WALTER SMITH insists next week's Champions League qualifier against FBK Kaunas is a bigger game for Rangers than last season's UEFA Cup final.
The showpiece against Zenit St Petersburg in May provided a first European final in 36 years, albeit the Ibrox club left Manchester empty-handed.
But because of the financial implications of the Champions League Smith insists taking a step closer
to the lucrative group stages of Europe's top club competition is even more crucial.
"This match against Kaunas is more important to us than last season's UEFA Cup final," said the Rangers boss.
"It's a major anxiety. You find yourself now in a situation where you've got awkward games and they come at the wrong time of year. You don't even get the benefit of three or four competitive games.
"But if you have aspirations these are the things you've got to overcome. The financial aspects are an enormous part of it. You have to be prepared if things don't go well for you.
"The Old Firm should be up there with the leading clubs but, unfortunately, because of the financial aspects of football and the difference between 12 and 15 years ago, it is now predominantly a financially-based game.
"Nobody can run away from that aspect of it. I'm listening to managers in England spending a fortune in transfers and wages saying 'We're not going to break into the top four'.
"And that's at that level of spending. It's a financially based game but supporters probably will not accept that. What we've got to watch is that we don't accept it either. There are other aspects of football we hope can make up for that."
Both Rangers and Celtic have progressed to the knockout stages of the Champions League in recent years but have so far failed to breach the last eight.
Smith admits the current financial climate means the Old Firm will continue to struggle against the continents' big hitters but says Rangers will continue to strive for success on the European stage.
He added: "If you look at the Champions League, a country of five million people – or even double that – is not going to win the Champions League.
We still want to be in there competing at that level, though. But there's got to be a level of realism that the Champions League might be beyond us."
The full article contains 403 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
