Simon Jordan and Jim White argue what Rangers win at Dortmund says about Scottish football
The Rangers win Dortmund last night was “what Scottish football needs” and shows the “outrage” of how it’s been valued, say Jim White and Simon Jordan.
Gers thrashed the German side 4-2 at the Signal Iduna Park to shock the Europa League favourites and take a strong lead back to Ibrox for the return leg, which Jordan says will be “a lion’s den, a cauldron of atmosphere, with those fans being at it, on it and across it.”
The pundits believe the result was a coming out party for Scottish football in Europe after a disappointing decade-plus.
Speaking live on talkSPORT this morning (18 February, 10.20am) White said: “It’s great that they’re talking about that result all over Europe because commercially it’s what Scottish football needs, reputation-ally it’s what it needs.”
Jordan linked it to the SPFL winner only reaching the Champions League Group Stage automatically from this season, saying: “It was an outrage it didn’t happen in the first place.
“You have to look at the Scottish authorities and say ‘Why in God’s name did you allow yourself to only ever get into the qualifying stages?’.
“But bottom-lining it, this is good, this is good for Scottish football. It’s a re-emergence”.
Big message
From Rangers’ point of view this was a statement that they are truly back to where they belong after a long journey back to the top.
The liquidation of the club in 2012 may have contributed to the loss of standing that Scottish clubs have had in Europe over the past decade.
While climbing the lower leagues Gers were obviously not a factor in continental football, and it is not too simplistic to draw a line between a lack of an equal opponent domestically to Celtic’s lack of impact as well.
The hope is that success should breed confidence and further success, as it was a front-foot performance at a European giant that hasn’t been seen for some time.
But it has to be put in the context of the poor 3-1 home loss that the Hoops went down to on the same night to Bodo/Glimt, in the third-tier Europa Conference League.
Too often that has been the kind of showing that Scottish sides have put out in recent years, and yet Celtic blew the Light Blues apart at Parkhead just this month.
While it demonstrates the unpredictability of football, it will take more than this one major result to put Scottish football properly back on the map, and the crucial next step is that Rangers finish the job at Ibrox next week.
In other Rangers news, The Athletic’s Jordan Campbell has shared how Dortmund fans reacted inside the stadium to their performance.