Scotland: Strachan SOS?

An unusual consensus has settled over Scottish football.

The disastrous start to the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign has made minds up: Craig Levein can't continue as Scotland manager.

A few dissenting voices remain.

Billy Dodds was one of them on Tuesday night. Using his BBC co-commentary gig to broadcast to the nation, Billy repeatedly told us that Levein was the "right man for the job, he's just not had the results."

That's not the strongest defence: "Aye, the doctor's a good bloke but his patients keep dying."

In moments of introspection even Levein might reflect that the game really is a bogey when Silly Bodds is the main witness for the defence.

Some others argue that changing the manager will change nothing. A limp reason that, conceding our crapness, accepting that we really should be bottom of a qualifying group.

I also believe that this squad is stronger than results suggest. Not world beaters. But better than two points from four games or three wins in 12 competitive matches. When that happens the buck stops in the dugout.

The SFA board will meet in the next few days to discuss what happens next.

Can we expect decisive action? Or a classic Hampden fudge.

I'd still lean towards the latter but it's difficult to see who Levein can call on for support, especially if there is any truth in rumours that the clubs might choose to use Scotland's plight to put pressure on SFA chief executive Stewart Regan.

Our next game is a friendly against Luxembourg in November, with Ladbrokes offering 13/8 that Levein will not be manager for that match.

It's 11/8 for him to not be manager by the first game of 2013, a February friendly with Estonia.

I would still expect him to just about survive through this weekend, limp past Luxembourg before being deposed early in the New Year.

That would give the new manager the Estonian game to prepare for the next round of - now sadly redundant - qualifiers.

And who will the next manager be?

Two former managers are frequently mentioned. Both Walter Smith and Alex McLeish are available, know the job and enjoyed some success.

I'm not sure going back is a good idea in football although Smith has shown a willingness to do just that in the past.

McLeish (12/1) has already hinted at a willingness to consider a return. I'm always mindful of certain commitment issues he seems to have.

He will undoubtedly see a situation that he'd be confident of improving but would he be concerned more by rehabilitating Scotland or his own career?

Smith fits almost exactly the age and experience profile that Sir Alex Ferguson argues are the perfect fit for an international manager.

But the Tartan Army is unforgiving about the last time Smith jumped ship and I'm not sure he'd relish the challenge of being the figurehead of not just the national team but of the many changes that the SFA is currently attempting to put in place.

Owen Coyle (10/1) is available after a bruising time at Bolton. But Coyle must surely retain ambitions at club level and I can't see much that would push him to the Scotland job at this stage.

At 14/1 Joe Jordan would be an emotionally powerful choice but I don't think his record as a manager stands up to much scrutiny even if his involvement as a coach would surely make sense.

Ally McCoist is also priced at 14/1 for anyone who likes to chuck money down the toilet. Motherwell's Stuart McCall might be a bit miffed to be outside McCoist at 16/1.

Dougie Freedman would be an interesting choice at 12/1 but at the moment I'd think there is about as much chance of Scotland winning Euro 2016.

Which brings us to the current favourite.

At 3/1 Gordon Strachan leads the field.

There's no such thing as a unanimous choice in football but there seems to be a surge of popular opinion in favour of Strachan.

He's spoken before about how he sees the role as all encompassing, going beyond simply managing the international team. A decision would need to be made within the SFA about how to accommodate those demands, how Strachan's vision fits with the attempts at modernisation that are already in place.

Strachan will also have a personal decision to make. Is the life of the travelling pundit worth foregoing for the pressures of being Scotland manager?

There will be an emotional pull, the draw of a fresh challenge. But there are negatives to this job, stresses involved in carrying the weight of often unrealistic expectation.

It looks to me like he is the man for the job.

But will he decide that this is the job for Gordon Strachan?

All odds from Ladbrokes #gameon

Rangers: An end of sorts

Nine minutes.

Not a long time.

But that's all it took for creditors to reject a CVA proposal and condemn Rangers to liquidation.

Before those nine minutes: months of uncertainty and years of greed, lies, broken promises and charlatans running a historic football club into the ground.

Today was expected. We learnt this week that HMRC would block the CVA. The end was coming before even that.

In a story where little has been guaranteed, the only rule has been that bad news today will likely be followed by worse news tomorrow for Rangers.

That we sensed liquidation was inevitable has maybe inured us to its impact.

Take a moment to think about it, ignore the whirlwind that has come since.

This has been a remarkable day.

Rangers. Scottish football's most successful snaffler of domestic honours, a financial powerhouse, the club that saw itself as an institution to rival the pillars of Scotland's establishment.

None of that was enough to save them.

In a sport dominated by business here is proof that historic achievements and continued success can't insulate clubs from the destructive attentions of the rogues and crooks who see football as a way to massage their egos and feather their own nests.

A salutary lesson for our times.

What next?

Charles Green has taken control of the old company's assets and sets up a new company called The Rangers Football Club.

He will expect the SPL and SFA to rubber stamp this manoeuvre and the team to start next season unhindered by historical controversy - but with their histoic achievements intact - and free of any debt except any that which he's created to fund his takeover.

He thinks he's got a big football club on the cheap, the creditors already stiffed, a fine opportunity to make himself richer.

It's a solution that has always looked problematic.

The other SPL clubs, with the vocal encouragement of their fans, seem to have been hardening against the newco option as the weeks have dragged on and those running Rangers have continually groped in the dark to find others to blame for their predicament.

And Green himself presents a problem. The only character references forthcoming describe him as something that sounds a lot like "a total runt" and in his public utterances he's displayed either a worrying naivety about the realities of the challenges ahead or an inability to tell the truth in his bluff Yorkshire accent.

And now another twist.

We were promised just a short window between this morning's confirmation of liquidation and Green's bargain basement hoovering up of the assets.

A short window. But enough time for Walter Smith to attempt to lead a new cavalry to the rescue.

Suddenly Smith had the backing of, amongst others, Jim McColl and Douglas Park and wanted to buy the Rangers newco. Here was Walter, the stony-haired sage, urging Green to step aside and let proper Rangers people help a newco phoenix rise from the ashes of financial arson.

An oddly dramatic flourish from Smith and the money men standing four-square behind him. It certainly had an impact.

Although Rangers' representatives had somehow apparently convinced their SPL colleagues that liquidation was not "on the radar" it had become inevitable.

That being the case, proper Rangers people didn't want blood on their hands. Far better to let Craig Whyte, Duff & Phelps and Charles Green take the heat of liquidation then ride to the rescue once the deed had been done.

That was a guaranteed way of seizing the initiative and the narrative: Green killed Rangers, Walter wants to help them rise again.

Simplistic of course, but that seemed to be the plan, to reach into Rangers' past to find a figure that gave hope for the future.

Too late?

Green confirmed that the transfer of the assets to his consortium has already taken place and applications for the transfer of SFA and SPL membership were ready to be submitted.

