Rangers perform in Europe - but below par at home

Last month, Rangers became the first Scottish side to progress to the knockout phase of the Champions League. The club directors at Ibrox were pondering on showing Alex McLeish the back door but qualification to the last 16 apparently saved the manager's job.

Thanks to the point won after the home draw against Inter, Rangers will now meet Villarreal at home in the first leg on February 22.

Indeed, Europe should be the target for every club but Rangers' displays in the domestic league have been too pathetic lately and almost overshadow their glorious moments on the continent.

In November, following a 3-0 drubbing to Celtic at Parkhead, the Gers created the worst sequence in the club's history of eight matches without a win in league and cup competition.

In the League Cup they were also bundled out by Glasgow rivals Celtic who went through to the last four.

Rangers are currently fourth in the Premier League, well behind leaders Celtic and second-placed Hearts. Rangers' showings on their travels have been appalling... these erratic outcomes have been their downfall in the league this season.

Since the introduction of the Premier League in 1975, the last time Rangers featured out of the top three was at the end of the 1985-86 campaign.

Rangers' latest capture, striker Kris Boyd from Kilmarnock, took off with a bang as he netted a hat-trick in the Scottish Cup third round victory at home to Peterhead - 5-0.

So far, Celtic have experienced almost the opposite of what Rangers went through this term.

The Bhoys, with Gordon Strachan filling the void left by Martin O'Neill, had a disastrous campaign in European club football.

In Slovakia, Celtic suffered their worst negative result in European history when they went down 0-5 to Artmedia Bratislava in the second qualifying round first leg of the Champions League to exit 4-5 on aggregate.

While stuttering in the domestic scene at the early stages of the season, they gradually picked up to overtake surprise package Hearts and now they are leading the way - seven points ahead of the Edinburgh side.

In the League Cup semi-finals Celtic meet Motherwell.

Yet, in the other domestic contest, Celtic received the shock of their lives when, on Roy Keane's debut, they bowed out to Clyde 1-2 away.

Keane joined the Glasgow greens from Manchester United in the January transfer window.

Hearts took the Premier League by storm this season and became the toast of the capital as they left the Old Firm duo behind.

At Tynecastle they defeated Rangers 1-0 to claim eight successive victories from the beginning of the campaign and equal a club record that was last registered in 1914-15.

But then, when the neutrals thought that Hearts could go all the way in the championship race, Lithuanian owner Vladimir Rom-anov started to interfere with George Burley's team affairs and the latter felt he had enough and resigned.

The west-coast side have never reached the same heights again. Now, they are managed by Graham Rix. In the League Cup they lost at Livingston in round three.

UEFA Cup contestants

UEFA Cup representatives Hibernian and Dundee United (Scottish Cup finalists) both fell at the first hurdle, at the second qualifying round.

Hibs lost to Ukraine's Dnipro 1-5 on aggregate and Dundee United stumbled to Finnish part-timers My Pa on the away goals' rule.

Hibernian regained composure to rub shoulders with the top teams in the classification and Dundee United have pulled to safe waters, three places from bottom.

In the Scottish Cup, Hibernian went through to the fourth round but Dundee United lost at home to Aberdeen 2-3 after they led 2-0.

Manager Gordon Chisholm became the second league casualty after Burley, although in the latter's case it was his club Hearts that suffered most and not the manager, now the boss at Southampton.

Dundee United have appointed Craig Brewster.

Rock-bottom side Livingston have had four managers in the last 15 months.

After Richard Gough succeeded in keeping the club afloat, he was fired for issuing wages to Moroccan Hassan Kachloul when the player had signed as an amateur.

Paul Lambert took over the dual role of playing and managing, and although the 'Livi Lions' are in the semi-finals of the League Cup - won the silverware in 2004 - they have a harsh struggle with Dunfermline and Falkirk to sustain their top-flight status.

In the Scottish Cup they were eliminated by Second Division side Alloa at home.

Incidentally, Dunfermline are the side Livingston have to beat to claim a place in the League Cup final.

The Pars' fans will look at manager Jim Leishman as their saviour once more after he took over the reins in the last two matches of the last campaign and kept the club at the SPL at the expense of Dundee... by a mere point.

In the Scottish Cup, Dunfermline lost to First Division Airdrie 3-4 at East End Park after they were 2-0 in front in the third round.

With an artificial turf pitch installed last season, Dunfermline only lost five times at home.

But then the surface was abolished due to complaints by the other SPL sides and the decision left its mark as Dunfermline have already lost nine matches at home this season.

Butcher's 'Well

Motherwell have a mountain to climb to reach a second successive League Cup final, having to oust Celtic in the semi-final.

Terry Butcher led the side to a top-six placing for the second successive time last term and he could perform the act for the third year running.

The Fir Park side have also ended among the victims of the Scottish Cup, losing 0-3 to First Division giant-killers, St Mirren, at Paisley.

Aberdeen, managed by Jim Calderwood, have been playing like total strangers at Pittodrie, where they have won only three matches to date. In the League Cup they lost to Motherwell in the quarter-finals but progressed to the fourth round in the other domestic cup competition.

Kilmarnock and Inverness, who finished in the lower half of the classification in 2004-05 are slightly better-positioned at present.

The Killies' transfer of leading marksman Boyd to Rangers was a severe setback for the club that went down at Hearts in the Scottish Cup.

Inverness lost manager Brewster to rivals Dundee United. First-team coaches Charlie Christie and John Docherty have taken over on temporary basis.

Newcomers Falkirk, the runaway First Division champions (15 points better off than second-placed St Mirren) are glad to have made the grade, when two years before they were denied of a place in the top flight because their old ground Brockville fell short of SPL regulations.

Falkirk are just above Dunfermline and Livingston in the standings and also struggling to avoid the dreaded drop.