Andy Walker pours scorn on Rangers after European failing with lost respect claim
Rangers have lost the respect across Europe that they had built up with the Europa League run last season, according to Andy Walker.
Less than six months since the club went to a penalty shootout against Eintracht Frankfurt in the final of the second-tier continental competition they have been dumped from the top tier with the worst record in its 30-year history.
The performances have been night and day from one season to the next in Europe and Walker claims that all the good will that impressed onlookers as the Light Blues overcame the likes of Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig is now gone.
Walker told Rob Wotton on Sky Sports, via the Football Daily on Twitter: “They had a lot of respect across Europe just a few months ago when they reached the final of the Europa League with some really stirring performances.
“But that respect is gone now, it’s the worst record in Champions League history. They’ve been well beaten, they’ve been outplayed, they’ve lost heavily and they’ve not been good enough to compete in the Champions League.
“It’s been a sorry tale.”
Harsh but true
As galling as it is to have to accept criticism from a Celtic man it is probably true that much of the good work from the previous campaign has been squandered.
The fans will always have the memories of the run to Seville, although they won’t enjoy the ones of actually being there for a number of reasons, but it should have been the stepping stone to better things.
Instead, having finally got over the hump to return to the Champions League group stage, many will be left feeling that it would have been better had it not been achieved.
Getting knocked out of the group would have been one thing, coming bottom another, and even heavy defeats against some strong sides would be palatable if there was a feeling that the Gers were showing they at least belonged.
But even Rangers fans will have been left wondering what the point of all the struggle to get back to this stage was for if it was just going to pass the team by with such a whimper.
Add to that the fact that the financial boost is apparently a figment in the imagination of everybody outside the Ibrox hierarchy who claim it doesn’t exist, the fans have therefore had to swallow the humiliation of being labeled the worst side in Champions League history and can’t even look forward to a boost in the transfer market.
Despite the mitigating circumstances of injuries, level of opposition, and domestic finances, somebody has to have an explanation for how poor the European campaign has been.
And if the results back in Scotland don’t now take a significant upturn there will be far more pressing questions to answer as well.
In other Rangers news, Ally McCoist isn’t surprised that the Bears and Celtic both came last in their groups but has revealed what he is much more concerned by now.