The key to staging a last-minute heroic intervention is timing. Walter's watch was slow.

That doesn't mean the Smith consortium is dead: they could buy the newco from Charles Green tomorrow and deliver him a tidy profit for a very short commitment to Scottish football.

Or is Green stubborn enough to hold out? He might well be. You don't make the number of enemies he made at Sheffield United and then try to get back into football if you don't have a healthy contrary streak. For now he looks to be king of the castle.

His statement confirming the purchase also made a great play of contradicting today's Daily Record and standing by Ally McCoist: he's not going to give in to one Rangers legend but he's keeping another to comfort the fans.

Yet Smith's backers must always have known that Green was likely to move quickly, they're unlikely to be put off if they have to buy the club from him.

Even as Green spoke to press Ian Hart - publicly announced today as a member of his consortium - was saying "who me? Nah, I'm backing Walter's mob."

An inauspicious start. We can be confident that Walter Smith will not take Green up on his invitation to become chairman tomorrow.

With Smith's group on the sidelines Green can also look forward to fans - and sections of the media - barracking loudly and agitating for him to sell up. He's going to endure an uncomfortable few days.

The ownership question will have long term implications for Rangers and might also colour the club's approach to the SPL's newco vote.

If Smith's consortium do seize control I'd expect a very different Rangers approach, a contrite board talking of rebuilding the club within a stronger Scottish game - even if Smith himself find himself answering question about his own experience with the EBT payment scheme operated during David Murray's tenure.

Charles Green's approach is likely to focus more on bluster, talk of deals and high level talks that are based only loosely in reality, pandering to a fanbase that would do well to not get fooled again.

There are still high stakes to play for.

That might be another reason for the lack of shock today.

Ranger were liquidated. But closure on this tumultuous era doesn't seem much nearer.

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David Weir Says Goodbye

Fare ye weel, Davie Weir.

The Scottish Football Blog has often been facetious about the Methuselah of Scottish football.

Unfair that. Davie Weir was playing at the highest level in Scotland in his 40s and I'm often too lazy to play dominoes in my 30s.

Perhaps unsurprisingly Weir and Rangers will part company this week. He's set to move on. Not to a retirement home but, indefatigable warrior that he is, to a new club in England.

It's proved to be an unexpectedly elongated addendum to his career, the sojourn in Glasgow.

The end has been predicted before. There was a stage in one of the 2008 Uefa Cup games against Sporting Lisbon when I thought Weir would finish the match like Monty Python's Black Knight, relentlessly positive even as his body fell apart in front of us.

But on and on he went. In Jeremy Kyle years he was old enough to be a grandfather to some of his colleagues. He never seemed to let that phase him.

I've always had the impression of him as a good guy. That's probably because of too much exposure to Falkirk fans who used to vouch for his decency back in the 90s. He's done nothing much to dispel that impression though.

To continue playing for so long he's obviously taken a common sense approach to looking after himself. That shouldn't surprise us. He's always seemed a sensible sort. Even his career trajectory - an education (albeit at an American university) then launching his professional career at Falkirk.

From Brockville to Hearts and then on to English riches. It points to feet-on-the-ground progression rather than a head-in-the-clouds explosion followed by an inevitable implosion.

Now it looks like an old-school career. One that money, agents and football's general hysteria makes less likely a generation (or two) on.

It's worked. A Scottish Cup with Hearts. A role in Everton's unlikely progression to a top four finish. Then trophies galore with Rangers.

And he's shown a quaintly old fashioned readyiness to answer his country's call despite the ups, downs and even deeper downs of Scotland's fortunes.

A link too to Scottish football's sunset moment. By my reckoning Weir and Christian Dailly are the last of the outfield players who made up Scotland's 1998 World Cup squad to still be playing.

We'll not again have a Scotland player who lived through the miraculous World Cup qualifying period that stretched for 28 years from 1970.

A last bridge to those bitter sweet but happier times.

Weir has carried on through managers, bad results, famous wins. And he's carried on while younger men have fallen by the wayside. From a debut in 1997 through 69 caps and a final appearance against Spain at Hampden 13 years later.

There have been times at Ibrox when the passing years have made him susceptible to pace. But pace was never his main attribute.

There's been carping aplenty about what opposing fans saw as a mature - if not sporting - ability to influence referees. But opposing fans always have such moans.

Whatever was said Weir soldiered on. Often he looked older than his years, adding to the abundant jokes about his age.

But he always looked happy enough when picking up trophies. And he's done that with metronomic regularity in his years at Ibrox.

Latterly it's been the vogue to project on to Walter Smith the idea of a manger with infinite wisdom. Even then you'd be hard pushed to imagine that Smith knew exactly what he was signing.

Of course he knew about the quality, the benefits of the experience. But you don't sign a player approaching his 37th birthday and expect to get five years service, over 200 appearances and eight trophies.

Or both major player of the year awards in the player's 40th year.

But that's what Weir delivered. A five year career at Rangers after making his debut at 36. A 13 year career with Scotland after making his debut at 27. It's a good advert for starting late.

Slow but steady wins the race. As Weir's old school friend Aesop might have said.

It's been a successful five years at Ibrox. But it's also been a fairly tumultuous time. Weir provided a steadying focal point on the pitch.

I'm not a Rangers fan. But it's been a fascinating five years to watch.

Weir arrived an elder statesman. He leaves a highly decorated, grand old man.

Proof that an SPL twilight can enhance a career.

And, as policemen appear to be getting younger and football stars appear almost embryonic, here was a craggy faced old codger to give us all hope.

SPL: Controversy As Walter Smith Says Nothing New

A broadside to mark his departure.

As I wrote earlier it would be wrong to paint Walter Smith as having lived out his final days as Rangers manager above the fray of Scottish football's navel gazing bickering.

Today's papers would seem to confirm that opinion. The Telegraph reports Smith as saying:

“The season got off to a bad start, in that respect, when Celtic put up a challenge to referees and to everybody else. That got the season off to a bad start and it went downhill after that.

“From my own point of view, I hope everybody would realise that people who work in Scottish football - referees included - are always under terrific scrutiny. It was an unfair circumstance they were placed in this season and I just hope that now everybody gets on with it.

“And I hope Celtic realise that, if their team is good enough, they will win. If they're not good enough, they'll not win - and they can't look at anybody else, whether it's referees or any other influence.

“I don't say that in a smug way. I just felt that it set the tone for what it has been a poor season for our country, in terms of publicity overall.”

And so our futile game of "he said, he said" continues.

Celtic to blame for all the troubles of this rancourous season? No.

Was this blog alone in raising some concerns about the way Celtic conducted themselves earlier in their season? No.

But football is a game of opinions. We've seen the horrible consequences when people don't accept the rights of others to express themselves.

What is of more interest is the media process. A process that will no doubt stir no little comment across Scottish football's internet sphere of influence in the hours and days to come.

