Opinion

Kris Boyd on Rangers' Champions League exit: 'This isn't a project, they need to win!'

Rangers lost 3-1 on aggregate to Dynamo Kyiv as they failed to reach the Champions League; Jefte was sent off for a second booking in the second half; Boyd: "Top teams in top countries dominate the ball and can keep it for large periods. I don’t see that with Rangers"

Kris Boyd

Football Expert

Wednesday 14 August 2024 11:51, UK

Sky Sports pundit Kris Boyd believes Rangers are in a "bad place" and the talk of them being a project is misplaced as the club "need to win".

Rangers' Champions League hopes for another season were ended on Wednesday by Dynamo Kyiv.

Philippe Clement's side eventually collapsed as substitutes Oleksandr Pikhalyonok and Nazar Voloshyn scored in quick succession to seal a 2-0 win on the night - 3-1 on aggregate - to send Dynamo through to the play-off to face RB Salzburg.

Already on a booking, Jefte was punished in the 50th minute with a second yellow as he jumped to win a header that made it a struggle for the hosts.

But the red card papered over the cracks for Rangers, according to Boyd.

"Even before the red card they weren't playing that well," he said.

"Top teams in top countries dominate the ball and can keep the ball for large periods. I don't see that with Rangers, everything is 100mph getting the ball forward. When you've got better players than the opposition, you need to keep the ball.

"It's easy to blame the red card. Rangers need to be a lot better. Phillipe Clement has spoken of improvement, I've yet to see it. The Hearts game wasn't great, there was 45 minutes that were good against Motherwell but they ended up hanging on. Then missing out on the Champions League, which would have been huge in terms of being able to invest in the squad and money generated.

"Rangers aren't in a good place.

"Rangers fans are used to watching them dominate Scottish football - right now it looks like Celtic will dominate for a long time. The word project has been used about Rangers. I can tell you Rangers as a football club has never been a project and never will be, they need to win. That's where the pressure will build. People will want time but you aren't going to get it.

"There's negativity flying around, you've drawn your first league game, out of the Champions League. The last thing Rangers need is for this to fester and have a knock-on effect."

Rangers had to play the tie at Hampden Park after a delay in materials arriving from Asia resulted in a hold-up on works to their Copland Road Stand at Ibrox, with chairman John Bennett apologising for the situation.

"This whole situation with the stadium has come back to cost Rangers again," said Boyd.

"Champions League nights at Ibrox, teams crumble. Tonight there wasn't much of an atmosphere at Hampden.

"There are so many problems at the football club but the biggest one for me is Ibrox. You look at Hampden Park - it's not home - last night there were only 39,000 there and they've got a League Cup match against St Johnstone coming up where there'll be only 20,000 there. The fans have had enough, someone needs to get a grip of the football club."