McLeish recalls the last time Rangers took on Villarreal
FOR Alex McLeish, the historic achievement of becoming the first manager to guide a Scottish club into the last 16 of the modern Champions League led, naturally, to the chairman’s office.
To waltz in imbued with extra kudos for new contract talks after a draw with Italian giants Inter Milan secured a money-spinning tie for Rangers? No, it was to suggest the best resignation strategy.
Such was the wild contrast between the Ibrox club’s domestic and continental form in 2005-06, the 1-1 result, which led to a European glory night, marked a 10th game without victory.
For a Rangers manager, that dismal run spells curtains.
McLeish said: ‘When I got to the last 16, I had a chat with (David Murray). I said: “I will go now, if you want”. He said: “No. I don’t want anyone else leading the team out against Villarreal other than you”.’
And so the dominant theme the last time Rangers journeyed into El Madrigal for a European tie was protracted managerial change.
The long farewell for McLeish and the saga which snared Paul le Guen from Lyon. Not that the distractions affected performances on the Champions League platform. That’s where McLeish always raised a tune from his Scottish top-flight underachievers.
McLeish’s team could not beat Livingston, Inverness and Falkirk while juggling groupphase commitments.
Yet he schemed feats of taking four points from Porto, avoiding defeat to Artmedia and holding Inter to a draw to reach the knockouts.
He approached the first leg of Villarreal with three defeats out of four, including a 3-0 humiliation at home to Hibernian that sealed Scottish Cup elimination and a season without silverware. However, they only exited the elite European tournament to high-class Spanish opposition on away goals after two drawn ties. Whether it was relief from the announcement becoming public or belief from earlier exploits in Europe, there was no fear on show from Rangers in either leg. ‘It was more around the (Inter) game when we qualified that there was all the stuff about my job “being on the line”, as it was said,’ recalled McLeish.
‘But I already knew and it had been said by the time of the game with Villarreal that I would be leaving Ibrox in the summer.
‘It was an unusual one for Scottish football, but something that happens a lot in Europe. That you know and the team know there is a new guy coming in the summer.
‘They seem to do it more in advance in Europe, but it was what David and I agreed.’ If McLeish is finding it easier to shrug off criticism of his Scotland tenure and team selection than earlier in his managerial life, then the experience endured in 2005-06 has helped.
With the Rangers support unaware of the mid-season deal between Murray and McLeish, the disenchantment grew more vocal as the domestic campaign disintegrated within one week in early February.
Crescendo was reached with protests outside Ibrox following the Scottish Cup exit. Three days later, Rangers lost 2-0 at Pittodrie to slip to fourth in the table.
That was the cue for Murray to issue a statement designed to placate the revolt and grant McLeish the breathing space required to concentrate on the European test.
In the first game following the announcement, Rangers lost a tepid Old Firm encounter 1-0.
Ten days later, with a manager on his way out, they hosted Chilean tactician Manuel Pellegrini and Argentinian playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme with limited expectation of a positive home result.
McLeish was operating amid constant rumour and speculation over who would replace him in the summer. Le Guen and Englishman Alan Curbishley were considered to be the main contenders.
Peter Lovenkrands, now a Rangers academy coach, blanked out all rumour. He’d become a Euronight specialist for McLeish and continued his midweek hot streak.
The jet-fast Dane cancelled out Riquelme’s eighth-minute penalty, but Diego Forlan struck to give the visitors a half-time lead and could have buried Rangers were it not for
At 1-1, the ball flashed across for Kris Boyd to win it but he just didn’t connect Lovenkrands Peter form was in superb during Rangers’ of European run 2005-2006, scoring four goals
inspired goalkeeping by Ronald Waterreus.
A Juan Pena own goal eight minutes from time dragged the Scottish champions back into the tie. A fortnight later, Lovenkrands scored his fourth European goal of the season in only 12 minutes to heighten hopes of a shock.
The image flashing through McLeish’s mind for many a month later, though, was Kris Boyd missing a second-half sitter.
Rodolfo Arruabarrena’s strike four minutes after the interval was enough to sneak the Spaniards through to face Inter Milan in the quarter-finals. They went on to lose 1-0 to Arsenal in the last four.
McLeish recalled: ‘With the 2-2 draw at Ibrox, everybody kind of wrote it off. It was all or nothing in Villarreal for us.
‘Riquelme was their main man at the time. We did a number on him over there and he was less effective than at Ibrox. Peter Lovenkrands got us off to a flyer.
‘Then, at 1-1, the ball flashed across the goal for Boydy. Now Boydy would have scored nine times out of ten — but he just didn’t connect right.
‘If he had, we would have been through to the next round. It was a fantastic double-header performance from the guys. We were so close to the last eight.’
The Villarreal games formed part of a 14-match unbeaten sequence, which carried McLeish to the end of the season and an emotional farewell after seven trophies in four-and-a-half years.
By then, the Ibrox buzz was all about Le Guen and an imminent French revolution.
That period, along with the Pedro Caixinha experiment, is filed under disastrous managerial appointments in the Ibrox history books.
The European run that has swept Rangers from the first round of qualifying to the group stage of the Europa League, while activating another summer of upheaval, suggests Steven Gerrard will not join that hall of shame.
And McLeish has been impressed by the manner in which Gerrard and Gary McAllister steered Rangers through.
‘It’s a great achievement for the club to get back into a European group,’ said McLeish. ‘The start of the season last year in Europe was all doom and gloom. Now there’s a bit of brightness at Ibrox.
‘That is down to the sterling work that Gerrard and McAllister have done there.’