RANGERS supporters are likely to do no more than breathe a sigh of relief if their team edge out Hearts for the Champions League berth in the Premierleague.

Not Alex McLeish, however. The outgoing Ibrox manager could find himself in a minority of one if his team finish a distant second to Celtic. For he believes that ending, coupled with Rangers becoming the first Scottish club to reach the last 16 of the Champions League, would make his last season in charge successful.
7 Wonders

"Yes I do," he said when asked if it was possible to see the campaign in such terms were runners-up spot and qualification from the group stages of European football's blue riband tournament the only rewards. "Being so far behind in the league is hard to take and we're bitterly disappointed about that. But if the players available to me for our 4-1 win at Tannadice last week had been so for the whole season we'd be much closer."

McLeish was certainly cursed to lose at least a half dozen first-choice performers for lengthy spells when the club were battling on the home and European fronts last winter. Yet that cannot explain away an unprecedented, 10-game winless run. Even if the Rangers manager, in an understandable effort to protect his legacy, lays on thick the notion that energy expended in continental competition scuppered domestic hopes. In his defence, 23 of the 37 league points Rangers have dropped this season were in games either side of a Champions League encounter.

"It wasn't a preconceived plan and we didn't say at the beginning of the season 'we don't want to do well in the championship, we want to do well in Europe'," McLeish said. "We just weren't strong enough as a squad but it should serve the players well to have that experience.

"You need a squad to cope with the championship because the Champions League is a massive drain both mentally and physically."

McLeish would "love to see" Rangers conquerors Villiarreal overcome Arsenal in the semi-finals and go on to win the tournament. "That would mean even more kudos for what we've done," he said.

Yet, until Rangers produced an outstanding display in El Madrigal to come within a whisker of reaching the quarter-finals, their Champions League tilt had hardly been a plaudit-heavy adventure since it was characterised by them merely living on their wits.

McLeish will surely avoid doing that when he gives way for Paul Le Guen. Just as Rangers are going continental, so too could their departing manager. "I'm still a little bit in limbo," McLeish said.

"I've had one or two contacts but I'm not going to reveal any names. I might do something different outside the British Isles. I'm open-minded; I'll get the batteries recharged and take stock. The price of the ticket is when you come to a club like this and get the exposure that comes with it.

"There have been highs and lows but I've had more highs than lows and I'm happy what I've achieved. What a fantastic experience it's been at Rangers; what an education."

Taken from the Scotsman