ARIS LIMASSOL v Rangers was a tough watch. I switched over at the end, to watch the All Blacks v Uruguay match in the Rugby World Cup. Thus, I missed the Aberdeen v HJK Helsinki match, in which the Dons needed a late equaliser to snatch a draw.
A quick check of the UEFA Association Co-efficients tells us, Scotland is the 10th strongest of UEFA's 55 national associations; Cyprus are ranked 22nd in the same table, while Finland are ranked 34th.
I will be one of the first to admit, UEFA's Co-efficient rankings are flawed; the way the listings operate they tend to favour the big clubs, from the major associations – the clubs with a near season ticket into European competitions. However, it could be argued that Rangers are a club which benefits from this.
That said, the figures tell a story. Rangers are ranked 30th, while Aris Limassol are ranked 286th. Surprisingly for Scottish fans, while Aberdeen are ranked 177th in Europe, their Finnish opponents are ranked 40 places higher, at 137th.
Playing in Europe in midweek is, of course, a different ball game from playing in the Scottish League at the weekend. It can also be argued that several seasons of under-performance, both domestically and on the continental stage has seen the Dons fall further than they might properly deserve to be. But, given they were facing a side with a superior short-term European pedigree, perhaps any criticism Aberdeen might get for only drawing with a Finnish side, should be tempered somewhat.
However, what can we say about the Rangers performance? Other than to say the display was so bad, it stunk to high heaven and proved, yet again, some of the players recruited to Ibrox are not, and never will be: “Rangers Class.” There were occasional flashes of class from Rangers, but, too-often, these were offset by careless, unforced mistakes.
Whoever comes in as the long-term replacement for Michael Beale has a huge job on his hands, and, sorting things out will be an expensive process for the club.
Still on the subject of the Club Co-efficients, I note, Lazio are ranked 38th in Europe, while Celtic come in in 53rd position. So, that probably reinforces the claim – made by a Rangers' supporter on Facebook, that The Hoops narrow loss on Wednesday night can be added to the lengthy list of 'Celtic moral victories in Europe.' OUCH!
I HAD JUST written the above piece, when I received an interesting Facebook message from one of my Celtic-supporting friends. He asked for my thoughts on this:
“Here’s an idea for your next blog. In most industries, someone who proves to be incompetent is dismissed after due process. But not football managers. They are ‘mutually consented’ and paid compensation for the termination of their contract.
I realise that incompetence can be hard to prove, but Michael Beale would seem to fit that description, and Caixinho before him.”
My mate makes a serious point. The problem is, proving incompetence – or is it. In the case of Mr Beale, it might be easier than for some other managers. I refer to a statistic you often see brought up: KPIs (Known Performance Indicators).
For instance, Rangers are expected to finish first or second in the Scottish League every year, so, it might be said: the current situation whereby they are lying third in the table does not match the club's KPIs; they have also lost their last two games, to a team ranked 256 places below them in UEFA's Clubs Co-efficient table and to a team which went into the game (a home game for Rangers) eight places below them in the domestic league.
This is Rangers' eighth season back in the top-flight in Scotland, since the club was wound-up and re-born in the bottom division. In the seven completed seasons they have won: 58.7% - 61% - 68% - 77% - 89.5% - 78% and 80.7% of the available points. In that time, they have won one league title.
Their median points take in that time is 73%. This season, in the Scottish League, Rangers have collected 57% of the points available to them. That level of performance represents a fall of 22% from their median performance since returning to the top flight. It also represents a season-on-season fall of 30% and a 36% drop from their best performance in that period.
I appreciate, it might be difficult to go to the likes of an Employment Tribunal and prove that Mr Beale, having presided over that level of performance, was an incompetent manager. However, what cannot be denied is, under him, the team has not met the KPIs which the club has reason to expect.
Mind you, given some of the players they have allowed to be signed, who showed themselves to be Not Rangers' Class, maybe the various directors over this period should be disbarred from being company directors, since they also failed, badly.
FINALLY – I am currently enjoying the new Netflix series on David Beckham; it's brilliant stuff. I always felt, through all the media pish about “England's golden generation” and all that – the one player who came across as a genuine football man was “Goldenballs.”
I got the impression with some of them, playing for England didn't really matter, they weren't bothered. But, Becks cared, and it showed.
The series is a joy, Mr and Mrs Beckham come across well, while so do some of the team mates – Gary Neville and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. However, not coming out as well are the English football media and the England fans.
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