IT WASN'T TO BE – They perhaps had to go all the way to penalties to do it, but Eintracht Frankfort ended Rangers' dream of winning the Europa League. Cue despair among the legions of Rangers fans, those who journeyed to Seville, and the greater number who watched on television.
Of course, this being Scotland, many of the Celtic Family and the followers of 'The Diddy Teams' (copyright – Charles Young Esq) were a wee bit chuffed at Rangers falling at the final fence – it's the Scottish way.
I copped some flak on Facebook, after a post in which I suggested it was par for the course that the team, a good percentage of whose fans identify as British/English rather than Scottish, should lose a penalty shoot-out to a German side. Some folk simply choose not to see a joke.
But, that's the Scottish way. Several of my Rangers-supporting friends were aghast at me poking fun at the way some of their fellow-travellers prefer to identify as British – often English, rather than Scottish. By the same token, supporters of other Scottish teams react badly to Rangers' fans wrapping themselves in “the butcher's apron” - but quite happily take any wee advantage their team might get in Europe, from Rangers' achievements in raising the Scottish Clubs Co-efficient with UEFA.
Then there was the other debate on social media, with some attempting to claim, had Rangers won on Wednesday night, it would have been a greater achievement than Celtic winning the European Cup, in Lisbon back in 1967.
Let's look at the two campaigns. Celtic played just five matches to win that iconic trophy back in 1967. They beat the Swiss champions FC Zurich 5-0 in the first round, to set-up a second round meeting with the French champions, Nantes.
Two 3-1 victories, in France and back at Celtic Park, took Celtic into the quarter-finals, and a meeting with the Yugoslav champions Vojvodina Novi Sad. Vojvodina won the first leg, in Novi Sad, 1-0, but, on an emotional night at Celtic Parik, a Stevie Chalmers strike, and a trademark last-minute header from skipper Billy McNeill, took Celtic through to the semi-final, and a meeting with Czech champions, Dukla Prague.
Celtic Park was jumping as Celtic won the first leg 3-1, before a Stein-plotted tactical master-class in the second leg produced a 0-0 draw and took Celtic on to meet holders Inter Milan, in Lisbon, in the final.
We all know how that went, with goals from Tommy Gemmell and Chalmers making Celtic the first non-Latin and the first side form the British Isles, to win Europe's premier trophy.
Looking back from today, you might argue Celtic only had to beat one absolute top-level team, Inter, to win the trophy. But, to even qualify back then, you had to be champion of your domestic league – no consolation place for the teams in second, third or fourth place in what UEFA considers a 'big league', or a major television market.
In comparing the Lisbon Lions with last night's Rangers' team, we must not forget this. The game in Lisbon was – to use a boxing metaphor: “For the undisputed championship of Europe.” Given the knock-out phase of the Europa League kicks-in after the group stages in both the Europa League and the top competition – the Champions League, the fact is, Wednesday night's game was between the 17th and 18th ranked teams in Europe this season – the best sides remaining who didn't qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League.
Rangers' certainly had the longer campaign, they had to negotiate 12 ties to reach their final, against the four ties – in two different competitions, the Champions League and the Europa League - the Lisbon Lions had to play through. Perhaps we should use an athletics metaphor. When Celtic won, the European Cup was a sprint, getting to the Europa League final is like running a marathon.
Things were more cut-throat back in the days of the Lisbon Lions. Celtic won the trophy, which qualified them for the European Cup the following season; in fact, they double qualified, since they also defended their Scottish League title. However, they went out at the first hurdle, beaten by Dynamo Kiev – who were the then Champions of the Soviet Union.
That was it, Celtic's European adventure over for the season; they lost the first leg of their first round match, 1-2, on 20 September, 1967. A 1-1 draw in the second leg, in Kiev, on 4 October, 1967, was not enough to keep them in the competition.
Today, as Champions, they would have gone straight to the Group stages, and a defeat and a draw in their first two games would not necessarily mean elimination. Rangers supporters can come up with all the reasons they like as to why this season's run was good, but, until such times as another Scottish team wins the European Cup, under today's arguably more-intense framework, then the Lions's victory of 1967 will stand supreme as the greatest achievement by a Scottish club side.
