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Euro nightmare for Rangers
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Last updated: 5th August 2008
Rangers have crashed out of Europe after going down 2-1 to Lithuanian side FBK Kaunas in their UEFA Champions League qualifier.
Last season's Uefa Cup finalists now have only domestic competition to focus on after one of the most shocking results in their history.
Walter Smith's side were strong favourites to progress to the third qualifying round despite drawing 0-0 at Ibrox in the first leg.
But despite taking the lead, Rangers were stunned as Kaunas hit back with former Hearts player Linas Pilibaitis heading home the winner three minutes from time.
What happens now for Rangers? Is Walter Smith still the right man to lead the club?
Will a lack of European competition work in their favour, given the fatigue which set in during the closing stages of last season?
Or is this result the realisation of a nightmare for everyone connected with the Ibrox outfit?
Have your say using the form below.
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Comments
Michael Connolly says...
I'm sick of English people sayin the old firm would not make it in the premiership, i was at the Celtic vs Man City, Man city put out a pretty strong team, Celtic put out alot of youngsters or Celtic rejects and the youngsters looked great. Rangers don't look like a Strong team right now because Walter Smith has got it wrong, But what about Celtic vs Man Utd home and away, Man Utd at home got a dodgy penalty awarded to them to put them 2-1, Final score 3-2, Celtic were unlucky to lose that to a bad decision, Celtic beat Man utd at home 1-0, With Man Utd getting whats seemed another dodgy penalty, Nevertheless Celtic won that game and went through to the last 16 where they faced AC Milan and Held them for 180 minutes and more. If Celtic and Rangers were put in the premiership, Give them 5-6 years and they would be back in Europe, probably UEFA Cup. Also if you were to take a leaf out of Arsene Wengers book it would not work as the scottish game is not tht type of game, also we do not get the money to buy the kind of class Arsene Wengers got, and when was the last time arsenal really challenged for the league I will leave on this Celtic and Rangers both have great fan base and are better than your Derbys and evenn your Man Vitys on what i have seen tonight
Posted 23:44 6th August 2008
Niall Whyte (Celtic fan) says...
Not only have Rangers let themselves down but also the whole of scottish football is a laughing stock across europe,heres hoping celtic can bring some pride and dignity back.After the rioting in Manchester im sure there are a lot of people out there who are quite pleased at the result but pleases dont tar all of scottish footbal with the same brush.the grass is GREENER on the other side
Posted 22:54 6th August 2008
Chris Slavin says...
Celtic fan here. Although lastnite was a total disaster for rangers and scottish football, it was only one game. All you arrogant english fans who support premiership teams, in the last 5yrs there has been two teams from scotland in european finals and there have been the same amount from england. That is despite the fact that celtic and rangers have only a fraction of the amount of transfer money available to them compared to premiership teams. That is why if the old firm came to the premiership, with all the money and glam that goes with it we would just be as big as man utd, liverpool ect, and also just as an attractive option for the big players as well.
Posted 20:35 6th August 2008
Campbell Mckean (Rangers fan) says...
Where oh where do you start....i know these people that are saying rangers and celtic wouldnt make it in the premier league need to realise how much money either of those 2 teams get for winning there league and then look at how well they have done recently on this money and then look at what wigan got last year for staying 33 million... rangers and celtic got no where near that from there league position or tv money so wake up and smell the coffee!! Not saying they'd win it but theyd do very well with the money and fan base both clubs have. As for Walter and his shambles that he calls a team...last year papered over the cracks...murray park cost 20 million yet we play no youths in our team? where has all the money we got from our deal with JJB gone time for Sir Murray to leave and let someone with ambition at the helm of the greatest club on the plante. And to the tims out there.....least we didnt get beat 5-1.
Posted 20:30 6th August 2008
Aaron Moran (Celtic fan) says...
All i have to say is rangers got what they deserved after booing robbie keane! Well done to kaunas. I would have loved if it had been Eircom league side Drogheda Utd who knocked rangers out of europe! Celtic for 4 in a row!!
Posted 20:20 6th August 2008
Martin Szemis (Celtic fan) says...
I have to agree with Aly Campbell here. Celtic and Rangers have easily ten times the support than I'd say a third of the Premiership combined. I hate to harp on about it, but the truth is the reason why we struggle in Europe is the severe lack of money made available due to TV rights, sponsorship etc. If both these teams had the resources and TV money someone as drasticly bad as Fulham have, we're talking Celtic and Rangers in the top 6 easily. And to this Sheffield Wednesday fan, who said Celtic and Rangers should take a leaf out Wenger's book by playing young Scottish talent, last time I checked Arsenal had bout 2 English first teamers in their entire squad. Celtic and Rangers make up 2/3 of the national side, who last time I checked, gave the World Cup finalists a run for their money in qualifying, where as England were boringly drawing with Macedonia at home. How more players aren't enticed to playing in front of 50,000+ every second week, European football (almost) every season, a chance to play in one of the top 5 derby's in WORLD football (as rated in last month's World Soccer magazine, without an English rep in the top 15 in sight) and always the chance of silverware instead of absolute mediocrity at places as dire as the JJB, Craven Cottage or the Reebok is beyond me.
