Did you really do THAT? My God, how will you ever live it down? Did anybody see you? You can bet that somebody will take great delight in reminding you of the events of the previous night and that it may be some time before you can look them in the eye without a twinge of embarrassment or guilt.
If that seems a familiar story to anybody who’s ever over-indulged on a Friday night, it’s now the 3rd time this season that Ally McCoist will be waking up facing such a dilemma. Just as you or I would wake up counting the cost of the night before, so too will our manager be forced to look at his worryingly empty wallet and wonder where it all went wrong? Against Malmo it was missing out on the prospect of a £10million pay day and invitations to the glamorous world of the Champions League. Maribor may have cost us a more modest £4million windfall and the chance to rub shoulders with the lesser lights of European football but the basic problem was the same – once again we were upstaged on the big occasion by the relatively poor party guest who turned out to be impudent enough to expose our failings and shortcomings.
The Scottish League Cup can’t be said to be a glamorous tournament. The rewards are rather modest and the exposure to injury can be dangerous but the cups we’ve won form part of the basis for our claim to be the most successful club in the world. It might not be the best tournament in football but no matter how modest an achievement winning it may seem, like the smallest of compliments it gives our esteem a welcome boost knowing that the silverware is in our trophy cupboard come the end of the season. Success breeds confidence and with the League Cup offering the first Hampden final of the season, it can often be a welcome renewal of belief come the business end of the league campaign when tired and aching bodies may need a timely boost.
McCoist faces an alarming wake-up call for the 3rd time this season knowing the bitter taste of defeat in knock-out competition to opposition who would normally pose little threat. We’ve been upstaged again by an opponent with a fraction of our resources. The team that struggled last night included plenty of full internationals in the starting line-up, a back four that could be considered our strongest available and yet we looked well off the pace of Falkirk’s young and hard-working side. If the second half of Sunday’s Glasgow derby game was a taste of how well we can play when everything clicks together then last night’s defeat should be a sobering reminder that we’re just as capable of being disjointed and lacklustre if things don’t go our way.
Let’s not kid ourselves. We can tell ourselves that it’s a nothing competition and that it’s little more than a cheap bauble. We can claim that it’s worth dropping out of the tournament to limit our exposure to injuries and that the pressure on our cross-city rivals is all the greater now that they’re the undoubted favourites for Hampden success. The reality however is that we lost the game through a combination of poor play and a lack of professionalism and those are issues that have dogged McCoist’s Rangers since the moment he took charge. Our pre-season campaign was poor but fans told themselves that results didn’t matter and that the most important thing was that we’d be prepared for the meaningful games. Perhaps those who questioned the defeats in Germany can feel some vindication following our humiliations at the hands of Malmo and Maribor but you’ll find no Gers fan queuing up to say that they told you so.
It’s also valid to ask whether our position at the top of the SPL table can be taken at face value so early in the season? We’d all rather be four points clear than behind but with so many games still to go, its little more than a welcome excuse to mock our rivals. Anybody who believes that a 4-point lead in September is somehow indicative of our dominance would do well to remember the SPL titles that have been squandered over the past decade where one side looked to be in a position of strength going into the final quarter of the season.
I’ve already stated the case for the job being too big for McCoist and the risk that appointing him exposes us to and now is not the time to go over old ground. We’re stuck with Ally and the squad he’s assembled, for better or for worse, until at least the January transfer window and by that time we’ll know a lot more about our future and the impact of our ongoing difficulties with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
Results like last night will be written off by fans that are eager to give Super Ally every chance to make a name for himself as Rangers manager. That does them eternal credit but does McCoist favours.
The players may deserve criticism for some unacceptable performances this season but so too does the man who manages them. At times we look poorly prepared, disorganised and uninterested in the humdrum games against weaker Scottish opposition and a large part of that is down to McCoist’s management of the squad and the work that his coaches do at Auchenhowie every day.
Theres a corny old line wheeled out by sportsmen and management consultants that if you "fail to prepare then you prepare to fail." Whilst such throwaway quips offer us no new insight, their basic truth remains. Ally McCoist must find a way to address our deficiencies soon and a giddy 45 minutes against our under-performing rivals does little to hide the continuing frailties within our team.