Rangers have proved clubs can punch above weight
FOR many years now, the inability of Scottish clubs to make any significant headway in Europe has been widely expected and grudgingly accepted. The widening financial gulf between the leading domestic leagues on the continent and our top flight is used annually as an excuse for early exits before the group stages or failures to reach the knockout rounds.
It is certainly true the Sky Sports broadcasting deal which the SPFL have in place for the cinch Premiership is dwarfed by those for the Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1, Premier League and Serie A.
The huge sums of cash used to put together the sides which Aberdeen, Celtic, Hearts, Hibernian, Motherwell, Rangers and St Johnstone have toiled against are regularly raised to explain disappointments by fans, managers and the media.
Even Steven Gerrard, who turned Rangers into a force in Europe once again during his threeand-a-half-year reign in Govan, bemoaned the lack of backing he had received from his board following a group-stage defeat to Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic back in September.
“There has to be some realism,” he said. “In the last two windows, we haven’t spent a penny. To compete with the teams that we’re playing against, we have to spend big money.”
But Rangers reaching the Europa League final in Seville – an achievement which should be celebrated by every Scottish football supporter regardless of their allegiances – has shown that money is not the be all and end all and great things can be accomplished with shrewd recruitment, good coaching and clever tactics.
The side that took to the field in the second leg of the semi-final against RB Leipzig at Ibrox on Thursday night outplayed their opponents for long spells and deserved to triumph 3-1 and win 3-2 on aggregate.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s starting line-up, though, cost a fraction of what Domenico Tedesco’s lavishly-assembled team did.
Allan McGregor (free transfer), James Tavernier (£225,000), Connor Goldson (£3m), Calvin Bassey (£230,000), Borna Barisic (£2.2m), Ryan Jack (free transfer), John Lundstram (free transfer), Glen Kamara (£50,000), Ryan Kent (£6.5m), Joe Aribo (£300,000) and Scott Wright (£180,000) set the Scottish champions back less than £13m.
Van Bronckhorst brought on Scott Arfield, Leon Balogun and Fashion Sakala, who were all free transfers, in the second half.
So the 14 players he used cost £7m less than Andre Silva, the Portuguese striker who the Red Bull-backed visitors paid Eintracht Frankfurt over £20m for in the summer, alone.
What was that about Scottish teams not having the funds they need to compete in Europe against far wealthier rivals again?
Van Bronckhorst deserves enormous credit for the heights which his charges have scaled against Sparta Prague, Lyon, Borussia Dortmund, Red Star Belgrade, Braga and Leipzig since he succeeded Gerrard in November.
The former World Cup finalist and Champions League winner has built on what Gerrard did and made his team better by tweaking his formation, deploying players in roles they are best suited to and devising a game-plan both in and out of possession which makes them difficult to break down and dangerous in attack.
Barisic described the Dutchman, whose only significant capture to date has been bringing in Aaron Ramsey on loan from Juventus in January, as a genius in the aftermath of the result on Thursday night. It is impossible to disagree.
Has any player in the history of the game in this country ever undergone a transformation like the one which John Lundstram, the scorer of the late winner in midweek, has in the past six months?
He has excelled in both defence and midfield and gone from being a peripheral figure at Ibrox to a darling of the support.
Yet, Van Bronckhorst is not the only coach to have enjoyed success against all the odds in Europe with a limited, non-existent even, budget. Just look at what Kjetil Knutsen has done at Bodo/Glimt thanks to his strict training regime and dynamic system this term.
The Norwegian minnows thrashed Roma 6-1 at home in the group stage of the Conference League and then drew 2-2 with the Italian giants away. No Celtic fan will need to be reminded of the 5-1 aggregate loss which the Parkhead club were on the receiving end of in the play-off round. Knutsen’s most expensive player cost just £500,000.
Fans of the Premiership leaders are rightly excited about the prospect of returning to the Champions League proper after a five-year absence next season. They will hoping that Ange Postecoglou can replicate what Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon did before him and take them through to the last 16.
That will not be an easy task given the behemoths of the European game they are likely to encounter.
But what their city rivals and others have done proves that cash is not necessarily king.
If Mark Lawwell, who was appointed head of first team scouting and recruitment by Celtic this week, can unearth a few gems in the summer and Postecoglou, who has enjoyed some notable wins in Europe, can fit them into a set-up which works they too can shine.