The Champions League.

Loyal72

Loyal72

Well-Known Member
Looking at other threads i.e Marseille cheating doc, and the players that we have had over the years.

Does it stick in your mind that we never won The Champions League?

For me it does, especially as the way football is going, it definitely seems like our best opportunities for doing it are behind us.

Never understood why it never quite worked in Europe for us, so many Rangers teams through the years that looked capable but never quite delivered what everyone thought they could do.

A domestic giant, but never quite able to translate that to the continent. Maybe some day folks eh?

Edit: Apologies to the Younger bears who maybe never seen how close we really got, I may come across as mental and desperate. But by God we certainly should've got one.
 
We had the best team in the UK in the early 90s.

We absolutely should have won a European trophy of some sort during that period, or at least reached a final. We came so close in 92/93.

If Marseille hadn’t been rigging their domestic games (and allegedly some of their CL fixtures too) then I believe we’d have topped that group and reached the final.

Nowadays our main goal is to simply reach the CL group stage. Having done so, reaching the knockout phase would surely be the ceiling of what a club on an SPFL budget could achieve.

In terms of winning a trophy - very, very difficult. 2008 was remarkable.

I think our problem is that winning the title is so important. For bragging rights and for CL access. So we prioritise that over a Europa League run.

If we were, say, a Dutch or Portuguese club whose supporters did not realistically expect to win the title, but found ourselves in the last 32/16 of the Europa League on a regular basis, then we would put all our efforts into lifting that trophy.

But it’s difficult to give 100% to the title challenge and in Europe. Losing the title to the Mhanks doesn’t bear thinking about.

Put it this way. I’d be more comfortable exiting the EL this season at the last 32 stage if it meant we’d still be top of the league come February, than to reach the last 16 but drop down to 2nd in the league and run the real possibility of handing away the title.

In Scotland, winning the league matters even more than in most nations, such is the intensity of our rivalry.
 
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We didn't have enough exposure to European football in the 90s to really understand how good we were in the grand scheme of things.

If you look at the team Manchester United that eventually went on to win it, they took some absolute shooings off teams in the years running up to 1999. I don't think we were ever truly in the top tier but gave it a good go in 92/93.

When Advocaat came in the results we achieved in Europe felt huge compared to the years just gone. That was probably as close as we came to sitting at the top table in terms of how we would fare against the very best.
 
Mackania said:
We didn't have enough exposure to European football in the 90s to really understand how good we were in the grand scheme of things.

If you look at the team Manchester United that eventually went on to win it, they took some absolute shooings off teams in the years running up to 1999. I don't think we were ever truly in the top tier but gave it a good go in 92/93.

When Advocaat came in the results we achieved in Europe felt huge compared to the years just gone. That was probably as close as we came to sitting at the top table in terms of how we would fare against the very best.
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I think part of the excitement during the Advocaat era is that we spent big money and we knew that if we reached the CL knockouts, with a kind draw, then maybe, just maybe, we could go all the way.

After McLeish took over, our budget tightened considerably. Meanwhile, the TV money in the EPL just went stratospheric.

In hindsight - and perhaps even at the time, in the early 2000s - I think we realised that the Advocaat years were really our last realistic chance of doing damage in the CL.

Short of a league revolution which would see us compete in England, or in some sort of Atlantic League, we’ll simply never have the budget to compete in Europe ever again.
 
Unfortunately it’s almost impossible for us to complete financially with the top teams in the Champions League. That being said, I think we are more than capable to win the Europa League with a bit of good fortune along the way.
 
Rt. Hon. Bearman said:
I think part of the excitement during the Advocaat era is that we spent big money and we knew that if we reached the CL knockouts, with a kind draw, then maybe, just maybe, we could go all the way.
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We were very competitive back then though. I was a teenager but still had enough awareness to know we couldn't buy our way to the champions league. It was watching teams like Bayern Munich and PSV Eindhoven look completely inferior that made me believe we were a top team!
 
Yeah it's shite that barring a reform of everything, we're not going to reach those heights anymore.

Unless someone gives Scottish Football an insane deal.

Feel that during the 90s and Advocaat years, we definitely should've reached more semi finals nevermind finals.
 
