Domestic discord will seal Eck's fate

Published on Sunday 27 November 2005 02:08

YOU didn't need to speak the language to figure out what O Jogo, the Portuguese sports daily, were getting at on Thursday morning. On their front page they splashed with a picture of a distraught Lisandro Lopez on his knees and with his head in his hands. Beside him they placed a calculator and beside the calculator a graphic of Champions League Group H with Porto bottom of the pile. The headline, loosely translated, was: "Now, we wait."

Porto are wallowing in their own misery. In a sulky strop, their official club website said the other day that Rangers were "frightened" on Wednesday night, that they had played like "burrowing creepy crawlies" and had "grabbed a point that was so unjust that it was incomprehensible". Rangers, it was written, had not deserved "the sympathy of the Gods". Clearly Porto had not reckoned on Marvin Andrews having friends in high places.

The Porto fans now talk of the "tragedias de vinte minutos" - the 20-minute tragedies. Against Artmedia at home, Inter away and Rangers home and away they have seen victories become draws and draws become defeats in the last 20 minutes. More fool them.

This kind of ineptitude, though, is typical of what has gone on in this lamentably sub-standard group. It is conceivable, for example, that Rangers will progress to the knockout stages having claimed just one victory in their six games. Real Betis will probably finish on three wins but they are already out of the competition and elsewhere Bruges are also out even though they have won twice. They will probably be joined by Schalke who have two victories and two draws from their five games to date. Sitting on eight points - two more than Rangers - Schalke have to beat Milan at the San Siro in round six to be sure of second place. Anything less and they are gone.

So, all this talk of Rangers being on the brink of history is a little overblown. Sure, on one level, it is a perfectly valid assessment and qualification for the knockout stages would definitely be worthy of praise, but it would be a strange kind of glory. Alex McLeish said on Friday that the club was "on the verge of something momentous in Europe". The bottom line proves him right but nothing they have done so far is going to live in the memory for very long.

Certainly, Ronald Waterreus seemed underwhelmed at what went down at Estadio do Dragao. In the aftermath of his team's brave draw, he was curious, quarrelsome and compelling at the same time, like when asked what was it that came flying out of the stands in those tense closing minutes and hopped off his head. "Ah, don't make a big deal out of it," he said. "Some coins, some knives, some guns..."

He was joking, of course. Whether he was being sincere when he followed up by saying that Rangers can win the Champions League was unclear. "Yeah, write it down," he insisted. "Write it down that I said that very seriously." OK, Ronald. Anything else to tell us?

Actually, there was. "It doesn't change things that much, you know," he said of the result. "It gives you a bit of a lift. But, no, it doesn't change that much. It's not like we really achieved anything. Because we didn't."

It's a fair point. On a difficult night, when he was stripped of so many first-team players, McLeish got his tactics just right and came away with a result he unquestionably deserved.

"Different class, the gaffer," said Franny Jeffers later. "He's a proud man who's kept the belief." But did that Ross McCormack goal really alter the course of David Murray's thinking? Does possible Champions League qualification from one of the poorest groups in the competition's history suddenly over-ride cataclysmic performance in the SPL and unimpressive business in the transfer market?

Rangers, we have to remember, have won two games in their last 13. If they lose to Hibs today they will trail Celtic by 15 points and will be 11 behind Tony Mowbray's team. If Rangers are to be remembered for anything this season it will be for their performances at home rather than their adventures in Europe.

"Our domestic form has been poor," said the manager, "and that's why I'm under the cosh. The chairman's been patient. Maybe at other clubs I might have been out of a job by now."

Murray's patience has almost certainly run out, for his vision of the future would have to be seriously clouded if his pursuit of Paul Le Guen is compromised in any way by what happened in Porto or what may happen at Ibrox when Inter come calling in a fortnight.

McLeish was given a stay of execution until December but there was no reason then - and there is still no reason now - to believe that it was anything other than a way of buying the chairman some time to find a new manager. It is easy to see McLeish as a kind of Trojan horse in this saga. Murray and Martin Bain, the chief executive, do not rate his understudies, Andy Watson and Jan Wouters, so the idea of removing McLeish and putting them in temporary charge of the club was not an option. Particularly when progression in the Champions League was at stake.

Better to stick with McLeish until the end of the group stage and hope against hope that he can lead his team into the knockout phase thereby making Murray's job of finding a heavyweight to replace him a little easier.

If Rangers are still in Europe after Christmas, then their appeal to a Le Guen is considerably enhanced. It also ensures that McLeish leaves with his head held high, his prospects of getting a decent job elsewhere improved by his last act, his "momentous" achievement in Europe.

The chairman is in an invidious position but he did McLeish no favours last week. On Tuesday, in an astonishing admission, he was quoted widely as saying: "Alex knows who the next Rangers manager will be if he has to leave here." That's like being introduced to the hangman before he ties around a rope around your neck.

Murray has apparently suggested that he was misquoted or that he was quoted off the record but there has been no clarification from his office, nothing issued on the Rangers website, no denial that the words are not his.

The only denial has come from McLeish himself. "I don't know who my successor is," he said on Friday, directly contradicting the comments attributed to Murray. "I am not planning to see a successor here in the near future, whoever that may be."So on we go, trying to read the tea-leaves at Ibrox.

McLeish has said some cryptic things of late about every manager having a shelf life and his three and a half years being a good innings in the context of the Old Firm. In response to a question about how tempting it might be to walk away after securing a place in the last 16 in Europe, McLeish was vague to say the least. "That's hypothetical. You just never know. You never know how you will feel at any given time."

For the most part, though, McLeish can be found looking to a vision of his future that includes Rangers.

"I just have to carry on," he said, when asked how he is managing to block out the distractions. "It's not easy for us to be on the receiving end and continue to keep the focus but that's what we must do.

"We haven't scored enough goals. We've dominated games, certainly at Ibrox, and there's been the disappointment of drawn games. We've been a bit powder puff on our travels. We're at a club where new players must find it a wee bit of a culture shock. The demands are to win every single game. There are players who are capable of producing more. What they must do is make a statement of intent saying 'you don't need to look at anybody in January boss. We're the guys that can do it for you'."

Wednesday was a respite not a reprieve. Rangers play Hibs today with the memory of their 3-0 defeat at Ibrox still the source of some embarrassment. After that, they face Falkirk, another side that has caused them grief this season. Days like these have done for McLeish. Before Wednesday, it was all about the exit strategy. Like Waterreus says, nothing much has changed since.