Shame
I wrote on the main Offside page last season about the perplexing amount of Rangers games that Mike McCurry is still allowed to officiate. I have a lot of sympathy for Scottish refs, who don’t get paid a fraction of the amount they do down in England, but are of course held just as liable for mistakes. But when a ref is consistently wrong in favor of a certain team, even if that ref is still allowed to officiate, he certainly shouldn’t be allowed to run that team’s matches. Rangers start the season this weekend against Falkirk, and who’s in the center circle but Mike McCurry … for good and ill, very little ever changes in Scotland. At least they’ll see a friendly face after dropping out of Europe early, because that must have hurt, especially to Hearts junior.

The League Cup
It will still be some time before Rangers have to step in to defend their CIS Cup, but the lower leagues are already fighting it out for the chance to grab it. There were 14 matches in the first round of the cup on Tuesday, with some great ones mixed in. First, and I’m forced by virtue of being a Caley Thistle fan to mention this, Ross County was tossed out at home by Airdrie, by way of Paul di Giacomo’s 112th-minute winner. This was the only match with two First Division sides meeting up, and County is the only First Division side headed home early. For the most part, the matches went as expected, though the lucky 317 fans on hand to see Stranraer 3-6 Greenock Morton might disagree. The second round is played on August 26, with the field, now 28 strong, boiling down to the last 16.

Refs get their deal
With the start of the season only two days off, we at least know that we’ll have an opening day. For a while there, a looming referee strike put that very much in question. Like I said above, these guys aren’t paid nearly enough for a thankless job. The guys that oversee them, in my humble opinion, are overpaid if they make a single pound, because the regulation of refs has been a joke in Scotland as elsewhere in recent years. Still, I’m glad to see the officials making something closer to a decent sum for their job, and even more glad that the season kickoff won’t suffer for it. After all, it is Scotland, and we all know how fixtures tend to get behind in the winter.

Here’s to a great start to the SPL season, and, of course, MON THE CALEY.

Great job to Allan McGregor, if not to the rest of Rangers, for surviving and moving on, not only for themselves, but for Scotland. They are the lone SPL team left in Europe, and so I hope they can continue on as far as possible. Eventually, though, they’ll have to have some real attacking spirit. Today they really did survive – that’s the best word for it.

This is the first UEFA Cup quarterfinal appearance ever for Rangers, and the last time a Scottish side was in the quarters was in 2004, when Celtic lost to Villareal 3-1 on aggregate. Good luck to Rangers for a good draw tomorrow and hopefully we’ll see a bit more of what this team can do, rather than just the absolute brilliance of their keeper.

In other SPL matches, my Caley Thistle took a nice clean win out of Gretna, the expected result these days. Another Marius Niculae brace sandwiched a penalty from John Rankin to make it 3-0. As bad as Gretna is, the transfer rats are about to jump ship, and this team may very well get a lot worse. Even with Hearts falling fast, I really can’t see Gretna staying up at this point.

Falkirk hosted Aberdeen and played to a scoreless draw, a result that will be extremely disappointing for Dons considering Falkirk was down a man for 35 minutes. The match that everyone expected to end this way wasn’t Falkirk-Dons but Hearts-Kilmarnock, but the two struggling sides each managed a goal, from Velicka and Digiacomo respectively. Hibs meanwhile kept the poor run for Edinburgh sides going with a 2-1 away loss at St. Mirren which raises the Buddies out of eleventh place and grants the honor of second-worst record to a very deserving Hearts, who managed their fourth red card in two games.

Hearts’ form is horrendous, their discipline completely out of hand. Luckily for the red side of Edinburgh, it doesn’t matter too much as far as relegation is concerned. Steven Frail has famously told his men that they are “not too good to go down”. But the fact is they don’t have to be. Gretna is too poor NOT to go down. With as many as five starting players looking to head elsewhere in January, things look grim for the Black and Whites, and Hearts can rest easy. They may miss out on the top six for the first time in 14 years, but relegation isn’t going to happen.

PS – Welcome to the new Hearts Offside blog. Graham has chosen a rough time to start blogging the old Jambos, but it’s sometimes the struggling teams that make the most interesting reading, so go check him out.

