Ibrox men’s return to riches comes full circle for Andersson
AS Daniel Andersson captained Malmo to victory over Rangers in the Champions League qualifiers in 2011, he revelled in a victory for the underdog.
Few onlookers, save for perhaps the Ibrox club’s new owner, Craig Whyte, could have predicted just how much further the Glasgow giants were about to fall.
Failure to access the riches of the group stage saw Rangers’ already precarious financial footing give way to an irreversible slide towards administration, an insolvency event that ultimately ended in the club going out of business.
A ten-year journey that started in the lower leagues has brought the Ibrox institution back to uncannily similar territory. Champions of Scotland once more under Steven Gerrard, Rangers must now beat Malmo to reach the play-off round of UEFA’s blue-chip competition.
‘That result in 2011 was tremendous for us,’ recalls Andersson, who now operates as Malmo’s sporting director.
‘For sure, Rangers were a bigger team than us at that time.
‘What happened next was written about extensively in Sweden and I’ve followed their journey. At Malmo, we have taken huge steps but the Rangers of today is much stronger than the Rangers of ten years ago.’
While the 44-year-old Andersson’s new job is to explore pathways to keep his club competitive on the European stage, a decade ago it was all about keeping the back door shut.
Capped 77 times by his country as a midfielder, Andersson had been converted to a defender’s role, one which saw him tame Nikica Jelavic in a 1-0 first-leg win over Ally McCoist’s side at Ibrox.
Jelavic would score in the return but indiscipline ultimately cost Rangers as Steven Whittaker and Madjid Bougherra both saw red in a 1-1 draw.
Curiously, and despite all the upheaval, Rangers still have two of their 2011 starters available for this week’s tie in goalkeeper Allan McGregor and midfielder Steven Davis, both lured back to add substance to the club’s resurgence under Gerrard.
‘I recall both matches well,’ says Andersson. ‘Rangers lost captain David Weir, a legend, early in the first leg of the tie and that forced them to change things round.
‘We started with a nice goal from Daniel Larsson and after that it was a lot of defending.
‘The thing I remember most is
the battle that I had with Nikica Jelavic.’
Despite a long and distinguished international career that saw him grace major tournaments alongside Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Andersson only crossed swords with Gerrard for the briefest of moments.
The occasion was a 2006 World Cup group match between England and Sweden in Cologne, where both midfielders appeared as substitutes.
‘I played against England on several occasions but that was the only time we were on the pitch at the same time,’ adds Andersson. ‘He was one of the greatest-ever for England and it’s nice to see he has had a fantastic start as a trainer. Not everybody can make that transition but he seems to have done it.’
After quitting playing in 2013 — his latter months spent mentoring Rangers stopper Filip Helander — Andersson initially pursued a coaching career but was gravitated to a more strategic role.
‘Over the years, I have moved further and further away from the pitch. Sometimes I wish I was closer but I also like to look at the big picture, to pick strategies and think long-term.
‘My eight years as sporting director makes me proud. Everything has developed at
Malmo — the facilities, the coaching staff, we have a better team and a bigger squad. The problem is that all clubs develop.
‘While we take big steps in Sweden, the big clubs across Europe can afford to take much quicker steps.
‘If it came down to money, we would have no chance. We need to be smarter and find our edge. What makes us good? We have a fantastic youth academy that develops young players.
‘We sell players and that helps us reinvest in better quality.
‘We use a mix of data and what you might call traditional methods of scouting. We don’t use data to the same extent as say Midtjylland, although it is also a bit of a myth as to just how much they use it.
‘To be in Europe we need to win
the league. With the new competition changes, the second and third-placed teams in Sweden do not even get into the Europa League, they have to qualify for the Conference League.’
Another edge for Malmo is the club’s proximity to Denmark’s largest city, Copenhagen, via the spectacular Oresund Bridge.
Traditionally, Malmo has provided safe harbour for Danish talents who do not wish to turn out for their own country’s capital club.
Today they are captained by Anders Christiansen, a member of the squad that reached the semi-finals of Euro 2020, and managed by compatriot Jon Dahl Tomasson, who garnered over
100 caps during a playing career that peaked with a Champions League win at AC Milan.
‘We have always attracted Danish players,’ says Andersson. ‘If they can’t play for the big ones in Denmark, they prefer to play with us.’
Another familiar face to a Scottish audience is Jo-Inge Berget, a Norwegian forward who had a brief and ill-fated loan spell at Celtic before returning to help knock Ronny Deila’s team out of the Champions League qualifiers in 2015. That season, Malmo would go on to compete against Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk and Paris Saint-Germain in the groups but have failed to progress that far since.
Celtic’s now annual struggle with the qualifiers ended in defeat to Midtjylland last Wednesday and Andersson regrets that the big and ambitious clubs from small to medium-sized European countries are being squeezed out of the picture.
‘I don’t like the direction in which things are moving,’ he admits. ‘In the end, it will only be teams from the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A who qualify. At that point, they cannot call it the Champions League because there will be only four champions involved.
‘I understand the other side of it. People want to see the best teams playing each other instead of smaller teams like Malmo playing Real Madrid.
‘They want more money. But it is surely part of the charm that you have clubs from all over Europe playing in the biggest tournament.
‘It’s getting harder every year for Swedish teams to qualify. Maybe we can make it to the play-offs again this year but Rangers is a tough draw. They are clear favourites but if we do things right, we can hurt them.’