IF pride remains a currency of any strength in a business increasingly dominated by finance then Rangers just might complete a pretty miserable Champions' League campaign on a high in Dortmund tomorrow night.
Having qualified from Group C behind Juventus this tie carries little significance for Borussia Dortmund, but even at this late stage the Ibrox side are anxious to prove that they are much more than bit-part players.
A win might also impress Fortuna Cologne's Mikkel Beck, who is expected to sign on at Ibrox some time next week provided, of course, no other clubs make late moves for the Danish striker's services.
It is believed Beck has a clause in his contract which prevents his club from asking more than #600,000 if he sees out his agreed term, which expires at the end of this season, and means it is in Fortuna's interest to transfer him while he is in contract. It would also be to the German club's liking if two or more clubs became involved in a bidding contest, but Rangers would be unlikely to pay more than #1m.
Fortuna were unwilling to sell him before the start of their winter shutdown this weekend and are hoping he can do something against Wattenscheid to help ease their relegation fears.
It should be said, though, that Rangers are still likely to have the 21-year-old with them next week and the Brazilian, Jardel, should also sign although he requires to secure a Portuguese passport to get around the need for a work permit.
Of course, neither of these players will be able to help Rangers tomorrow night, but in the last couple of weeks the side has been playing with something more like the style expected of them and if they can carry that improvement into the European theatre they might yet demonstrate their true capabilities.
Having gone a full Champions' League campaign undefeated after having qualified in season 1992-93 - they failed to qualify in the next two seasons - Walter Smith's side have still to win a tie in the current series having lost twice to Juventus and once to Steaua Bucharest.
Rangers drew with the Romanian champions at Ibrox and also Borussia, who secured their place in the quarter-finals with a 2-1 win against Juventus in Turin, but within Smith's squad their is a genuine belief that they can close the campaign in triumph.
Borussia will be forced to make some changes because of suspension and recovery from injury and it still pains Rangers' players when they look at their section and are reminded they have secured only two points from five matches.
``We have done well in the last couple of away games in the premier division,'' said Smith, ``and, in fact, we haven't lost an away match in domestic competition.
``However, we haven't won a game in the Champions' League and we would like to turn that around.''
At least Smith's anxiety when it comes to selecting three non-Scots to play in Europe will be eased because Gordan Petric, who was cautioned in the 1-1 draw with Steaua a couple of weeks ago, is suspended and although Craig Moore has resumed training after injury it is unlikely he will be asked to play.
Indeed, Rangers could revert to the more traditional 4-4-2 formation for this match although Smith has been determined to remain true to his desire to have a three-man central defence so far this season.
Gary Bollan and John Brown also could play central defence, but even without Petric, who has been culpable several times this season when Rangers have conceded goals, Smith must hope others like Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup take up the challenge and provide something extraordinary. If Rangers are to win in Germany their best players must make the difference.
Gascoigne has certainly been producing better work recently and if he is approaching his best again Borussia could be in for a surprise, especially a defence which will be without Jurgen Kohler, who is suspended.
Lars Ricken also is banned and Matthias Sammer has flu, but, on the plus side, the German champions, who are back at the top of the Bundesliga, have Stephane Chapuisat and Karl-Heinz Riedle available again after lengthy spells recovering from injuries.
``They have recovered from an indifferent start and are looking good, but we have picked up also,'' Smith said.
By way of highlighting another incentive for Rangers to do well, the manager also mentioned the fact that in Champions' League football each point is worth #250,000, but while the accountants would relish #750,000 from the final tie, the manager and players are driven by something more important to them. Restoring their pride will be reward enough.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article