Dave King: Rangers deserve recognition for carrying Scottish football
Former Rangers chairman Dave King has hit out at the rest of Scottish Football ahead of the Gers Champions League opener against Ajax in Amsterdam.
The Light Blues’ achievements in Europe has seen Scotland’s European coefficient increase and now means the country has two Champions League spots.
Those associated with Celtic are always quick to mention the European coefficient, with Chris Sutton mocking Rangers (via Twitter, 5 August) after their 2-0 defeat to Union Saint-Gilloise in their Champions League qualifying campaign.
However, King has hit back and feels that Rangers’ achievements in Europe has carried the domestic game in Scotland.
As quoted by The Daily Record (Wednesday 6 August) King said: “I certainly wouldn’t have thought, with my most rose-tinted glasses, that we could possibly ever have seen Rangers on its own, from where we were, carry Scotland forward into this position where we could get into the group stages.
“But we must recognise that Rangers did this. This is not a Scottish co-efficient, this is about Rangers dragging Scottish football up and itself up at the same time.”
Spot on
Without the Gers’ remarkable achievements in Europe, it is likely that Scottish football would still be completely dominated by Celtic and would be in a sorry state.
The jibes by the likes of Sutton make little sense considering that Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side have ensured that Scotland now has two spots in Europe’s competition.
If Celtic don’t qualify for the 2023/24 Champions League automatically, then they will have Rangers to thank for ensuring they have a chance of reaching Europe’s premier competition.
As for Rangers, van Bronckhorst will be looking forward to the European competition to take the attention off their stuttering league campaign.
The Gers’ form in Europe in the 2021/22 season was exceptional and van Bronckhorst will now be looking for their Champions League campaign to kickstart their season.
Rangers have certainly been dealt a daunting group with Liverpool and Napoli to follow their trip to Ajax.
Van Bronckhorst must target home games at Ibrox if the Light Blues harbour any hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the competition.
In other Rangers news, Michael Stewart got stuck into one player after what he did in the past week