Christian Dailly: No surprise Rangers missed promotion
Sunday 14 June 2015 08:19, UK
Christian Dailly was not surprised that former team Rangers failed to secure a place in the top flight in Scotland this season due to behind the scenes turmoil at the club.
The Glasgow giants will have to play at least one more season in the Championship after a resounding defeat by Motherwell in a two-legged play-off final.
Dailly was not shocked that the side failed to make the grade, however, as problems both on and off the field in recent years came to a head with an unsuccessful campaign last term.
He said: “I’m not overly surprised because there has been a lot of turmoil there behind the scenes and it is always going to have an effect, especially with the quality of the sides who were in the league last year. It was never going to be plain sailing.
“It has been difficult for Rangers, although they have had more money for wages etcetera to spend on players it is still a difficult situation for them to play under the circumstances that they have been playing in.
“They didn’t have players who were miles better than the other teams, they just had players who were a little bit better so I’m not overly surprised but it has been a really difficult situation for them.”
Dailly said he has been shocked by the situation at Rangers over the past three years which saw the club go from competing in the UEFA Cup Final in 2008 during his time in Glasgow to playing in the bottom tier of Scottish football.
“Never imagined it,” he said. “We never could have seen it. You’re talking when I was there of being in the UEFA Cup Final, we won the league and cups.
“It was fantastic to be part of something like that, just to come in and see what it was like to come in and be involved at a club like that. That’s why I did it, just to see what it was like, if it would meet your expectations and the whole place is just geared towards winning.
“To see what has happened to it is so disappointing but hopefully they can get back.”
Dailly, who won 67 caps for Scotland, says it is essential that Rangers sort their off-field problems out and believes having at least one more year in the Championship can help them in the long run.
He said: “I think that’s vital; the way the game is now you’re going to have to have your finances in order. You can see what has happened to Rangers and that has obviously been made clear.
“It is true, you get more chance to build while you are in the slightly lower division, you can bring some younger players through and you get a chance to keep slightly out the way a little bit.
“You are not going to have so many defeats and you can keep the confidence up, then you know that when you do make that jump up to the Premiership that you are fully ready to do it. It might just have been one year too early if they had gone up this year.”
Chairman Dave King has already said that Rangers will have to spend to get back into the Premiership and compete again at the top level.
While Dailly agrees that the club will have to spend money to recruit players of quality who are able to achieve promotion and start to challenge quickly, he warned against rash spending.
“I don’t think they have got much choice,” Dailly said. “If they think that the standard of player that they’ve not got at the moment is going to get them up and they have already got rid of some of the players to help them with wages, they are going to have to spend.
“They are going to have to help whatever manager is going to be there but again they have to be careful because they don’t want to end up in a similar situation where they have overspent and just because you spend money doesn’t mean you are guaranteed the success.
“There are some decent sides in that league again this year and they are difficult games to play in as well and every time that you play for Rangers, with the team that you’re playing against - it is like a cup final.
“Every game I went to is huge for the opposition, it is like their cup final so you have got to have players who are not only good players but are good enough to deal with playing for Rangers.”
While Rangers encountered problems last season with former manager Ally McCoist being put on gardening leave and more off-field issues, Dailly can see his former side getting it right this time around.
He said: “I see them winning promotion, it is a massive club, a fantastic club – a huge fan base and I think if they get everything right off the pitch and they feel they have a manager in there that everybody knows they can trust then they are more than capable of going up.
“One year in that league has been great for them to learn what is required and this year is a chance to go for it.”