Walter smith had two great seasons in Europe in between some exceedingly poor results .

At times we were unlucky with who we drew out the hat , other times the teams professionalism on the European stage might’ve been questioned .

At this moment in time we very comfortable as a knock out stage Europa league team and we should’ve beaten slavia
 
Rt. Hon. Bearman said:
I think part of the excitement during the Advocaat era is that we spent big money and we knew that if we reached the CL knockouts, with a kind draw, then maybe, just maybe, we could go all the way.

After McLeish took over, our budget tightened considerably. Meanwhile, the TV money in the EPL just went stratospheric.

In hindsight - and perhaps even at the time, in the early 2000s - I think we realised that the Advocaat years were really our last realistic chance of doing damage in the CL.

Short of a league revolution which would see us compete in England, or in some sort of Atlantic League, we’ll simply never have the budget to compete in Europe ever again.
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Yet it was McLeish that took us out the Champions league group stage and into the last 16 where we were desperately unlucky to lose out
 
Loyal72 said:
Yeah it's shite that barring a reform of everything, we're not going to reach those heights anymore.

Unless someone gives Scottish Football an insane deal.

Feel that during the 90s and Advocaat years, we definitely should've reached more semi finals nevermind finals.
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The money available to the clubs who are likely challengers for the CL means that there is zero chance of us competing in that competition anymore. For clubs like ourselves and the Croatian sides etc it’s the money that is important.

We can compete in the EL and could do well in that competition as we have seen in the last few years but it obviously doesn’t come with the CL pot of money.
 
Thinking about the 8 and 9iar seasons… I was young at the time and totally wrapped up in the 9iar hype. It was the most important thing in the world to an 8 year old and Europe seemed like a bit of a sideshow. Looking back though I can’t believe that squad never done more in Europe. Goram at the top of his game, Laudrup, Gazza, Albertz.

Or even during the Dutch revolution where we had top top players too.
 
The challenge with any European trophy is that it's not always the best club that wins it - predominantly because of the knockout formula.

Even if we had the best team in the early 90s, which I don't believe we did, it still shouldn't be something to regret. Yes it would have been class to have been lucky enough to have won it. It was great just having a team that could compete with the best in the world.

Now, don't completely shoot me down; but I think our best hope is for a Uefa League set up (not a European - invitation only - Super League).
Basically, Uefa would have a tiered league set-up similar to most countries, and each country's premier league would act as a pyramid structure to get into that.
This means that the money brought in is evenly distributed throughout the whole of European football, not just having rich English clubs.

I'm not sure how you would start it, but it could be that your coefficient determines which league you start in, then normal promotion and relegation from there.
I'm also not sure what you do with cup competitions. Maybe have an opportunity to play in your country's fa cup, but not league cup.

Imagine a European top division where teams like us, Ajax, Benfica, Marseille, Anderlecht, Brondby, and so on have a realistic chance of getting promoted to and building on our successes there. Similar to how clubs like Brighton, Brentford and Burnley have been given that opportunity through the English set up, and can now attract and afford some of the best talent.
 
Loyal72 said:
Yeah it's shite that barring a reform of everything, we're not going to reach those heights anymore.

Unless someone gives Scottish Football an insane deal.

Feel that during the 90s and Advocaat years, we definitely should've reached more semi finals nevermind finals.
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My feeling exactly!!! He wasted 3 golden years to do something big in Europe with that team he built and blew it in pitiful fashion every year.

The fact Sir Walter achieved what he should have done with a team 1/4 of the quality he had says it all.
 
Calvinist said:
Yet it was McLeish that took us out the Champions league group stage and into the last 16 where we were desperately unlucky to lose out
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Correct, and though Walter got us to a European final, it was in 2008 under the watchful eye of Lloyds Banking Group, not during the big spending days of his first spell.
 
It may have been youthful ignorance but I felt we had a real chance in the early 90’s and until the early 00’s I remained hopeful that with the right draw we might be able to luck out in the same way we did in the UEFA in 2008 but sadly wasn’t to be. I remember being genuinely angry back then if anyone claimed Man U were better than us.
 
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