But here's the thing. This is a regurgitated story. New quotes do not maketh a new story.

Sadly over hype will mean we're all covered in the cold vomit of this poisonous season for a few days longer. Goodo.

Here's Walter in October:

"I felt there was an unfair pressure on Willie Collum. I thought he handled the game extremely well today. We will always have arguments about certain decisions.

"But that is two Old Firm derbies out of three where the match referee has been put under unfair pressure before the start of the game.

"During all the time I have been involved in Rangers v Celtic matches, in the majority of these games, it has been the better side on the day that has won.

"There is too much focus being placed upon referees. And there’s no doubt Willie Collum was placed under an unfair burden today.

"There comes a time when we must stop blaming officials. We have to have a look at what happened (in the game).’

"We all have our ideas about decisions that did or didn’t go against us. We have to look deeper than that for the reasons games are won and lost." (Daily Mail)

Wattie again. This time in February.

"Everyone has to remember that Celtic have won three of the last five SPL championships. So, if people are conspiring against them, I wouldn't like to see what they'll do once they (referees) stop.

"I think Celtic have tried to use that to their own advantage - I don't believe there's any doubt about that - but Gordon Strachan's comments have led everyone to the actual truth.

"It would have been very hard for Gordon to agree with it, given he led them to three championships." (Daily Mail)

And March.

"It would have been nice if whoever complained, or wanted to complain, had come out of the closet to do it, rather than in an anonymous manner."

"I thought the referee handled the game very well today. It was always going to be awkward for him. It was a totally unfair circumstance he was placed in this week and I thought he coped with it really well." (Scotsman)

Heaven help us. He was at it again in April.

"Celtic started this season with a campaign about never getting decisions.

"Well, they got one today. I don't think anybody can say that that was a penalty out there." (BBC)

And what's this from August 2008:

"I don't feel a degree of sympathy. But I think a lot of stuff that's been going on in the early part of the season has been exaggerated. Referees and linesmen make mistakes the same way as players and managers make mistakes.

"We are certainly getting them highlighted in a manner that is far greater than anything I can remember, but if referees do make an error it is because it is an error, not because they support clubs or have a bias towards this, that or the next thing. If we stop accepting that factor then we start to have real problems." (Telegraph)

If Walter Smith blew the lid off his silence yesterday then we must conclude that he's shite at keeping secrets.

Still. Shame to let that spoil another round of good old vitriol and mud slinging.

SPL: Walter Smith Says Goodbye To Winning Rangers

13 years ago today Walter Smith took his leave of Rangers. After season upon season of success his reign fizzled out.

Wim Jansen led Celtic to the league title, stalling Smith's Rangers on nine championships in a row.

In Smith's final game Hearts took the Scottish Cup with a 2-1 victory. Rangers consolation that day came from Ally McCoist.

That McCoist was prevailed upon from the bench to try and save the game was evidence of an ageing squad finally losing the winning habit.

Having pre-announced his departure, Smith was unable to engineer a glorious farewell.

But Smith seemed to have few regrets. As he got to terms with surviving in the Premiership on a restrictive budget at Everton and as he brought a new belief to Scotland he seemed content.

Doubters still sniped at the scale of his achievements at Rangers but he gradually settled into the role of one of Scottish football's sagely father figures.

And then Rangers felt themselves hitting the skids. Suddenly Ibrox needed a sagely father figure.

The call went out. And, to the dismay of the Tartan Army, Smith responded.

Maybe he did feel there was unfinished business. Maybe a distress call from his first was love was too much to resist.

Whatever his reasons Smith took the job.

And when he raised the SPL trophy yesterday he provided a winning final sentence to the valedictory chapter of his SPL career.

The trophy collection has grown. Three more championships, two Scottish Cups and another three League Cups. And a UEFA Cup final appearance thrown in for good measure.

And he's done it against an ever changing backdrop of uncertainty. From the riots in Manchester before that European final to the ongoing controversy over an unreconstructed songbook, Smith's own supporters have given the manager more than just football to contend with.

His board have been often divided, the financial repercussions of mismanagement have bitten hard and this season's league win came after one of football's more protracted - at times farcical - takeover sagas.

This year, of course, a lunatic fringe has added a whole new level of rancour to life in the Old Firm bubble.

If nothing else Smith is presumably content that his hair already given up the battle and turned resolutely silver before he wandered back to Govan.

He's persevered through all this with his sense of humour and his dignity intact. It would however be wrong to depict him as Saint Walter, forever above the fray.

Smith's passion has remained strong, his desire to win has never left him. He's not been above mind games or of a little bit of media manipulation. Experience has made him a master of keeping his powder dry when it's sensible to do so, making his occasional strikes against his own board, the opposition or the authorities more effective.

Most importantly he's kept delivering on the pitch. At times this season Rangers have looked lacklustre, the squad lacking depth, some ageing limbs creaking, some important performers haunted by a loss of form.

They lost the season's top goalscorer in January, Kenny Miller's departure coming just months after Kris Boyd moved south. Rangers, Scottish football's very own Bank of Govan, had built their house on the same sand as Fred Goodwin.

It is important to raise the counterpoint that even in penury Ibrox had a financial clout that only Celtic could match. Rangers accounts may have crashed back to earth but there was no levelling of our mountainous playing field.

But there was a rising in the east to contend with. Neil Lennon had a new squad at Celtic, one which brimmed with quality and which drew from it's manager a very clear understanding of exactly what this two horse title race means.

Worringly for Rangers it also began to look like Celtic had built a side that could ruthlessly exploit their opponents weaknesses.

Smith kept calm and carried on. The League Cup was won at the expense of Celtic. The final Old Firm league clash was billed as a must win. Rangers snaffled a point that now looks priceless.

When Celtic, as teams with little experience of closing out a title are wont to do, were tripped up by an obstacle delivered straight from the cool Highland night sky, Rangers were poised to take ruthless advantage.

Noting the size of the points target Celtic had set, Neil Lennon paid tribute to Smith's achievement.

And how.

Not since 2004/05 when Alex McLeish and Rangers pipped Martin O'Neill's Celtic by a single point have the SPL champions amassed the 93 points that Smith won this year.

That, of course, stands as an indictment of the other ten teams. But it's still a hell of goodbye from Smith. Somehow he's cajoled and demanded better of his team when they looked like they were down and out.

Crucially he's also never let them lose that winning habit - an annoying habit if you're sat in the SPL's cheap seats - of not losing too many points when they are playing badly.

Do the hardships make the final triumph sweeter? Maybe they were always going to be sweet enough.

Smith broke the rule about never going back. And still he came out on top. Not for the first time he broke another rule by announcing his intended departure. This time fate did not leave him without a trophy.

Rangers now take a step into the unknown reign of Craig Whyte and Ally McCoist. It's Smith's legacy that they do so as champions.