There's another reason why we have, I believe, to hold onto the legend of the Lions – they were an all-Scottish side, 11 players, all born within an hour's drive of Celtic Park. Only three of the XI – goalkeeper Ronnie Simpson, Willie Wallace and Bertie Auld were bought-into Celtic, and Auld was a case of a player who had come through the Celtic development system, then been sold, being brought back home.
I would have enjoyed it, had Rangers won on Wednesday night. However, I would have enjoyed it far more, had they won it with an all-Scottish XI.
There have been, since Hibs played in the inaugural European Cup back in season 1955-56, 300 European campaigns involving Scottish clubs. (I reached this number by counting each competition campaign as one. So, this season, Celtic had three European campaigns – in the Champions, Europa and Europa Conference Leagues. Rangers had two, in the Champions and Europa Leagues.)
These 300 campaigns have produced just three wins: Celtic's European Cup triumph in 1967, Rangers' Cup-Winners Cup success in 1972 and Aberdeen's victory in the same competition, in 1983. That's a wins percentage of 1%.
A run-down of the 300 campaigns gives us the following record:
Tournament wins: 3/300 – 1%
Final appearances: 7/300 – 2.3%
Semi-Final appearances: 14/300 – 4.6%
Quarter-final appearances: 21/300 – 6.9%
Last 16 appearances: 63/300 – 21%
Overall, therefore, since 1955-56, in 66 seasons' worth of football, Scottish clubs have reached the last 16 – the real knock-out phase of the season, just 63 times, 21% of the times we have entered.
However, since the turn of the millennium in 2000, our clubs have fought 118 European campaigns, reaching the last 16 or better a mere 14 times – or an 11.9% success rate in getting that far.
When it comes to the big one – The Champions League, Scottish clubs, mainly the big two, have fought 29 campaigns this century, just four of these – 13.9% have seen a Scottish club reach the last 16. Celtic have done this three times, Rangers once. They might well be “big” clubs, but on the biggest stage, they barely register.
Overall, Rangers, in spite of all the club's financial problems, have reached the last 16 or better in Europe nine times since 2000, Celtic have got that far five times Our other clubs have barely caused a ripple in European waters.
Are our other clubs happy to see the big two figuratively, if in reality seldom through their fans, carrying the Saltire in Europe? Do they not feel, they should be contributing more to the global image of our league and the game we gave form to?
Those three European wins all came before 1986, which was a special year in Scottish football history. That's when Graeme Souness became Rangers' manager and things began to change. Prior to what has become known as 'The Souness Revolution', Scottish clubs tended to have mainly, indeed heavily Scottish squads. Souness began to recruit from England, then abroad and before long, all the rest followed suit.
Given, Scottish Football cannot compete in financial terms, with the “big” leagues – the English, French, Italian, German and Spanish Leagues, we cannot hope to recruit the absolute best-available players. So, we are buying-in second, third and fourth grade non-Scots. I honestly believe, if we trusted Scottish talent and nurtured that native promise properly, then we could again become regular contenders at the sharp end of the European competitions.
Scotland remains, yes, in this 21st century, esentially a tribal society. Maybe it's a hangover from the days of the clans, but, family and belonging still matters to Scots, particularly in football.
It's particularly true of the big two, but, all the best Scottish club sides have had a common ingredient – 'a Fan On the Park,' one or more guys who, if they weren't being paid to be out there performing, would be on the sidelines cheering-on their club. You can bring-in all the exotic foreigners you like, who can kiss the badge as often as they like, but, I contend, you will never get as much out of them as you will from the guy who has been keeping the fiath since he was a wee boy.
If I was, on Monday morning, put in total charge of Scottish Football, my first pronouncements would be:
Each team in the Scottish League would have to have eight Scots on the park at all times.
The Scottish League would impose a CBA – a Collective Bargaining Agreement – whereby there was a more-level playing field, beginning with a salary cap.
There would be just two senior leagues – fewer senior teams and fewer games in the season.
In the Scottish League Cup competition, clubs could only field all-Scottish sides, to encourage the development of Scottish talent.
All knock-out competitions would be seeded.
What we are doing isn't working for our wider game, it may even be holding back the two teams who do do comparatively well in Europe.
So, since our management model isn't working – why are we not changing it?
