Rangers reputation in Europe has not only been restored but it has, if anything, been raised to a height that could only be argued about being higher in 1972 and 1993, thanks in no small part to the work done by Giovanni van Bronckhorst since he took over from Steven Gerrard – the former manager laying a lot of the groundwork in his time in charge.
After Tuesday’s record breaking 3-0 win over Union Saint-Gilloise, one Rangers fan produced a statistic that gives an indication of just how much we are punching above our weight when it comes to our coefficient ranking.
There are only 5 teams from outside the top 5 leagues which are ranked above Rangers in the UEFA club co-efficient – Salzburg, Shakhtar, Benfica, Porto and Ajax.
— Euan (@euangtaylor) August 10, 2022
RB Salzburg have spent over £26million this summer including nearly £12m on a teenager, Benfica have spent over £40m and sold Darwin Nunez for some £100m with Porto spending a similar sum and we all know how deep Ajax’s pockets are after Calvin Bassey’s departure.
That we can’t compete financially with teams from countries of a similar size says it all about what we are up against and the job that the managers have done in recent seasons as well as the sometimes maligned Ross Wilson, who goes between genius and idiot, depending on what day of the week it is and recent results.
The reality is that we are up against it before a ball is even kicked in Europe which shows just how important the atmosphere at Ibrox really is when it comes to getting positive results. With another big spending outfit up next and the riches of the Champions League group stages on the other side, we can proudly hold our heads up knowing that we deserve our place at the top table whether or not we beat PSV Eindhoven.