Smith's future is uncertain. We won't see him in the SPL again. Will an English club come calling? Will there be an effort to build bridges with the SFA to pave the way for a role with the governing body?

Yesterday Neil Lennon said: "If I was to lose to anyone, it would be Walter Smith."

That spoke volumes for their relationship and for the enduring bonds that can be forged in the centre of Glaswegian footballing madness.

You do wonder, however, if Smith glances across the city and sees the evil insanity that has surrounded Lennon this season and thinks that the golf course rather than the football pitch is now more deserving of his attention.

If this is the end, then it's a triumphant end. An unlikely return topped with what had looked an unlikely championship.

Frank Sinatra never said goodbye quite as well as this.

> An encore? Various members of the fourth estate are hinting at tomorrow's newspapers carrying some choice words about Celtic from Walter Smith.

As I mentioned. He keeps his powder dry before launching a broadside. And the rumours are at this one has been brewing. It could be an interesting day.

SPL Today: Celtic Hope As Rangers Eye Prize

So a desperate season comes down to this.

It is, after all, just football. A game where championships can still turn on the final day, a game where the drama should be confined to the pitch.

Today has already been dubbed Helicopter Sunday.

It says much for the bankruptcy of the SPL's ideas departments that they think using a six year old marketing device will still engender excitment. A costly, meaningless gimmick.

Celtic v Motherwell

A dress rehearsal for the cup final. Celtic must win. Win and hope. An interesting game for Motherwell though.

Is the temptation to simply keep their powder dry?

Will a heavy defeat, even for an understrength side, have a harmful psychological impact on their chances next week?

Stuart McCall faces some big decisions.

But this game is all about Neil Lennon and his Celtic team. Without the inexplicable hate campaign Lennon would still have offered Scottish football it's most compelling narrative.

Here is the novice manager, with an abrasive footballing persona that has always been divisive among the majority of fans who can accept that character without using it is an excuse to display centuries old stupidity, going head to head with the experienced Walter Smith.

And for great swathes of the season Lennon has come out on top. In a season where many of us might already have walked away from a land where too many are apparently gripped by a illogical rage fuelled madness, Lennon has somehow risen above it all to arrive at the doorstep of a debut season championship.

Yet he might still come up short. What frustration he must feel, this most hyperactive of touchline coaches, to know that he is essentially unable to influence events today.

Celtic can win, can win handsomely, and still it might not be enough.

To have come so close, come so far, and realise that the destiny of the league is out of your hands must be an agonising pain.

I expect Celtic to win today. I expect them to win well. Their fate will be decided elsewhere.

But lets hope that this isn't the last the SPL will see of Lennon. Let's hope he's back next season, planning, coaching and kicking every ball.

Managers fail, managers succeed. Managers are loved. Managers are loathed.

Let Lennon be all that of more. And let him leave, when the time comes, on his terms or on Celtic's terms.

Not because he's being hounded out by a mindless terror campaign.

Where does Scottish football go from here? Treating Neil Lennon like it would any other manager would be a hell of a start.

Home win.

Dundee United v Hearts

The rather flimsy filling between two great chunks of tasty bread this. Third visit fourth. Over the season those league spots are probably just about right.

There's likely to be a demob happy feel about this one. Likely also to be chance for the SPL to see some of these players turn out for their current clubs. Who can say how squads will look when the great kaleidoscope of the summer transfer window has been shaken?

I'll go for the home win but I really don't know what to expect.

Kilmarnock v Rangers

Ninety minutes for Rangers to deliver Walter Smith a valedictory title that has, at times, looked unlikely.

For chunks of the season it's seemed that Smith was persuaded to stay only to wisely apply the band aids needed to hold Rangers together as the club lurched from crisis to crisis.

We should have known that would never be enough for a man with so trophy laden a career, nor for a group of players who, even as the creaked and groaned, have never lost the habit of winning.

And so all Rangers need to do is win.

But how Kilmarnock and Kenny Shiels would love this scalp to end a season that has exceeded most expectations.

Stranger things have happened. Helicopters have been told to change route before as unlikely results have turned the title tide.

Not today though. I just can't see it.

Rangers to get the away win. And Walter Smith to go out on a high.

Rangers v PSV Eindhoven: Home Comforts?

Ibrox welcomes PSV Eindhoven tomorrow night.

An odd feeling for Rangers. So often reliant on their ability to snatch results in the second leg away from home, Walter Smith’s team need to be on guard against that happening to them tonight.

Can Eindhoven do “a Rangers” on Rangers?

There is, as ever, some debate about what risks Smith will take in a home tie. The answer, as ever, seems to be not too many. A more attack minded 5-4-1 but still likely a fairly defensive 5-4-1.

The stats from the first leg suggest that Eindhoven failed to score from 15 attempts, six of them on target, and enjoyed the majority of the possession.

Seems a bit of a stretch to imagine Rangers will turn those stats around tomorrow. But if they are to progress they need to make an enemy of profligacy and take whatever chances they can create.

The problem is that Rangers European successes in recent years have come from their unwillingness to be beaten. That might not be enough.

Suddenly it is Rangers who are hostages to the away goal.

An added complication comes in the shape of Sunday’s Old Firm league cup final which Smith has said will influence his selection, notably in the return of Steven Naismith who the manager thinks will be unable to play a full part in both games.

Sunday will also make the idea of ninety minutes plus extra time plus penalties (the goalless route) problematic.

So Rangers need to score. And that will call for at least some attacking intent because you can’t hope to get a goal at home with a lone striker playing 30 yards in front of the midfield or by relying on Madjid Bougherra as one your most potent attacking threats.

And, the penalty option not withstanding, Rangers also need to win. And they don’t actually do that very often in Europe of late, Bursapor this season offering their one victory in 20 efforts.

So the odds would seem stacked against Rangers. That seems to have suited them in some of their European adventures of late.

I wouldn’t bet against them. But nor, I think, would I bet on them.

A low scoring game, with Rangers to go out either by the odd goal or on away goals.

SPL Today: Rangers v Kilmarnock

Rangers seem to have had a couple of games in hand since about 1935. This season is in danger of dragging.

They'll use up one of them today against Kilmarnock.

The story remains the same: Celtic are top of the league with a five point cushion. Rangers have two games in hand, six points that could put them a single point clear of Celtic. And then, game on.

This being Scotland, this being the SPL, there is an expectation that this is how the script has been written so this is how the movie of the season will play out.

Can Kilmarnock ad lib enough to make Rangers corpse?

The head to head suggests not. In four games (four!) already this season Rangers have enjoyed a clean sweep.

Rangers won 2-1 at home in August, won 2-0 away in the League Cup, sneaked a Rugby Park belter 3-2 in November and won comfortably at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup.

Fifth time lucky for Kilmarnock?

Ibrox might suit them - they've not beaten Rangers at home since Rugby Park was redeveloped but have won in Govan four times since 1994.

