Just two months after appearing in the UEFA Cup final in the City of Manchester Stadium in May. Glasgow Rangers have been knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by Lithuanian side FBK Kaunas, who are part owned by the same man who owns Heart of Midlothian Vladimir Romanov.

No doubt there will be chuckles of belly laughter in Glasgow and Edinburgh at the fact that losing over the two legged tie has cost the Gers around £12m in competition and television revenue. The embarrassment comes days after Celtic manager Gordon Strachan complained about not being able to compete with English clubs in the transfer market after his side slumped to a two-nill defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Feyenoord Jubeleeum. Which begs the question why can the two big Scottish clubs not compete when they get capacity attendances every week, they have global followings buying club merchandise and they appear every year  in European competition?

Strachan commented that Spurs manager Juande Ramos may not be able to do what he has done in getting to the last eight in the Champions League if he had the same budget and no stars. But as normal he is comparing apples and orange in his own charming manner. The competition for the Champions League and UEFA Cup places is less fierce in Scotland than in England. So Ramos needs the big stars and even bigger transfer budget, to get near the European competition places.

In comparison to the Old Firm, Tottenham have a much smaller stadium, a smaller global following which should translate to a much smaller budget. However they have the benefit of the Premier League television deal and they appear to be managed much better financially than the Old Firm.

Rangers manager Walter Smith confessed that his side were not in the game against Kaunas and that it will be difficult to motivate his players following the crushing defeat that will deny his team another glorious run in Europe. News that will not impress the Rangers fans who give anything to play at Ibrox.