Posted 18:25 6th August 2008
Drew B says...
This has to be the worst Rangers team of the past 25 years. There are at best only 2-3 players worth keeping, the rest are not of Rangers standard. Walter Smith must resign with immediate effect, and let a manager with new ideas and attacking football take over. He has 8 strikers and will only ever play 1. He got lucky last season with dreadful football, but his luck ran out last night. My worst fear now is that the league will be over as well within a few weeks, because he will continue with this rubbish.
Posted 17:48 6th August 2008
James Corcoran says...
One bad result for Rangers and people start writing in about the state of scottish football, pre season friendly results and that the old firm would be relegated from the English Premier League. Scotland are not that far behind England in the world rankings so we cant be that bad and have certainly improved in the last few years. Pre season friendlies are exactly that and competetively you could say Scottish teams have a better record against English Teams than vice versa recently. If Rangers and Celtic were in the premiership then they wouldn't have the same players as now due to the fact there budgets would be much larger. If they got the same tv money as Spurs added to there larger worldwide fan base they would without a doubt break into the top four and thats the worry for all the clubs, a Scottish team winning the English league......eventually.
Posted 17:35 6th August 2008
Bill Nicol (Rangers fan) says...
Have supported rangers for over 45 years through good times and bad. Saddened but not too surprised by last nights result. Tactics all last season were negative and based upon damage limitation. I cannot understand why Kris Boyd remains on the bench. Kenny Miller, Novo, Darcheville, Lafferty and Velicka are not in his league. The financial implications are too scarey to contemplate. We need some imagination and quality in the middle of ther park and to buy another 3 average strikers was not a wise investment. We could not even afford the £4 million demanded by Fulham for Davis who was one of our best last year. It's been bad before but I am genuinely concerned at this time.Lets try and play with some flair and invention please.....
Posted 17:24 6th August 2008
Martin Spence (Rangers fan) says...
There has to be change at Ibrox. We have a team of average players at best. The buck stops with Walter, he has signed more mediocre players and we will struggle to finish 2nd in the SPL. Paul Le Guen was removed from his position, but at no point did he subject Rangers fans to the rubbish we witnessed last night. The kind of football that is displayed by Rangers at the moment is the worst I have ever seen.
Posted 16:25 6th August 2008
Ally Campbel says...
I agree Rangers didn't deserve anything out this tie, they were shocking! Walter Smith should have invested in his midfield and defence badly instead of buying two strikers, he has a perfectly good goalscorer on his bench who he constantly fail to play (Kris Boyd) and I'm not saying that because I'm a Kilmarnock fan!! As for the Old Firm not being able to cut it in the premiership u can't base that on Pre Season Friendlies look at the teams Celtic for example have put out in Europe from the Premier League!
Posted 16:18 6th August 2008
Andy Mccafferty (Celtic fan) says...
Okay i laughed when i heard about this result, but after reading some of the comments on about scottish football being sooooooooo bad that we were kidding ourselfs thinkin we may be allowed in the EPL its really has annoyed me. Saying that Rangers and Celtic would be relegated str8 away is a joke. Okay so Rangers didnt play attractive football to get to the UEFA Cup final last season, but the fact is they got there, everyone knows how borin chelsea are and they have billions to spend! Celtic were in the last 16 of champs league for last 2 seasons, do u think sunderland or newcastle would acheive this?? Yes the EPL is a better league, probs best league in the world in my opinion, but u cant have a go at people for who they support, its not our fault we love these teams and it just so happens they play in a rubbish league. Celtic may have had a bad pre-season but who cares about pre season, its only to gain match fitness anyways. Ill b watchin the Man City v Celtic game 2night, if we lose doesnt mean we would b relegated from the league, if i remember correctly celtic knocked out liverpool in UEFA cup tiwce in 4years and blackburn so shut up with the ranting that celtic and rangers dnt cut it (maybe rangers) but celtic do have quality and would win quite comfortably against most EPL teams in competitive matches, 1-0 celtic against man utd says it all really!
Posted 15:29 6th August 2008
Atlee Hendry (Rangers fan) says...