I mean, obviously, a win every four years hardly points to an upset being on the cards this afternoon. But you never know.

Rangers could be suffering from their Europa League exertions in midweek. It's an excuse Walter Smith always likes to mention before the games.

But so far only Celtic have managed to beat them immediately after a European game this season, a draw with Inverness the only other blip.

There are problems for Rangers though. The constant game of catch up with Celtic must be exhausting, there are injuries in a thin squad, there are off field distractions large and small.

Kilmarnock have bounced back from back to back defeat against Hibs and Aberdeen to win against St Mirren and, impressively, last week at Tynecastle.

There have been wobbles from this plaudit garnering Killie side - and there remains a Sammon shaped hole in attack - but they remain fourth and have the added incentive of trying to fend off Dundee United's challenge in the league.

But this is what Rangers do. They grind out results with grim determination in the bad times and build on those successes in the good times.

And they'll be keen to remind Celtic that they are still very much up for the challenge before next week's Co-operative Insurance Cup final.

No Eremenko for Kilmarnock either.

It might be stuffy. It might even be a touch bad tempered. Kilmarnock will very possibly come close.

But it's a home win for me.

Scottish Football Tonight: Home and Away

Europa League: PSV Eindhoven v Rangers

A confident Rangers flew out to the Netherlands yesterday promising to attack, attack, attack against Eindhoven this evening.

No.

They didn't.

Stressing the size of the challenge, the injuries in the squad and even one or two off field concerns, Walter Smith emphasised Rangers' underdog status against the Dutch league leaders.

So we can expect the parking of Brian Souter's entire fleet as Rangers revert to the hardy old European model.

Or, as they're in the Benelux region, perhaps they'll just build a dike along the 18 yard line.

That would, at least, give Davie Weir something to lean on.

Weir has actually said he might not retire at the end of the season. If he is to stay at Ibrox then Rangers will be erecting their famous defensive wall about one yard from the goal line by this stage next year.

Look, we know what to expect from Rangers in this one.

PSV would appear to be a sterner challenge than Sporting were in the last round. But Rangers are adept at this kind of game. So it's up to the hosts to hurdle the tactical obstacles Walter Smith puts in their way.

PSV have been scoring a lot of goals recently so in all likelihood this is going to be another in Rangers' series of siege like European nights.

Funnily enough, PSV have never beaten a Scottish side in European competiton, losing to both Rangers and Dundee United.

But got to back PSV to win this one. But I'm not sure they'll kill off the tie tonight, leaving Rangers down but not out.

Dundee United v Hamilton

Buoyed by their recent run of form and confident in their goalscoring ability, Hamilton will be looking forward launching themselves at this game.

No.

They probably won't.

Billy Reid's men are winning some plaudits for their approach and their performances in a few recent games.

But they remain as blunt as an antique butter knife and combine their impotence with an unfortunate habit of conceding important goals.

It's a mix that explains their current plight. Bottom of the league and looking doomed.

These two drew the last time they met. But United started off their run of home games with a win against Aberdeen on Monday.

They should get another tonight. Home win.

Scottish Cup: Celtic v Rangers - The Replay

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. Yet again the game is afoot.

Old Firm clash number five this evening. The Scottish Cup replay after that thrilling 2-2 draw at Ibrox last month.

After the teams met at Celtic Park ten days ago Rangers were left looking bereft, the momentum seemingly inescapably with Neil Lennon's team.

Since then Rangers have progressed in the Europa League and brushed aside St Johnstone while Celtic have stumbled to a 2-0 defeat at Motherwell.

It is indeed, as a football bard once said, a funny old game.

Who are the favourites tonight? Is it Celtic who looked, emphatically looked, to be the better side in the last SPL clash?

Or is it Rangers who somehow found a reaction to that chastening experience and possessing the games in hand that continue to offer them the chance to reel in their rivals at the top of the league table.

An intriguing night in store, and perhaps even the tanatalising prospect of a first Scottish Cup game between these two to go to penalties.

Will this be the evening for unlikely heroes? Lukasz Zaluska will make a rare start in goal for the home side after Fraser Forster was sent off in the original tie.

David Weir, who managed to look even older than his 40 years against Celtic's pacy attack in the last league game here, returns to marshall a Rangers defence that might adopt the five man European blueprint.

Both Walter Smith and Neil Lennon will be looking for their players to react.

For Smith there has to be an improvement on the hapless performance the last time they came to call on their neighbours.

Lennon will be determined to see his players lift themselves from the Motherwell defeat and prove to themselves and to any doubters that the 3-0 Old Firm win wasn't a team hitting their season's peak.

It is Lennon who carries a 2-1 advantage from the season's first four clashes. Both managers will be keen to stress that these games are not about the men in dugout.

But Lennon will take a degree of personal satisfaction from his advantage, an emphatic two fingered salute to those who called him a mere Bhoy in a man's world.

Smith, too, in moments of vanity might wonder if trailing in this individual duel is quite the tone he wanted to set in his valedictory season.

Ah, the intrigue, the stories, the drama.

Love them or loathe them, these games have a habit of demanding your attention.

They are also notoriously difficult to predict. With home advantage, Lennon's "blood and thunder" filling the Glasgow night, I make Celtic slight favourites.

So I'll back the home win. But I don't see this being a 3-0 rout like the last Old Firm clash.

And, in predicting a Celtic win, I reserve the right to say that it would hardly surprise me to see Rangers advance.

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Rangers: McCoist The Manager

Now we know.

We suspected, surmised, accepted. But now we've had the official unveiling.

Ally McCoist will lead Rangers into the 2011/12 SPL season.

Probably. Unless someone comes along to buy the club and decides that this is no time for a novice.

"No time for a novice." A line from an ultimately futile political speech.

Yesterday's announcement, the cynic in me screams, owed a lot to politics. This was an essay in deflection.

The good news story to deflect from a club in financial dire straits, a team on the back foot and a incumbent who has, once again, mistimed his departure.

It's a hell of a job for McCoist. This, clearly, was the role he wanted from the moment his career went from ex-player and pundit to ex-player and coach.

One can only imagine what Bill Struth would have made of an ex-chat show host becoming Rangers manager. If Struth could have comprehended what a chat show was.

But Ally's Rangers credentials are good. A novice, but his is a time served apprenticeship at the feet of Walter Smith, a man who can tell a story or three about managing Rangers.

If he dreamt - as surely he must have - about managing his club, McCoist could surely never have imagined that it would be in such straitened times.

The premature confirmation suggests that a takeover is no closer. It might still happen but existing debt and that tax question remain, making the odds on a benevolent knight arriving ever longer.

The team needs an overhaul, key players from Smith's second era are already gone or look to be heading for the exit door. Age has caught up with David Weir, financial necessity will probably spell the end for Madjid Bougherra and others.

