McCoist and his team receive a reality check

Football Writer

Thursday 1 November 2012

EARLIER this season, as his players struggled to find their feet in the Irn-Bru third division, Ally McCoist was keen to make the point that it was important to stress the difference between Rangers the club and Rangers the team.

Ally McCoist's expression says it all at Ibrox last night . . .

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Graeme Macpherson

This, presumably, was the kind of evening the manager had in mind when he said it. Rangers the club – if you accept the argument they are still the same entity that went before – demands success.

The impressive stadium, the state-of-the-art training ground and a fanbase that is the envy of every club in the land bar one, are normally the trappings of a club operating at the upper echelons of the game, with a playing roster to match. This Rangers team, though, can't live up to those lofty expectations. Granted, they still boast a number of players that would improve many Clydesdale Bank Premier League squads but as a unit they are not the force they once were. It is like asking an ageing winger to repeatedly burst past a full-back. The spirit still willing but the body can no longer comply.The victory over Motherwell in the previous round of this competition had given Rangers hope that perhaps they had not fallen as far as they thought. This, then, was something of a reality check. They were a competitive match for Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the first half – and created a few chances – but when it came to the quality of defending, passing and, in particular, finishing, it was Inverness who held the upper hand in all three categories. For a sizeable Rangers support – the crowd was double that which watched Celtic beat St Johnstone the previous night – accustomed to seeing teams come to Ibrox and cower in fear it must have been a thoroughly uncomfortable experience. By the end they had their goalkeeper to thank for sparing them a rout.The result killed the prospect of an Old Firm Scottish Communities League Cup semi-final or even final, something for the neutral to savour in the absence of the traditional four league games, which may come as something of a relief to Rangers in their current state.McCoist and his players will have enough work getting out of the third division this season, although Alloa Athletic are at Ibrox this weekend in the Scottish Cup. Towards the end of last night's game, watching the unaccustomed sight of their team thoroughly outplayed at home, all that was left for the Rangers fans was a sense of defiance, their pride severely wounded. There were predictable barbs aimed at both the SPL and the Scottish Football Association, as well as a rousing rendition of Rangers 'Til I Die. The boos at full-time were half-hearted and many hung around to applaud their players off the park. Perhaps McCoist's point about the difference between the club and the team is beginning to sink in.

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McCoist and his team receive a reality check

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