Advocaat seeks consolidation in consolation

Phil Gordon feels Rangers must make real progress now in Uefa Cup

Dick Advocaat may have thought he had found kindred spirits when he spotted Ron Atkinson and Mark Lawrenson at the back of the Ibrox press room on Tuesday night. Surely they would have empathised with how the Rangers manager was feeling minutes after his Champions' League dream had been prised from his grasp by Marco Simone's late goal.

Dick Advocaat may have thought he had found kindred spirits when he spotted Ron Atkinson and Mark Lawrenson at the back of the Ibrox press room on Tuesday night. Surely they would have empathised with how the Rangers manager was feeling minutes after his Champions' League dream had been prised from his grasp by Marco Simone's late goal.

Not really. Ex-managers don't really fade away, they just have their flaws ironed out by television. "They're just like Coventry City," muttered one voice in the group, trying to equate Rangers' perennial flirtation with Europe's elite to Highfield Road 's with the drop. The only European trips Big Ron undertook while at Coventry involved Majorca rather than Monaco, while Advocaat is unlikley ever to require Lawrenson's in-depth knowledge of the Nationwide Second Division.

However, there is one manager in England that Advocaat ought to make as his role model. Arsÿne Wenger underwent similar pain last year, bounced out of the Champions' League at the first group stage for the second successive season, but recovered to deliver swift qualification this time.

If anything, Advocaat and Rangers have outstrippped Arsenal in terms of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. They were just 12 minutes away from reaching the second stage when Simone struck.

Rangers' "failure" was to gain eight points, the same as Galatasaray, over whom they had a better goal difference, but to whom they lost the second place on results between the two - 3-2 to the Turks in Istanbul and 0-0 at Ibrox.

Last season "failure" meant losing away to Bayern Munich in the final group on a disputed penalty and being squeezed out by Valencia, the eventual finalists. Advocaat preferred to sense a new beginning rather than the end of the world. "Look at Galatasaray," he pointed out. "They came of the Champions' League at this stage last season and went on to win the Uefa Cup. So everything is still open to us."

Few at Ibrox on Tuesday night were in the mood to seek solace in being re-routed to the Uefa Cup. Yet, it can offer consolidation as well as consolation. Indeed, Advocaat could just as easily have nominated Arsenal rather than Galat-asaray. They too reached the Uefa Cup final and, like Leeds United who progressed to the semi-final, emerged far stronger when confronted with the Champions' League.

"Reaching the second stage of the Champions' League would have meant a lot to this club, not just in terms of money, but prestige," said Advocaat. "But at least we are still involved in the Uefa Cup, which gives us a chance even though the draw is hard."

Just like last year, Rangers' invitation to gatecrash the Uefa Cup hardly came gold-embossed. Then they drew Borussia Dortmund, Champions' League exiles like themselves, and went out in a penalty shoot-out. This time they face Kaiserslautern, Bundesliga champions three years ago.

"They are a good team," cautioned Advocaat, "and they have improved their season since Andreas Brehme took over as coach a couple of months ago. They are second in the Bundesliga and that tells you all you need to know about their strength.

"We beat Dortmund in the home game of the Uefa tie last season, and we would have been through if we had not lost a 94th-minute goal in Germany which took the match to extra time. Then we lost on penalties. You need a little bit of luck to be successful in Europe and we have not had that. Before the Champions' League group was drawn, I felt it was tough but once we won our opening two games - including away to Monaco - I expected us to get through. But look at the injuries we have had."

If Advocaat could nurse Rangers past Kaiserslautern into the quarter-finals, the Uefa Cup would then break until March by which time Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Michael Mols, Stefan Klos and Craig Moore may have returned.

Matching Arsenal's metamorphosis last season would heal the hurt pride around Ibrox, and might even prevent the manager being sent to Coventry.