Well Smith keeps buying 4th rate scottish players. Rangers since Souness, have always had the knack of buying stars early in their career or buying big names. Smith is the one who has ended this trend. I mean back than Rangers have seen players like Gascoigne, Laudrup, the De Boars, Mols, Van Bronkhorst etc we even had people like Rino Gattuso and mrco Negri here. What we got now the worst squad in living memory (no matter what they did last season). Even 8 years ago people like Arshavin or Pavluchecnko would have been heading here.
Posted 14:48 6th August 2008
Gerry Gorman (Celtic fan) says...
Rangers are lost without Carlos Cuellar in the defense and as for David Weir and Christian Dailly, well they are well past they're sell by date!!! They should have invested in some decent defenders for a start instead of buying three below average centre forwards who can't even find the back of the net!!! Get real Rangers!!!
Posted 13:59 6th August 2008
Graeme Sawers (Rangers fan) says...
Shocking result but seen it coming!!! We dont have one player with genuine class since steve davis left. Walter should have splashed the cash on davis he was outstanding last year in the league and espescially in europe and. most of the players were playing above themselfs last year and it showed last night!
Posted 13:29 6th August 2008
Iain Baird (Rangers fan) says...
Rangers are in a mess, we have brought in distinctly average players. Weir is past it, Dailly isnt good enough and what is the point in Miller and Lafferty. They are not goalscorers. We needed attacking and creative players and he has wasted nearly 9 million. The 4 - 5 - 1 formation is a joke. Get back to playing 4 - 4- 2 and attacking teams, Boyd will score 30 or 40 goals and win us the league if he is in the team. The style of football is a joke and i would defend my team to the end but no wonder those in England are laughing at us. Smith must go and now
Posted 13:25 6th August 2008
Alan Molyneux (Liverpool fan) says...
As a Liverpool fan, I am made up Kaunas won. I would nornally have supported Rangers in this tie, but the disgraceful sectarian booing of Robbie Keane and YNWA (because Celtic fans sing it) in Saturday's pre-season friendly meant the Rangers fans got what they deserved. Well done Kaunas.
Posted 12:25 6th August 2008
Bill Wales (Rangers fan) says...
I was astonished to read recently that Walter Smith was reported as saying that the Kaunus tie was more important than the UEFA Cup final, since it would set us on our way to qualifying for the all important Champions League Group stages. Could this be the same Walter who refused last season to declare, despite the wishes of the vast majority of `Gers fans, that winning the SPL should be the club`s no.1 priority? Could it be the same Walter who, despite the fact that we are crying out for a central defender, a left back ( and sadly, Stevie Smith is not the answer ), an effective right midfielder and a central midfielder, spent more than £6m. on three forwards, two of whom have no track record to speak of in the goal scoring department? Smith thought he could progress beyond the Lithuanians without strengthening the areas most needed first, presumably because he thought he could land his targets for less closer to the transfer window, and his strategy backfired spectacularly. Sadly, Walter is at Ibrox, not to serve the best interests of the fans, but to do whatever Murray thinks it will take to reduce the debt and dress the club up before he parades it for sale. Oh, and incidentally, there could be a nice final pay day for Walter were that to happen. Unfortunately, after his selection and tactical blunders last night, and I don`t buy his, "the team we put out should have been good enough to win" nonsense, it`s back to the drawing board and we will be forced to watch the dross his teams serve up for another season. Are there any benevolent billionaires out there? WCW
Posted 12:25 6th August 2008
Neil Tonoman says...
A really disappointing result last night, but not unexpected after the failure to beat them at Ibrox. I don't know but maybe it feels worse ater the disappointment of losing the league and UEFA cup final last season. I do have to question Walter Smiths judgement in not playing Boyd from the start in a game when we needed goals....but Miller should be capable of scoring against opposition like that. It's sad to read the comments of some fans regarding Smith as I'm sure we'll learn the lessons of last season and win the league this year...but we have to be realistic and accept that Rangers can't attract high quality players. We are a selling club...Hutton last season being a case in point. I would urge all Rangers fans to get behind Messrs Smith and McCoist and support the club fully for the up coming season.... if we fail to improve on last season by not winning the league then we can call for a new management team, but not at the start of a new campaign.
Posted 12:23 6th August 2008
David Matthews (Sheffield Wednesday fan) says...
If Rangers and Celtice were to come to the Premier League they would get RELEGATED. Witness the recent friendlies. The football that Rangers played last year to get to the UEFA final was awful. 10 men strung across the penalty area and hope to win the shootout. Take a leaf out of Arsene Wenger's book.They need to encourage young Scottish talent and stop buying these journeymen who can't cut it in England. Ferguson is one of them. He was hopeless at Blackburn.
Posted 12:12 6th August 2008
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