Ever since Rangers’ quick start in their Champions League group, especially the 3-0 drubbing of Lyon (later, of course, reversed), Alan Hutton has been on a lot of potential transfer lists. His performances for Scotland have been even more impressive. The Scotland and Rangers right back impressed a lot of people in a lot of different leagues during that time, and now it looks like he might be headed down to England. Spurs have apparently made an 8-million-pound offer on Hutton, and early reports are that a deal has been struck. It’s a bit early to tell if this is speculation or fact, but its been long suspected that Hutton wouldn’t last long in January in a Rangers shirt. As a Scotland fan, I think Spurs would be a good move for him, and good for the NT. As a SPL fan, I hate to see him leave the league, but I know the financial realities.

Ally McCoist and the rest of Rangers have been making comments all through December about wanting to keep Hutton in light blue, but they know they can’t compete financially with Spurs. I think the deal will probably go through, and good on Hutton for making it onto a bigger stage. He’s a great talent, and it’s only fitting that more people will get to see that.

I do have to say that, for me, that was not a red card offense. I think it was a solid yellow, but not a straight red. Once again, I’m glad it was a red card because the game was already essentially over and all it did was take an ineffective player off of the pitch for Rangers the next time. Alan Hutton’s yellow card is a far bigger problem for the team, since he now misses the first leg of their Round of 32 UEFA Cup tie, and Hutton means far more to Rangers than Darcheville ever has.

Lyon deserved this win, and deserved for the scoreline to equal the one in France. I’m sure Inara will cover things over at the Lyon blog – as for me, I’m finished with Rangers for a bit. They aren’t my club, and pretending that they are is a bit tiring. I would have loved to see two Scottish teams in the final 16, but it may very well be better for the league to have one in the UEFA Cup, where advancement is far more likely … who knows.

To me, this match is about forgetting the first leg. Rangers went to Lyon on October 2nd and blew out the heavily favored Lyon, 3-0 on goals from Lee McCulloch, Daniel Cousin, and DaMarcus Beasley (out now with a knee injury). It was a great win for Rangers, one of the most surprising results of the group stage for any team, and it was rock bottom for Lyon. Ever since, the six-time French champions have been a different team. As Inara points out, 30 goals in two months. That is serious offensive power. As great as the win in France was for Rangers, and as bad as it was for Lyon, both teams better be over it, because if either team believes that it means much for this match, that team will lose, and be out of the Champions League.

Rangers need to be aware, as I’m sure they are, that they are facing a much better Lyon team than they did in France. Ben Arfa, Benzema and Juninho have looked fantastic lately, and the Lyon attack is in great form. The defense is another thing entirely, and goals have leaked in pretty regularly past a back four and keeper that continue to look vulnerable. Still, Rangers should expect every aspect of this team to be better than it was in October.

Lyon also need to put that match out of their heads, but not too far out. They need to remember that Rangers are a team that can beat them, and that was away from home, where the Old Firm traditionally withers. They need to realize how difficult it is to get a win at Ibrox, something Barcelona couldn’t do.

I’m not much for predictions, as readers of both this and the UEFA Cup blog know. It’s not that I don’t like to make predictions – I’ll do that – I’m just not very good at it. What I will say is this. Obviously, Lyon needs to score because anything less than a win and they’re out. But Rangers need to score too. The quick, crafty young attack of Lyon will almost certainly get at least one past Allan McGregor, and they will press for more. Open play is going to be a chess match between these two, and I can’t see a goalfest from either side. It’s going to come down to set pieces, and for Rangers that means limiting the fouls around the box. Juninho can hurt any opponent with his free kicks, and though that’s hardly the only danger from Lyon, it’s the one that most takes the fantastic defensive duo of Weir and Cuellar out of the equation. It’s hard to tell a Scotsman not to tackle, but Rangers need to tackle intelligently, something they are certainly capable of doing. Lyon is more than capable of creating chances – don’t hand them free ones.

Lyon don’t have a monopoly on dangerous set pieces. As disappointing as the Stuttgart loss was, Rangers had some of their best corner kicks and free kicks of the campaign. Rangers need to keep the pressure on, and do what too many people that don’t watch them regularly foolishly assume they are unable to do – attack. To me, Darcheville being out is a blessing. He’s wasted far too many great passes and must by now be common-law married to the offside position. As much as I am not a huge Daniel Cousin fan, he’s better than Darcheville. Kris Boyd will be waiting in the wings for a chance to earn his way back into Walter Smith’s good graces. Steven Naismith will be looking to do the same, and hopefully he’ll get more time than he did in the Stuttgart match, where he made trouble for the defense even in the limited minutes he got.

