Jose Mourinho established his managerial reputation in a meaningful way when Porto beat Celtic to win the Special One his first European trophy in Seville in 2003.
The Spent One, as I think Jose should now be called, vandalised his own reputation and legacy when an interim manager, Rangers’ Barry Ferguson, gave him a schooling in Istanbul on Thursday night on the occasion of his first ever European match as a boss. In spite of what Mourinho said about Rangers not celebrating too much after their utterly emphatic win in Turkey, Fenerbahce will melt like a souffle in a microwave when they get to Ibrox this week.
They are, for the most part, like their manager – past their best. And my radio colleagues, who laughed at me when I said Rangers could get to the Europa League final this season, in spite of all their highly-visible domestic flaws, might not disagree with that sentiment. I get the distinct impression they have now developed a speech impediment regarding this matter.
The difference between the shambles that is Rangers when they play in the Premiership or the Scottish Cup, and the team who compete in Europe, is clearly beyond understanding where normal football people are concerned. It’s a matter for a behavioural psychologist or whoever else is best equipped to deal with unexplained phenomena.
If Ferguson can’t explain the enigma and mystery wrapped up in an unfathomable package that is his team, then why should the rest of us give it a go? Jack Butland sums it up.
The goalkeeper is a calamity and a Colossus on a game-by-game basis, sometimes even the same match. Facts and figures are more straightforward and go directly to the heart of the matter.
Mourinho will be fortunate to stay in a job after his irredeemably shabby side are put out of their misery in Glasgow this week. He has lesser players from a lesser league and his once-stellar reputation is declining along with them. Prior to the game against Rangers, Jose gave a patronising answer in response to the question of whether or not he could one day be tempted to work in Scottish football.
He insulted everyone’s intelligence by venturing the possibility he could go along with the idea, when anyone with a modicum of intelligence, and an ounce of self-respect, knows that is an absolute impossibility. And, at the same time, he allowed people like me in the room to ponder why the Ibrox side or Celtic would even want him.
Callum Davidson, Stephen Robinson and Michael Wimmer could do against Rangers, with Queen’s Park, St Mirren and Motherwell respectively, what Mourinho couldn’t do. Win against Rangers.
For Ferguson, on the other hand, Thursday night at Ibrox will be a high-profile platform to prove that 49ers Enterprises could do worse than let him and his hastily-assembled backroom staff carry on in charge of first-team matters if the Americans’ takeover is completed.
It was ironic that Rangers’ win over Fenerbahce came on the same date that marked the club’s last league title win, achieved on the back of Celtic’s goal-less draw with Dundee United at Tannadice in 2021. And Sunday marks another cause for sober reflection inside Ibrox. Rangers are not involved in the Scottish Cup this weekend because they humiliated themselves by going out to a mid-table Championship side on their own pitch in what has been described as the worst result in the club’s history.
Celtic have won 13 of the last 14 league titles and internal warfare has broken out amongst Rangers men who have turned on fellow Rangers men. Former Ibrox stalwart Steven Naismith went public last week to state that some Rangers men had looked after number one and got out of the club’s hierarchy when the going got tough.
Some Rangers men, it should be pointed out in their defence, have lost personal fortunes trying to fortify the club over the last 14 years and personal health has, in certain regrettable cases, been affected along the way. Naismith, justifiably and without any trace of criticism from me, got out of Ibrox as a player when administration, then liquidation, took the club to the bottom tier of Scottish football in 2012 and threatened the progress of his career.
He looked after No.1. All of that stuff will soon be over and done with, in any case, and the complexion of the club will change for good. Better to have cosmetic surgery than no club at all, I would suggest. What’s happening now at Ibrox is reminiscent of a casino in the wee small hours of the morning.
The one-time high rollers have counted their losses and decided to cash in their chips rather than do further damage to their wealth. The last throw of the dice has taken place. The losing cards have been thrown into the middle of the table in acceptance of a busted flush. The house has won.
Willing investors will bring fresh income and the promise of a new tomorrow, but under a new guise. The old place may never look the same again.
Only Ferguson stands the chance of being a continuous link between past and present if he can achieve an aggregate win over Fenerbahce and follow it up with a commendable result against Celtic in Glasgow’s east end on Sunday.
The last newspaper columnist, and former Ibrox player, to become Rangers’ manager on a full-time basis was Willie Waddell in 1969. The circumstances then were remarkably similar to the goings on at the present time. Celtic were in the throes of serial title wins while on the way to the first Nine-in-a-row.
Rangers’ best times, meanwhile, were reserved for European competition in the midst of domestic mediocrity, culminating in the winning of the Cup Winners Cup against Moscow Dynamo in Barcelona in 1972. It couldn’t possibly happen again, could it? My submission that Rangers might at least reach the final to find out if lightning can strike twice is based on reputation – but that counts for nothing.
Spurs and Manchester United are clinging to life in the Europa League and might not see the week out if AZ Alkmaar and Real Sociedad get their way. And they’re supposed to be among the favourites to win the competition. Mourinho thought he was a contender for the trophy last week. And look where that thought got him.