Danny 9 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 If you look at the side we have, I cannot see how the carrot of CL football last summer and a 10M warchest would have brought us better players than the likes of Mendes and Davis. It's never brought us the creme of Europe in the past so I doubt even mid range quality would have come here this time either. We currently have a very workmanlike side, and when I think about it, while our run last season to Manchester was quite wonderful, it would have been a tall order to achieve that 2 seasons in a row - maybe this current side would have been completely out of its depth at the highest level of European competition. Kaunas was disgraceful, but maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I shudder to think how Miller and Boyd would have coped even against the Borislovs of this world for 6 games. Or am I just being pessimistic? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 11,453 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Look at our financial results and it's an obvious answer, the financial implications make it abundantly clear it's NOT a good thing that we're not in Europe. The Kaunas result has put us in a right mess and we're relying heavily on a Champions League place next season. As for on the park, you could say the same about last season where the squad on paper certainly wasn't good enough to compete. Rangers and Celtic for that matter tend to punch above their weight on the Champions League stage despite having squads no-where near as good as the creme of Europe. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol 401 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Look at our financial results and it's an obvious answer, the financial implications make it abundantly clear it's NOT i good thing that we're not in Europe. The Kaunas result has put us in a right mess and we're relying heavily on a Champions League place next season. Spot on. We've slipped further behind Celtic financially & we need the league this year more than ever. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward 0 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 If you look at the side we have, I cannot see how the carrot of CL football last summer and a 10M warchest would have brought us better players than the likes of Mendes and Davis. It's never brought us the creme of Europe in the past so I doubt even mid range quality would have come here this time either. We currently have a very workmanlike side, and when I think about it, while our run last season to Manchester was quite wonderful, it would have been a tall order to achieve that 2 seasons in a row - maybe this current side would have been completely out of its depth at the highest level of European competition. Kaunas was disgraceful, but maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I shudder to think how Miller and Boyd would have coped even against the Borislovs of this world for 6 games. Or am I just being pessimistic? If we had made the champions league there's no doubt in my mind Miller would have played the lone strike role in most games and imo he would have more than held his own. He's shown he can score goals against top international sides so i don't see why he couldn't do it in the champions league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
papaguy51 912 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 If our original side this year had made the CL, Smith and Murray would have hid behind it and not spent the money on Davis, Mendes etc. So in a way, it was a good thing. But we're three points behind a poor 'Tic side, so we've not really taken advantage. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoltonLoyal 2 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 If you look at the side we have, I cannot see how the carrot of CL football last summer and a 10M warchest would have brought us better players than the likes of Mendes and Davis. It's never brought us the creme of Europe in the past so I doubt even mid range quality would have come here this time either. We currently have a very workmanlike side, and when I think about it, while our run last season to Manchester was quite wonderful, it would have been a tall order to achieve that 2 seasons in a row - maybe this current side would have been completely out of its depth at the highest level of European competition. Kaunas was disgraceful, but maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I shudder to think how Miller and Boyd would have coped even against the Borislovs of this world for 6 games. Or am I just being pessimistic? A bit of both i think Danny. You're correct in that both Rangers and them will find it hard to compete against the cream of European football. But as STB says, we always tend to punch above our weight when it comes to European football - last season being a prime example. I think most Euro teams who haven't played against the old firm become overawed with the atmosphere created at Ibrox (and grudgingly the San Giro), so we tend to make good advantage of these. I'd still rather us get to the CL every year - not purely for the money - but because it feels 'right' that Rangers are involved in these competitions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muff 245 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 I'd rather be in it than not - we should be playing in the Champions League every season. We beat both Werder Bremen and Panathinaikos last season and they did not too bad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgruntled_bear 157 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Sorry regardless the state of our team, a club the size of us should be in CL every season it's a disgrace we weren't this season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 11,453 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 In some ways i'm not too disappointed to not be playing in Europe at this stage like we were last season, i only wanted one thing last year but we ended up with huge fixture congestion due to a European run and we had a squad that was never really good enough to compete on four fronts, the fact we ended up losing the two biggest prizes proved that. As i said i only wanted one thing last year, stopping Celtic getting three in a row and getting an automatic Champions League place for this season meant even more than the UEFA Cup final in my opinion. But i enjoy us playing in Europe especially the Champions League, can't beat the atmosphere. The financial implications have been huge but i was also disappointed at getting knocked out from a footballing point of view. I may not have wanted us to end up with another ridiculous run of fixtures but i wanted us to be playing in the Champions League proper and hopefully the last 16. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nvager 498 Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 It was a disgrace that we got beat by Kaunas and one look at the financial mess we are now in makes it crystal clear that it was/is a disaster that we failed to reach the CL group stages or even the UEFA Cup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 11,453 Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 The UEFA Cup wouldn't have made up for the lost Champions League money. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
miracle 7,833 Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Sorry regardless the state of our team, a club the size of us should be in CL every season it's a disgrace we weren't this season here here! After taking 200,000 to Manchester I would have expected the powers that be to see this as an opportunity to build and regain past glories but in the end up we got the opposite. Only after elimination did we spend the money on Davis and Mendes. So it's been a good thing that we've spent money since but bad since we haven't the money to spend. This is a confusing question, I'm off to my bed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermopylae 15,287 Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Cutting 10 million off the debt would have made such a difference ... make no mistake we over-extended ourselves to bring in the guys we did after the Kaunas fiasco and it may well mean we won't be able to match septic's spending this summer. So far as being in next season's Champions League goes are we seriously looking at playing a 40yo Davie Weir against the cream of Europe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannan 0 Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 danny u must be one bored man to think up threads like this........... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan_1 1,136 Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Just now it's a good thing we're not in it because we're more focused on domestic trophys, but by the time the summer comes round we will see the repercussions of not being in the tournament with probably one or two first team players leaving. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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