American winger DaMarcus Beasley watched from the sidelines as his new club Glasgow Rangers’ struggled to beat tiny FK Zeta, 2-0, at Ibrox last night, in the first of a two-leg qualifier for this season’s UEFA Champions League. (If Rangers beats the tiny Montenegrin club, it moves into the third and round of qualifying for the group stage.) Unfortunately for American fans, Beasley, who had expressed his delight at returning to Europe’s most-prized competition, wasn’t injured, either.
Meanwhile, the London Times says that Rangers better qualify, given the poor state of the club’s finances. Earlier this week, Gers announced disappointing second quarter earnings, including a downturn in revenues and a resulting operating loss of $10.2 million, down from an $8.8 million profit a year earlier.
Part of the problem was that Rangers didn’t qualify for the Champions League last season, playing instead in the far less lucrative UEFA Cup. Prior to Tuesday night’s first-leg victory, Manager Walter Smith admitted that qualifying for the Champions League was necessary to help the club’s finances. “We know that involvement at this level [the Champions League] can make a difference financially to us,” Smith said. “You can see the difference it has made to Celtic’s accounts compared to Rangers’ over these past few years, so there is that bit of pressure on us, yes.” Indeed, the failure to qualify is reflected in the club’s income from advertising and sponsorships, which fell to $6.2 million from $16.4 million a year earlier.