactic and costly first hurdle elimination from the competition now seriously threatened as a consequence of the 1-0 defeat to Malmo.

Certainly, Whyte and his fellow directors will now be assessing the stark financial reality awaiting Rangers if they are unable to defy precedent and overturn a first-leg home defeat in Europe when Ally McCoist's side go to Sweden for the return fixture next Wednesday.

There is a parachute exit for clubs who lose in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, but the landing is hardly a soft one. The descent into the play-off round of the Uefa Europa League would see Rangers' potential income from continental competition this season reduced by more than 90 per cent.

Qualification for the group stage of the Champions League provides a guarantee of a basic 6.3 million from Uefa's coffers. With points bonuses, television income, gate receipts and commercial revenue on top, Rangers could expect to rake in closer to 15 million from a third successive season at Europe's top table.

By contrast, the Europa League continues to offer paltry rewards. Reaching the group stage brings only a basic of 565,000, with the supplementary income similarly impoverished in comparison to the Champions League.

Just as McCoist is already facing the first major test of his credentials as Rangers manager, the Scottish champions' uncertain start to the season also provokes the first examination of Whyte's approach as chairman and owner.

Under his predecessor Murray, it would have been safe to assume McCoist would have been afforded a considerable degree of patience, as he surely should, while he looks to overcome the teething problems of his reign.

But Whyte is still an unknown quantity in many regards and it remains to be seen how strong his nerve will be should McCoist find himself under increased pressure from the club's infamously impatient support over the coming weeks and months.

While admitting to being "worried" by Rangers' inability to hit the ground running, both in last Saturday's SPL opener against Hearts and against Malmo, the incurable positivity of McCoist will ensure he does not submit to panic. His optimism that Rangers can still turn the tie against Malmo around and reach the final Champions League play-off round is genuine, if also flying in the face of club history.

On five previous occasions, since they took their first steps in European competition 55 years ago, Rangers have lost the first leg of a two-legged tie at home. Each time, they have been unable to recover the situation away from home.

It is worth pointing out, however, that Malmo do not share the stature of the five other clubs who have left Ibrox in possession of a first leg lead. AC Milan, Fiorentina, Real Madrid, Ajax and Bayern Munich were all European football aristocrats. Even with their 1978 European Cup final appearance on their roll of honour, the same cannot be said of Malmo. The Swedish champions performed effectively, at times impressively, on Tuesday night and were good value for the win earned through Daniel Larsson's superbly-taken 18th-minute goal.

But it should not be beyond Rangers to raise their own performance level sufficiently to tilt the tie back in their favour at the Swedbank Stadion next week. McCoist requires greater urgency and sharpness from his players whose deficiencies in those departments on Tuesday cannot be wholly mitigated by the early stage of the season.

Recent history from across the city provides encouragement for Rangers that the damage suffered in the first leg is not irreparable. Two years ago, at the same stage of the Champions League, Celtic overcame a first-leg home defeat in Europe for the first time in their history when a 1-0 reversal against Dinamo Moscow at Parkhead was cancelled out by their 2-0 win in the Russian capital.

To emulate that feat, Rangers must buck a dismal recent trend which has seen them win only one of their past 22 games in Europe. While that is a statistic which incorporates some meritorious draws, such as the one at Old Trafford last season, it is not one which a club of Rangers' stature can take any pride from. Scotland's free-falling Uefa co-efficient ranking could desperately do with McCoist engineering a result in Sweden which will allow his players to leave the pitch with their heads held just a little higher and the club's greatest-ever goalscorer breathing just a little easier.