Is the Europa League worth the hassle to the Old Firm?

Seriously, who really needs it?

In the days of Rangers battling with Lloyds, getting the club out of the grubby hands of David Murray and winning three in a row being a minor miracle in its' own right, Rangers need to take a step back and a breather.

Let's be honest with ourselves - the only thing worth losing in Europe, Rangers lost against Malmo over a week ago. We've all heard the money made in the CL and what that's worth to teams in a footballing backwater like Scotland, is worth. (if you disagree, look at the results tonight)

The big catastrophe was not qualifying for the group stages of the CL and, in all honesty, missing the Europa League group stages isn't worth a damn to Rangers or Celtic in comparison to missing on the cash geyser that is the CL.

For making around £2m in supposed ticket sales, tv money and pies, would that really be worth the paying of appearance fees, hotel bookings, flights and bonus money for a competition the Old Firm have as much chance of winning as they have the CL? Really?

The worst we've come out of tonight, and I'm being pragmatic and just thinking of Rangers here, to hell with the co-efficient, is that we're now in a straight dogfight for the SPL with an inexperienced manager.

The only thing Rangers lost tonight were their excuses should they fail to win the SPL this season.

It's another Kaunas, Ally - SPL or bust. Over to you - you know what needs done. Get it sorted.

In terms of Celtic's elimination, there remains a spark of light at the end of a dark Swiss tunnel. UEFA head honcho Michel Platini says that Sion were, 'in clear violation' of the transfer embargo placed upon them by UEFA. 

He went on, saying, "What is happening there is the rules have not been respected. FC Sion has not respected the rules of the transfer ban ," Platini said. "They signed players and then played those players."

Celtic fans may need the Europa League as this would now be two years on the trot without European football but I suspect that Celtic FC are not so bothered as you'd think about the Europa League - purely for financial reasons - it's almost not worth competing in.

I've only seen the red card for Majstorovic from the Celtic game, so I can't comment on their referee but the referees foisted on Rangers in the away leg against Malmo and both legs against Maribor were sub-standard. This is coming from someone who's learned just to accept Craig Thomson's performances in refereeing Old Firm games and the like.

The co-efficient is nothing but a justifiable reason for keeping teams and nations in the big tournaments that have a huge television audience.

I'll end by putting it this way - if it was solely about the football and entertainment served up, why don't UEFA get the 32 teams in the Champions League and put them all in one bowl and the first for out are Group A, 2nd 4 Group B, 3rd 4 drawn are Group C and so on. We might have Barcelona, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich in the one group - which all of Europe would still tune in to see.

I know I would.