Becoming Rangers manager at any time is a massive challenge. In the present circumstances it seems McCoist is about to tackle the north face of the Govan Eiger.

A glance across the city shows another novice transformed from playing hero to manager. Neil Lennon had even less experience than McCoist when he got the Celtic job.

But Lennon has benefited from an extremely effective scouting system and a board that has a firm direction in mind.

Rangers seem to have neither. Many people might have claims on the club, all might have the best interests of it functioning as a going concern at heart.

But vested interests and differing opinions lead to a boardroom tension - if not an internecine war - that robs Rangers of momentum off the pitch.

Even more crucially it seems that McCoist will not enjoy Lennon's number one luxury of weakened Old Firm opposition, a dose of good fortune that has given the Celtic manager time to find his feet.

There will be some in the Rangers support who welcome the appointment, there will be others who bemoan McCoist's coronation.

He is the most available, most economical choice. That's how Rangers have to operate at the moment.

It's impossible to tell how good or bad he will be.

But when Smith takes his leave in May McCoist will have a fairly lengthy to-do-list.

He needs to rebuild his side, he needs to do that on a budget. He needs to try and ensure that the rebuilding process is quick enough to allow him to keep pace with a Celtic side who might - just might - be heading into the new season with the confidence of a newly won treble behind them.

And all that has to be done while coping with the distraction of a club in a state of confusion off the park - a malaise that the courts and HMRC might make even worse.

It's quite a task. Achieve it all and never will the 'Super Ally' tag have been so deserved.

Achieve just some of it and the myriad powers that be at Rangers might still think they've found the right man.

It could be that Rangers are preparing - silently, without fanfare - for a period where trophies are less important than re-establishing financial safety.

If so, then a hungry new manager - we can hardly call McCoist young - with a passion for the club might be exactly the man they are looking for.

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The SPL Weekend: Dirty Dozen

One word from a dozen managers to sum up the SPL this weekend:

Aberdeen 5 v 0 Kilmarnock

Craig Brown: “Pleasing.”
Mixu Paatelainen: “Farcical.”

Hearts 2 v 1 Dundee United

Jim Jefferies: “Determination.”
Peter Houston: “Cruel.”

Inverness 2 v 0 St Johnstone

Terry Butcher: “Effort.”
Derek McInnes: “Disappointed.”

Motherwell 1 v 0 Hamilton

Stuart McCall: “Huge.”
Billy Reid: “Conned.”

Celtic 3 v 0 Rangers

Neil Lennon: “Fantastic.”
Walter Smith: “Deserved.”

St Mirren 0 v 1 Hibs

Danny Lennon: “Choke.”
Colin Calderwood: “Gritty.”

I might try this again in the couple of weeks. See how often the same managers use the same vocabulary to describe their team’s performance.

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Old Firm Preview: The Neutral View

I like custard. When I know I’m going to be having custard I am happy. I look forward to my custard experience.

And then the custard arrives. And it’s lumpy. This disappoints me.

Too often in the past Old Firm games have been like lumpy custard. You look forward to the big event and then you are treated to a dish about as appetising as cat vomit.

Thankfully at Ibrox a couple of weeks ago Rangers and Celtic just about lived up to hype. It was 90 minutes of cup football that Scotland had no need to be ashamed of.

Rangers and Celtic as ambassadors? With a couple of those Ibrox goals they were spoiling us.

There is, I suppose, also a danger that eating custard all time - even if it is the best custard in the world - would get a bit dull.

All of which runs through my jumbled mind as I preview act four of this season’s Celtic v Rangers seven part epic.

Old Firm supporting friends are forever telling me that each and every Old Firm game matters. But this one might just matter more than most.

The league table doesn’t lie. But it can lead you down a blind alley. The table shows Celtic at the top with Rangers' two games in hand giving the Ibrox side a predicted one point lead.

Doesn’t feel like that though. Since the January 2nd Old Firm clash the momentum has shifted inexorably towards Celtic, an impression that the Scottish Cup draw at Ibrox did little to dispel.

Celtic seem to be playing the better football with a more resilient and more adaptable squad. They have fewer fears over fixture congestion and they don’t have the added distraction of financial shenanigans that would make an Enron accountant blush.

And yet.

Are we really ready to write Rangers off? Would this not be typical of the Ibrox side, to travel to Celtic Park and mug the league leaders in their own back yard.

The better side doesn’t always win these games. And what a boost Rangers would get from winning this and halting what is beginning to look like a Celtic procession to the title.

The importance of the game will dictate Rangers’ tactics. I don’t think this is a game they can afford to lose. Walter Smith’t team will be set out to be difficult to beat. That’s the main aim. Anything else is a bonus.

Neil Lennon could spring a surprise and play both Anthony Stokes and Gary Hooper but he’ll be acutely aware of the need to guard against being caught on the counter so I’d expect him to start with just one up front.

Oddly home advantage has proved redundant in the games so far this season with Rangers coming back to steamroller Celtic in the second half of the first Parkhead clash and Celtic twice outplaying Rangers at Ibrox.

What outcome can we expect? Undoubtedly this has the prospect of being hugely interesting. Will Scott Brown and El Hadji Diouf pick up where they left off a fortnight go? Has this creaking Rangers’ squad got one last push left? How will Celtic’s young squad - and their still inexperienced manager - cope with the weight of expectation?

It could be a cracker. Even if it’s not it should be, at the very least, intriguing.

Earlier in the week I backed Celtic to win this 2-1. I’ll stand by that although I now disagree with myself.

If it’s going to be that close I think Rangers will nick it. If not then I think Celtic will win it more comfortably.

It is always dangerous to read too much into one game. But I think this one defines the season. It’s that important.

Hold on to your hats.

The Celtic view
The Rangers view

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Old Firm Preview: The Rangers View

Old Firm match day four and the stakes are high for Rangers. Time, then, for a Rangers eye view of tomorrow's events.

And it's a pleasure to welcome Scott Johnson of The Footy Blog - recently voted Scotland's top football blog (ahem!) - to give us his blue take on how the match might develop.

So this is the fourth Old Firm game of the season so far…feels like the four hundredth really. And we have three more to come!

Ah well, at least as a Gers fan I know the passion will be there on Sunday. It is an important game for us, we need to try and gain the momentum back as in form Celtic are currently looking better than us.

There is added spice this time for two reasons: The Scott Brown/El Hadji Diouf feud and the fact we actually had an entertaining game last time.

Problems seem to be looming for Rangers though. This fixture comes in the middle of two Europa League games with Sporting Lisbon. In the first tie with the Portuguese side, Rangers lost a lead and that has been the story of their season so far in most of their tougher games. They also have a backlog of SPL matches and Celtic have the extra points in the bag, that’s pressure Walter Smith and his squad do not need.

