IBROX has played host to some uniquely special European evenings in recent times and last night’s comeback win over Union Saint-Gilloise was as electrifying as we've come to expect.
Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven now stand in Rangers’ way of qualifying for the Champions League group stage for the first time in 12 years.
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s men got the better of AS Monaco after extra time last night to set up a mouth-watering tie between two historically prestigious teams.
There is a short turnaround with the first leg scheduled for Tuesday 16th August at Ibrox with the return taking place eight days later at the Philips Stadion.
With that in mind, the Dutch FA has taken it upon themselves to assist last year’s Eredivisie runners-up by rescheduling their league fixture with FC Volendam due to be played on Saturday 20th.
With the huge financial incentives on offer for qualification, the match is worth around £40m, it’s no surprise to see this proactive decision. A PSV statement read: "As PSV have booked a spot in the UEFA Champions League play-offs, the match versus FC Volendam, originally scheduled to take place on Saturday 20 August, has been moved to Wednesday 31 August, with an 18.45 kick-off.
"The match at home to FC Volendam was to take place in between the two play-off games. By moving the FC Volendam fixture, PSV will have an opportunity to prepare thoroughly for the decisive second play-off leg in the Philips Stadion on 24 August. Ruud van Nistelrooij will face Rangers FC in the UEFA Champions League play-off.
"Rangers progressed to the play-offs after a 3-2 win on aggregate against Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise. The Belgians registered a 2-0 win in the first leg but Rangers overcame the two-goal deficit, winning 3-0 in Glasgow."
There has been no such decisive decision made by the SPFL with regards to Rangers’ Premiership encounter with Hibs scheduled for Saturday 20th.
The movement of fixtures is something we witnessed last term, of course, when Motherwell were kind enough to agree to move a league match with Rangers by 24 hours to help Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men prepare for their Europa League semi-final first leg encounter with RB Leipzig.
The Light Blues went on to lose that match 1-0 but the precedent has been set in helping Scottish clubs compete at the highest level in Europe.
Now, it may well be that actually, those with football power inside Ibrox feel it's better to play games and get the fitness up rather than train. That thought process is totally understandable and makes sense as seven new players are eased into life in Govan. How Rangers want to approach this is obviously the key driver in what should happen.
But the onus shouldn't be on the Ibrox club to go cap in hand to the league body and ask them to help promote the game and fire it to greater glory. That should be at the very heart of everything the SPFL do if they are going about their duties diligently. Competitions don’t come much bigger than the Champions League after all - and performing in such a rarified theatre shines the light of the stage across our entire game.
So it would be a welcome move from Neil Doncaster to earn his £388,000 per annum salary by seizing some initiative, taking matters into his own hands and doing whatever he can to help a member club.
After all, anything that can further fans hearing 'Zadoc the Priest' blaring out under the lights at our two premier teams can only benefit Scottish football as a whole, right?
Over to you SPFL.
This piece is an extract from today’s Rangers Insider newsletter, which is emailed out at 5pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Rangers Review team.
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