If I’m forced into a prediction, I’ll go with 1-1. A Rangers strike from Barry Ferguson around the 20th minute, countered by a Juninho free kick in the second half. That’s just specific enough that I’m sure to be wrong, which relieves a lot of the pressure. Count on another brilliant match from Alan Hutton, who even I (as a huge fan of the SPL) believe is too good for the SPL. As much as domestically, I am no fan of Rangers, I will be watching tomorrow, with a Scotland shirt on and not a Rangers one. One point is all that’s needed to put two Scottish teams in the final 16 of the Champions League, and to continue the fine streak of victories of Scottish over French teams. The coefficient points will also be enough to jump over Ukraine and maintain Scotland’s position as the 10th-ranked league in Europe. It will be a little more icing on what is already a great year for Scottish football. Good luck, Rangers. Do Scotland proud.

I wish I could say that this was a Rangers problem, but it’s not. It’s a Scottish problem. The SPL has a massive chip on its shoulder, and even the two teams that have the ability to compete at the highest levels in Europe, as both Celtic and Rangers do, don’t really believe that they can. That’s the root of all of the problems with Scottish football. It’s why we play more defensively than we have to … it’s why we play for draws when we could win … and now, it’s why we feel like we need a week off to prepare for a team we smothered the last time.

I sincerely want both Celtic and Rangers to do well. They might not be the clubs I support domestically, but they are the only two sides in Scotland with the finances to build Champions League knockout teams. Just as I support Aberdeen in the UEFA Cup, any Scottish side against any non-Scottish side has my support. But have some pride in yourselves. If you go into a match believing you need a handicap, you probably will. I hope the SPL denies the request, but given the precedent set last month, I doubt it. In any case, two draws will put two Scottish sides into the last 16 of the Champions League, and give us a better UEFA coefficient than last year. Move past this and perform on the pitch, and make Scottish fans proud to support you. But don’t whine about having to play Gretna three days before Lyon … especially when it forces me to agree with the French. (Just kidding, Inara).

Rangers took the early lead off of Charlie Adam in the 28th. Having just come on for the injured Lee McCulloch, Adam made his first touch count. Carlos Cuellar brilliantly headed DeMarcus Beasley’s corner to Adam’s feet, and he was able to flick it in for 1-0. Stuttgart’s Cacau was able to equalize in first-half injury time, with another deflected corner. The second half opened with another injury for Rangers, as Beasley was carted off after a collision with Stuttgart’s keeper. Pavel Pardo, the veteran from Mexico, gave Stuttgart their first lead with a low bullet that just snuck under Allan McGregor. McGregor was otherwise quite good on the night, but I really think he could have gotten to this one. Rangers got a lifeline in the 70th minute, as two Stuttgart mistakes led to a pretty pedestrian goal from Barry Ferguson. All credit to Barry for keeping his head and being in the right place at the right time, but the real surprise would have been him missing a shot like that.

Rangers looked to be taking at least a point, and were still attacking well, when Stuttgart’s Romanian striker Ciprian Marica came out of nowhere to deliver the killing blow with five minutes remaining. At about the same time, Lyon pulled even with Barcelona on Juninho’s goal, but none of it really mattered to Rangers’ advancement. Only a win here would have really helped them, and Walter Smith had to expect the situation he now finds himself in – hosting Lyon, needing a point.

On a side note, I have never understood the logic of late substitutions. Darcheville looked extremely tired and should have been replaced at about the 70th minute. When he finally did go off in the 81st for Daniel Cousin, Cousin barely had a chance to get into the match before it was over. In my opinion, if you have a player you are definitely going to replace, for the reason of fatigue, do it earlier. Fatigued players aren’t going to get a second wind in the middle of the match, and the new player, especially a lone striker, needs some time to get into the game. Far be it from me to question Walter Smith, but this decision seemed a bit off.

December 12th is already marked on my calendar. It should be a good one, and hopefully Rangers can hold on and make it through. Next up, Celtic’s match tomorrow with Shakhtar, a must-win for the Hoops.