Lee McCulloch is a big miss, never thought I would say that, and young Jamie Ness is struggling to last ninety minutes. Steve Davis has not been anywhere near as influential this season and Davie Weir is becoming a liability, just look at the Samaras goal in the last SPL Old Firm clash when McGregor had no confidence Weir could stop Samaras. Then there is the point that Celtic have out performed us twice at Ibrox in the last two meetings.

So with all that said Rangers have no chance, right?

Wrong!

It’s an Old Firm game after all. Form counts for very little, the best team on the day are prone to lose. Nikica Jelavic has come back into the side and settled in as the number one striker. He reminds me of Dado Prso, not because they are both Croatian but because of their tough natures, work ethic and team play, but he also adds goals.

Tactics? Well, 4-5-1 vs 4-5-1, simple.

So my prediction, well a boring draw is what my head says but my heart say 1-0 Rangers - Diouf with the goal!

Thanks again to Scott. TheFootyBlog.net can be found here or follow @thefootyblognet on Twitter here.

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Rangers v Sporting Lisbon

A quiet few days for Rangers kicks off with a Govan welcome to Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League.

The teams last met in 2008 when Rangers were on their way to the final of the UEFA Cup. What Walter Smith would give for that to be an omen of good times ahead.

In his tactical preview for Scottish Football Forums, Andrew Gibney of Gibfootballshow looks at Walter Smith's options:

Much of the pre-match build is based over what system Walter Smith will play in the first leg. Does he stick with the tried and tested 5-4-1 or with some new players at his disposal he could go for a more aggressive 4-5-1. Lee McCulloch’s injury will have been a massive blow to any of Walter’s plans and it gives him a few key decisions to make before kick-off.

One of those formations would seem to be the most obvious decision for Smith. But rumours from Graham Spiers on Twitter suggest that Rangers might be going with two up front for tonight's game - or at the very least with another forward instructed to support Lafferty up front.

We've been focusing a lot recently on Rangers' loss of momentum in the SPL as Celtic have hit top spot. But what would Sporting, some 23 points being league leaders Porto, give to be within a couple of games hand from the top of the table?

So tonight perhaps offers a welcome distraction for the Portuguese. But is it an unwelcome interruption to Rangers' preparations for Sunday's Old Firm clash?

Smith says that is absolutely not the case. Much depends on the result. If Rangers perform well and get a decent result while avoiding injuries they are buoyed for the weekend. If they get beaten and the scrapes and bruises mount up then the hangover might last until Sunday.

Certainly Rangers will need to be fully focused in a clash which seems winnable. On current form neither of these sides are in the top ranks of the European aristocracy and it could be quite a tight affair. But there is no reason for Rangers to be overawed by the presence of the opposition.

And that might just make up Smith's mind when he weighs the benefits and disadvantages of showing slightly more adventure than he has on previous European nights.

The right attitude and the right start will get the crowd going and convince the players of their ability to win this game. A lot of that can come from the manager's choice of formation and tactics.

For Smith, the arch pragmatist, an emphasis on attack would also allow him to move the focus from the gap in Rangers' midfield caused by the absence of Lee McCulloch that Andrew mentions.

Smith might have cause to curse that absence before the season is out but a shift away from the no risks approach would be a way of papering over the cracks in the short term.

The European nights are drawing in for Smith. Why not let his troops off the leash for once?

It could be an interesting night at Ibrox. I'll miss it, happily ensconced in the local picture house watching The King's Speech instead.

And Rangers can't afford a stuttering, stammering performance tonight (that gag was so blindingly obvious I'm almost ashamed) because right now they look a side at the end of their period of pre-eminence.

They can't allow that feeling to be reinforced by a poor display against a struggling Sporting side before Sunday's Old Firm clash.

Scottish Football Blog prediction: A rare European win for Rangers in a close encounter.

> Nikica Jelavic ineligible, Kenny Miller gone, Kyle Lafferty not long recovered from illness. Could El Hadji Diouf play a big, big part for Rangers tonight. On STV's football site Zonal Marking suggests that seeing Diouf in the lone striker's role "wouldn't be a surprise."

> "A rare European win?" Rangers have won only one of their last 17 European games from open play, reports Roddy Forsyth.

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SPL: Spring Break

Another example of Old Firm managers in agreement: Walter Smith and Neil Lennon do not think the current spate of weather related postponements are a valid enough reason to extend the SPL season.

Fair enough. A little ecumenicalism obviously goes a long way.

But don't come bleating to me about a fixture pile up in March. And let's not even mention all that UEFA Cup final hoo-hah from a couple of years ago.

Is this not all a little premature anyway?

The current backlog is not yet at the critical stage. The SPL have pointed out in their discussions of a winter break that the worst month for call offs is January. If we are destined to suffer this cold weather for another four or five weeks we might have a problem.

Knickers would be better remaining untwisted until then.

But all this does allow me to air an intriguing suggestion I heard over a pint or four at the weekend.

Scottish weather being what it is a winter break is going to be very difficult to schedule. So don't.

Instead work a two or three week break in March into the SPL calendar.

If the weather causes a backlog there would be a clear window for games to be played in the, hopefully, less fresh strippingly cold climes of spring. If there is no backlog the clubs get a couple of weeks to recharge their batteries in time for a championship, European or relegation run-in.

Worthy of consideration, surely?

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Play Off, Play Off And Play The Game

Walter Smith and Neil Lennon appear to have spent much of yesterday singing from the same hymn sheet.

Not Christmas carols at an ecumenical festive service.

More songs of condemnation aimed at Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson.

Thompson has suggested that the SPL should look at play-offs. Not the oft mentioned relegation play offs. No, he's after championship deciding play offs between the top four sides at the end of each season.

Which has induced a certain hysteria among the Old Firm management. "Nonsense," "ludicrous" and "bollocks" sum up the tone of their responses.

Smith and Lennon have probably missed the point. Thompson would probably expect to see blue snow falling on Christmas Day before he sees his plan become a reality.

His aim, I think, is to convey his disappointment at the plans put forward by the SPL and to show that other systems are available. And maybe have some preprandial fun along the way.

He will also have known that he'd be criticised for cooking up a system that damages the integrity of the season long league championship. But he might argue that works at both ends of the table.

If clubs are expected to rubber stamp a play off system that includes play off for the teams finishing second and third bottom, why should the two dominant clubs not also be asked to jeapordise their duopoly at the top?

A valid enough argument, one that I suspect some non-Old Firm fans might be drawn to and a fairly intriguing way for Thompson to make his point.

Certainly it appears that the proposals put forward by the SPL and backed by Henry McLeish look to have no chance of carrying the 11 to 1 majority of SPL clubs that they require.

Back to the drawing board?

Play Off Thoughts

Do I agree with a four team play off at the top of the SPL? No. Because I'm an old fashioned kind of guy and you either win the league or you don't. Simples.

But maybe Thompson is on to something.

In 12 SPL campaigns Rangers and Celtic have finished in top two places 11 times with Rangers finishing third in the 2005/2006 season.

