THAT RANGERS' display on Tuesday night, against Dynamo Kyiv was truly honking. Long before Rangers went down to ten men, I was wondering when Dynamo were going to break upfield and win the game, it was that obvious what was going to happen.
But let's begin by tackling the elephant in the room. Of course Jefte's dismissal, on a second yellow card was never a bookable offence in the history of football – except, for at least the last 25-years, such challenges by a defender will ALWAYS result in at the very least a free-kick for the attacking side.
I can remember becoming certain of this systemic unfairness many years ago, when, in a Hibs v St Mirren game at Easter Road, a clearance from the back by the Buddies came down inside the centre circle. From a standing start, big Mark Yardley rose to head the ball, but was beaten to it and flattened by John “Yogi” Hughes II, who had run some ten yards to meet the ball.
Yards was stationary, Yogi on the move, Yogi clearly won the ball, but St Mirren got the free-kick. This is also what happened at Hampden on Tuesday; same incident, same outcome, 20-plus years apart, showing how in football, plus ca change etc. Mind you at least our haun-knitted Scottish referee had the good sense not to book Yogi.
Tuesday night's incident also (again) demonstrates that old chestnut which this blog quotes regularly – Jock Stein's dictum that you should never give a referee a chance to make a decision which could hurt you.
Jock was taken from us nearly 40 years ago, but, still players with Scottish clubs have not digested his wisdom.
I now turn to part two of this sermon. I said throughout last season, that Rangers squad was a very-poor one, stuffed full of players who were NRC – Not Rangers Class. To his credit, Manager Philippe Clement has managed to off-load some of the worse of those failures, unfortunately, he appears to have replaced them with players similarly lacking in the qualities required of a Rangers First Team Player.
Should Celtic fail to win everything this new season, I will be amazed. Mind you, on Tuesday night, Rangers were found out in Champions League qualifying; who knows, the squad Clement is putting together might well be good enough for the lesser challenges of domestic Scottish fitba. With a following wind, they might hang on in one of the diddy European competitions until Christmas, but, I write that line more in hope than expectation.
My final take on Tuesday night. Philippe Clement had a case for calling the red card for his Brazilian: “The worst decision I have seen in 30 years in football”, but, it's been made now and it's no good crying over spilt milk – maybe he should have his players a bit better disciplined. However, I did feel, the Italian referee had decided Kyiv was the better side and the more-likely to go through. He let their players off with fouls for which he penalised Rangers' players – which tends to happen in fitba.
Clement also said he felt Rangers had been the better team. FFS, what planet is the man on? They didn't force one meaningful save out of the Dynamo 'keeper; the writing was on the wall long before Dynamo's first goal. I fear Clement, and more-worryingly the High Heid Yins inside Ibrox are in a serious state of denial as to how poor a team they currently have.
Maybe the Rangers High Heid Yins should work harder at getting non-Scottish referees onside, or are they simply so used to getting all the 75/25 decisions in Scotland, they are at a loss when they don't even get one or two 50/50s in Europe?
I WAS going to leave our Staunch Loyal fans to stew in their own juices with that one, then I saw The Scottish Sun's Facebook page, and had a huge belly laugh.
With the bias and lack of judgement which is the hallmark of the Murdoch papers, the strapline on the page told us: “Referee Marco Guida told he should never referee in the Champions League again”.
This I had to read – who had delivered this damning verdict? Had Roberto Rosetti – UEFA's Head of Referees been so upset at that red card, he had called his fellow Italian official and said something like: “Marco, tonight you sleep with the fishes”?
Sadly, this verdict had come not from an apparatchik like Roberto, it had come right from the summit of football, from Allan McGregor, Alan Hutton, Billy Dodds; giants of the game, whose opinions are listened to and acted upon inside UEFA's corridors of power in Nyon, Switzerland – NOT.
This sort of stuff demonstrates how far the Sun's standards have slipped from the glory days of Steve Wolstencroft - “The Mad Geordie”. Steve was the guy who broke the Daily Rhebel's vice-like grip on Scottish football opinion at a lower level. The way he did it, Steve didn't give a toss about cow-towing to the Old Firm, he would have a go at both cheeks of the arse of Scottish football in equal measure.
Had Steve still been running the Hun's sports pages, sure, he'd have had a go at the referee for what was truly a bad decision, but, he would never have sold out to the large conspiracy theory element within the Breengers' support.
In addition, you might think, after all this time – the club has been competing in European competitions on a more-or-less seasonal basis for nearly 70 years – it had dawned on the High Heid Yins inside Ibrox that, just as their club, and their pals across the city, get all the disputed calls in Scottish Football: it would never do to give an even break to the “Diddy Teams”. In Europe, Rangers are a “Diddy Team”.
Perhaps, instead of adding fuel to the conspiracy theories and that feeling that “Nobody likes us and we certainly care” Roger Hannah and his team in Queen Street should be railing against the current hierarchy across at Ibrox – because Bill Struth, Scot Symon and John Lawrence they aint.
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