Rangers are in top 33 but one feature makes them stand out from rest - now is time to put that right

Rangers ended last season a lofty 33rd in the UEFA club rankings calculated from coefficient points earned over five seasons.

Such upperwardly mobile status owes much to reaching the Europa League final in May, though plenty of groundwork was laid with their previous three creditable continental campaigns. Their remarkable rebuild in the European domain provides them with a standing they have not enjoyed since their 2008 UEFA Cup final appearance pushed them up to 24th. Notably, though, there is one factor that distinguishes the Ibrox team from every other of those among the top 33 – they are alone in not having appeared in the Champions League group stages in the past six years.

Ending their exile from world football’s pre-eminent club tournament remains the one itch Rangers have still to scratch since liquidation in 2012 forced them to start against in Scottish football’s fourth tier. In the past two years, they have accomplished storied feats that eclipse vast swathes of the successes from any team playing out of Ibrox over the entire modern age. Tales of the 2021-22 unbeaten league campaign that claimed them a first title in a decade – and ended Celtic’s quest for a record 10th straight championship – and the follow up of a European run that witnessed Borrussia Dortmund, Braga and RB Leipzig melt in the Ibrox fan-furnace will be passed down through generations of the Rangers faithful. Yet, a mere one generation cannot be allowed to continue to pass without the Govan amphitheatre playing host to the Champions League group stage football, which it hasn’t since 2011.

And when it comes to that, the path to European football’s promised land appears encouragingly negotiable in the next four weeks. Set against this, Rangers