Rangers under Steven Gerrard in Europe. A thread.

In 2008 Rangers were ranked within the top 25 clubs in Europe with a co-efficient score of 66.013.

Ten years later, when Steven Gerrard became our manager we were ranked 262nd, alongside a bunch of teams from Belarus & a few other Scottish teams.

Incredibly we were ranked 251 places and 82 points behind Porto when Gerrard took the job.

The previous season, when Pedro was in charge, we were rightly ridiculed for being knocked out by FC Progrès Niederkorn. This infamous pic of Pedro in a bush will haunt me forever.

Graham Spiers couldn’t wait to stick the boot in. Basically claiming Steven Gerrard was shitting his pants at the challenge ahead.

In his first season as manager, Rangers progressed through four qualifying rounds to reach the Europa League group stages.

We played the final half an hour vs Ufa in Russia with 9 men after Morelos and Flanagan were shown red cards.

Drawn against Villarreal, Spartak Moscow and Rapid Vienna in the groups - We went into round 6 needing a win to qualify, but lost 1-0 to Rapid Vienna away from home. That defeat saw us exit the competition.

The following season was a similar challenge to try and get into the Europa League groups. We had to navigate our way through four qualifying rounds. We dispatched St Jospeh’s and FC Progrès Niederkorn with relative ease before meeting Midtjylland in the 3rd Qualifying Round.

Rangers swept Midtjylland away, beating them 7-3 on agg. I will explain why that result is so impressive later. Legia Warsaw stood between Rangers & a place in the Europa League groups. Morelos’ last minute header sent Legia Warsaw and Artur Boruc packing.

Drawn against Porto, Feyenoord and Young Boys, very few gave us a chance to get out of the ‘Group Of Death’. Two wins and three draws was enough to finish 2nd place and that saw us drawn against Braga in the last 32.

Braga were massive favourites to knock us out in the last 32. They had topped their group that included Wolves, Besiktas & Slovan Bratislava. They beat Wolves at Molineux, & drew 1-1 against them in Portugal. Wolves have finished 7th in the Premier League in back-to-back seasons.

Rangers won the 1st leg at Ibrox in incredible fashion. We were 2 goals down after 59 mins & seemingly out of the tie. Goals from Hagi & Aribo put us back on level terms, before Hagi’s deflected free-kick sent Ibrox wild. We’d take a lead over to Portugal.

Braga were heavy favourites to finish the job in Portugal. Rangers fans travelled in their thousands and would be treated to a night to remember as Ryan Kent scored the only goal to send us into the last 16.

Bayern Leverkusen were next up in the last 16. They would prove to be a step too far and ran out 4-1 winners on aggregate. Havertz was terrific in both legs.

This season was a little easier, only three qualifying rounds to get through. COVID-19 meant ties would be a single leg, leaving no room for error. Lincoln Red Imps, Willem II & Galatasaray was our route into the EL group stages - Three wins, 11 goals scored, 1 goal conceded.

Gerrard has led Rangers to the group stages of the Europa League in all three seasons as manager. No team has ever progressed into the group stage of the Europa League having played in the first qualifying round - Rangers have done it twice under Steven Gerrard.

Under Gerrard we have played 19 Europa League qualifiers. We’ve managed 13 wins and 6 draws. 40 goals scored, 7 goals conceded.

We haven’t been behind at any point in any of those 19 qualifiers.

Our record in the group stages is very respectable considering we have been in the lowest seeded pot (pot 4) both times. Three wins, six draws and three losses. Of course we have been successful and unsuccessful getting out the groups in two attempts.

Only three years after losing to Progrès, we have beaten Porto who went on to win their league. Legia Warsaw who went on to win their league. Midjytlland who went onto win their league. Braga who topped a group containing Wolves & Besiktas. And now Galatasaray.

We are still miles away from being ranked inside the top 25 teams in Europe, but we are on our way back. We are now ranked 69th with 19.25 points. Another successful season should see us get close to the top 50 which would make it easier in future qualifying campaigns.

Our rise up the rankings has meant that Scotland’s co-efficient has also improved. In 2008 Scotland were 10th. When Gerrard took over at Rangers, Scotland was way down in the rankings at 26th.

Now we’re steadily climbing back up the rankings and currently sit in 13th place.

Another good performance in Europe by both Rangers & Celtic should see Scotland get back inside the top 10. This would mean an automatic spot in the Champions League groups for the champions of Scotland and the runners up entering the Champions League qualifiers. @UEFACalculator

Scottish football was close to hating itself to death less than a decade ago. It’s a fact that Scottish football needs both Rangers and Celtic performing well in Europe to prosper.

Steven Gerrard has done a remarkable job since taking over a little over two years ago. All that’s left now is to win a trophy.