In those 12 seasons they have won 32 of the 36 trophies on offer in Scotland.

So even with a play off system they would still be expected to dominate, with seedings at the semi final stage giving a big chance of an extra, hugely meaningful, Old Firm game at Hampden each season. I've a feeling the broadcasters might like that.

But it is hard to make the argument that the third and fourth placed teams would deserve to be involved.

In the 12 SPL seasons the closest the third placed team has finished behind the second placed team is one point. That was in 2005/2006 when Rangers were breathing down Hearts' backs.

In every other season the Old Firm have filled the top two spots. The closest any side has come to them is the seven point gap achieved by Aberdeen in 2006/2007. That same year Hearts in fourth place were only nine points behind.

In the other ten seasons no team has come closer than 13 points behind whichever Old Firm side has occupied second. In seven seasons the gap has been 15 points or more. In 2002/2003 Hearts in third place finished 35 points behind and fourth placed Kilmarnock were 40 points behind.

The SPL's history suggests that third and fourth placed teams simply don't deserve a play off for the championship.

Can the same argument be made for teams at the other end of the table?

The gap between bottom and second and third bottom tends to be much closer.

In 2001/02 bottom club St Johnstone finished 19 points behind Motherwell, three years later Livingston were 15 points adrift of Motherwell and Dunfermline and Gretna's fairytale ended some 17 points behind Kilmarnock.

In no other season has there been more than ten points between the bottom club and the second bottom club and only twice has the gap between bottom and third bottom been ten points or more.

The SPL is tighter at the bottom than it as at the top. That, rightly or wrongly, makes a relegation play off easier to justify than a championship play off.

The teams in second and third bottom are likely to have spent the season looking more like relegation candidates than the teams in third and fourth place have looked like champions.

> In 2001/02 Celtic won the SPL with 103 points. Rangers in second had 85 points. Livingston were third with 58 points, Aberdeen fourth with 55.

It is difficult not to accept Lennon and Smith's arguments that league tables like that are so conclusive that giving Livingston and Aberdeen and even second placed Rangers the chance to take the title after two extra games is a bit odd.

Odd. But probably also quite amusing if you don't happen to be a Celtic fan.

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Rangers v Manchester United

A break from the surreal squabbling over referee’s strikes and pointing the finger(s) of blame.

Tonight Scottish football is touched by the glamour of the Champion’s League and the might of Manchester United.

Glasgow could do with a bit of glamour actually. Lovely place, nice people. But even in a recession I’d have thought they could do better than hiring The Krankies to flick the switch on their Christmas lights.

The verdict of an English colleague who was there with a Spanish friend: Ian and Jeannette Tough have a unique brand of humour that loses much of the, well, humour in the translation. Seems it gains a lot of creepiness though.

Anyway the lights are turned on and the council budget is hardly touched. Which means Sir Alex Ferguson can expect red carpet treatment as he returns to Govan.

The last time he was about these parts Ferguson’s 2003 United side enjoyed a 1-0 victory in a fairly tight match that was swung by a fifth minute goal from Phil Neville.

Lot of water under the bridge since then and the gap between the two sides has grown ever more pronounced. Even Manchester United’s debt makes Rangers’ fiscal shenanigans look amateurish.

But shocks do happen. It was said that Rangers lacked ambition during this season’s 0-0 draw at Old Trafford. Except the ambition was to snaffle a point. That job was done. Walter Smith is happy to let others worry about his tactics.

United will qualify for the last 16 with another draw tonight but they’re unlikely to arrive at Ibrox happy to settle for a point.

Everyone in football seems to agree that they aren’t anywhere near their best at the moment. But they’re joint top of the English Premier League, top of their Champion’s League group and yet to concede a goal in Europe. It’s a successful enough kind of shoddiness.

Robbed of Bougherra, Webster and Edu through injury and with Sasa Papac doubtful Rangers are going to be forced to tinker. The emphasis will still be on defence but the available personnel will mean there will have to be some shift to attack.

Will that expose them to an onslaught? Wayne Rooney is likely to return to United’s starting line-up. But which Wayne Rooney? The highly rewarded passenger that he’s been of late or the player who would eat Kirk Broadfoot for breakfast in his pomp?

We’ll have to wait for the answer to that one. The ideal scenario for Rangers is that Rooney not only remains off form but also creates a sense of unease among his teammates. Such an outcome would send Ferguson apoplectic.

He’d never admit it about his old mate but the more annoyed Ferguson gets the happier Walter Smith is likely to be.

A tough ask for Rangers. They need another night of unlikely heroics, for United to show the hesitancy that’s marked their play this season. But United’s campaign has been dominated by a stubborness that suggests that, even if they are far from being Ferguson’s best vintage, they might be the squad most closely built in his image.

Off-form but determined, I’d expect United to get the win.

We’ll also get the first chance of the week to see a foreign referee strutting his stuff on a Scottish pitch. Massimo Busacca apparently once gave fans a “two finger salute.”

Unfortunately I think Mr Busacca might be a touch expensive for the SFA to parachute in for a weekend SPL game.

Still, if we’re going to be doing this on a budget it seems that The Krankies are both cheap and available.

Smith Makes His Point

No apologies from Walter Smith as Rangers held Manchester United at Old Trafford last night:

"In the Champions League, we now have to try and nullify the opponents some other way. Scottish teams are now in a situation where we are unable to compete with English clubs in signing the top players from all over the British Isles, unlike many years ago. So we have to try and find another way to succeed.

"So, from our point of view, we are pleased with the determination and high level of concentration the players showed. They restricted Manchester United to very few opportunities."

And, really, why should there be?

I wrote before the game that a draw would be a brilliant result. I was concerned that Rangers needed to make sure that they didn’t lose an early goal.

The 10 changes made by Alex Ferguson helped them, good as these players are, there was always going to be a lack of fluidity in the opening exchanges with such drastic shuffling of the pack. It was Rangers good fortune that United were unable to find that fluidity at any stage.

So it’s not pretty to watch but it’s a system that works and allows Rangers to compete on what, as Smith himself has pointed out, is not a level playing field.

We saw last year that when Rangers show a bit more adventure at home they can be undone by teams that are simply better than them. Why should they travel to the big European clubs and play a system that makes life easier for their opponents?

Anti-football? Whatever, it’s a results business and you make your choices based on that.

Given the disasters Scottish football has faced in Europe this season I’ll take last night’s parking of the bus at Old Trafford.

Still a long way to go for Rangers though.

Rangers Win Weiss Race

Looks to be a good bit of business in Walter Smith has managed to secure Vladimir Weiss on loan. He could well be a revelation in the SPL this season and inject the sort of pace and width that Rangers look to lack. Missing out on him would be another bitter pill for Neil Lennon to swallow at Celtic.

The first Old Firm of the season for Rangers?