LESS than seven weeks after the final whistle blew on their record-breaking European run last season, Rangers will today turn their attention to the assignment which will make or break their hopes of further extended involvement in continental competition in 2008/09.
The draws for the first two qualifying rounds of the Champions League take place at Uefa headquarters in Nyon this morning, with Rangers the highest-seeded club of those who enter the competition in the second qualifying round.
It is a stage of t
he tournament with no Uefa Cup safety net for the losers, as Celtic found to their cost against Artmedia Bratislava three years ago, and will provide Walter Smith and his players with the stark prospect of following up their remarkable 19-match campaign which took them to the Uefa Cup final with a tie which could see them eliminated from Europe even before the new SPL season has started.
Rangers managed to cope with that pressure a year ago, when they defeated Zeta of Montenegro 3-0 on aggregate in the second qualifying round, and manager Smith is less concerned by the scheduling of the tie than he is with the potential after- effects of last season's adventure. "The qualifying rounds are difficult anyway, never mind the timing of them," said Smith. "The vast majority of the teams involved are in the same position as us, coming into it straight after their close season.
"So the timing is not the problem. The problem is trying to make sure you qualify. We are a little earlier this season, in the sense that the SPL campaign begins a week later, but we have just got to play the games. We are looking forward to the draw.
"There is a danger in looking back at last season's European run, because you can start to forget the difficulties involved in the qualifying rounds. It's a great thing to get through to the group stage, but it can have a massive effect on your season if you don't. There is a lot of pressure on it. If we show the same approach as we had in the ties against Zeta and then Red Star Belgrade last year, then I would hope we will be okay.
"There is a little bit of a danger that we suffer a hangover from last season. But in one way, it can help us. We haven't had a long break since the season finished, but it's been long enough and we know what we have to do.
"We enjoyed the European run last season and know what we have to do to get another one. We have to make sure the players are ready for it, and we will do. I think last season will have a good influence on us."
Rangers are likely to be facing an either/or scenario in today's draw. Only two unseeded clubs go straight into the second qualifying round, Israeli champions, Beitar Jerusalem, and MTK Budapest of Hungary.
Other potentially difficult opponents for Smith's men include IFK Gothenburg of Sweden and Dinamo Tbilisi of Georgia. The first leg of their tie will be on 29 or 30 July with the return a week later.
Smith's plans in the remaining two months of the current transfer window will not be significantly affected by whether or not Rangers qualify for the lucrative group stage of the Champions League. The budget is more or less set just now," he said.
"Getting to the Champions League helps the overall financial position of the club, but the present transfer budget is already there. We have spent a bit of it and have a bit left to spend.
"There are still two months to go and clubs are not inclined to let their players go at this stage. We won't be buying many more, but there are maybe one or two positions we would like to strengthen."
So far, Smith has exclusively recruited new strikers and he admitted yesterday he was unsure how the arrival of Kenny Miller, Andrius Velicka and Kyle Lafferty would impact on incumbent forwards such as Jean-Claude Darcheville, who has been linked with a departure from Ibrox.
"I don't know, we will have to look at our staff overall now that we have managed to get in three other forwards," said Smith.
One player who will not be sold by Rangers is Scotland international Lee McCulloch who has been the subject of speculation over a return to the English Premier League with Stoke City.
"Stoke have never approached us about Lee McCulloch and he's not going anywhere anyway," insisted Smith. "As long as he is happy to stay at Rangers, then I'm delighted to have him."
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEEDINGS1st Qualifying Round (1st leg 15/16 July, 2nd leg 22/23 July)• SEEDED TEAMSDinamo Zagreb (Cro), Artmedia (Slvk), NK Domzale (Slo), IFK Gothenburg (Swe), Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyp), Tampere Utd (Fin), Dinamo Tbilisi (Geo), FK Ventspils (Lat), Rabotnicki Skopje (Mac), FK Modrica (Bos), Kaunas (Lith), Sheriff Tiraspol (Mld), Drogheda United (Ire), Valur Reykjavik (Ice)
• UNSEEDED TEAMSBATE Borisov (Blr), Levadia Tallinn (Est), Inter Baku (Az), Dinamo Tirana (Alb), Pyunik Yerevan (Arm), FK Aktobe (Kaz), Linfield (N Ire), Llanelli (Wal), NSI Runavik (Far), F91 Dudelange (Lux), Valletta (Mal), Santa Coloma (And), Buducnost Podgorica (Mntg), Murata (San Marino)
Second Qualifying Round (1st leg 29/30 July, 2nd leg 5/6 Aug)• SEEDED TEAMSRANGERS (Sco), Panathinaikos (Gre), Basel (Swz), Fenerbahce (Tur), Anderlecht (Bel), Sparta Prague (Cze), Dinamo Kiev (Ukr), Partizan Belgrade (Ser), Dinamo Zagreb (Cro)*, Wisla Krakow (Pol), Artmedia Bratislava (Slvk)*, Aalborg (Den), Brann Bergen (Nor), Rapid Vienna (Aut)
• UNSEEDED TEAMSNK Domzale (Slo)*, Beitar Jerusalem (Isr), MTK Budapest (Hun), IFK Gothenburg (Swe)*, Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyp)*, Tampere United (Fin)*, Dinamo Tbilisi (Geo)*, FK Ventspils (Ltv)*, Rabotnicki Skopje (Mac)*, FK Modrica (Bos)*, Kaunas (Lith)*, Sheriff Tiraspol (Mld)*, Drogheda (Ire)*, Valur Reykjavik (Ice)*
*Playing in 1st qualifying round
The full article contains 997 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
