Micky Beale has been bleating to his friends at BBC Scotland at the unfairness of the early season fixtures.
As everyone in Scotland knows the champions go straight into the group stage of the Champions League with the runners-up having to play two rounds of qualifiers.
It might have escaped Beale’s attention that previously the Scottish champions had to play four qualifying rounds to reach the group stage with the runners up given Europa League qualifiers.
Beale started his recruitment before the end of last season with the announcement that Kieran Dowell had signed a four year deal with NINE new signings in place for the SPFL opener away to Kilmarnock two weeks ago.
While Brendan Rodgers has to wait seven days between matches to develop his team pattern Beale has enjoyed extra fixtures in Europe to get his summer Galacticos in shape for the Glasgow Derby on September 3.
Stars like Sid Dessers, Sam Lammers, Danilo and Abdalla Sima have got to understand how Todd Cantwell and Nico Raskin get around the pitch supported by a defence of whom three of the four have been in place for FIVE YEARS.
It seems an ideal scenario but bringing other clubs into it Beale told BBC Scotland:
All of us clubs in Europe this first month of the season will play nine games and other teams will play five.
Okay, it’s early in the season, but still you’re integrating a lot of players and obviously European co-efficiency and the finance it brings into our league is very important not just for Rangers but for four or five other clubs.
We are really proud of our clubs midweek, but the effort that goes into that game you then have to look at the games in between and are the games able to recover and put in the same level of performance. Where does that lead to in injuries?
Beale is quite clearly getting in some early excuses in case he loses out to PSV Eindhoven or drops any points to Celtic or Ross County in the SPFL.
Last year Giovanni van Bronckhorst used a match away to Hibs to fine tune his new look side, converting a 2-2 home draw against PSV Eindhoven into a 1-0 win in the Phillips Stadium.
The SPFL has already spared the clubs competing in Europe from the group stage of the League Cup but as ever from Ibrox they always want more while portraying themselves as victims.
Next Saturday’s fixtures have been known about long in advance but it seems that Beale never thought to mention it to Stewart Robertson or new CEO James Bisgrove who is on the board of the SPFL.
There were clear signs on the Servette bench that the pressure is getting through to Beale, he inherited a squad of European finalists and has been able to sign up every single one of his summer signing targets.
If he fails to match van Bronckhorst by delivering Champions League football using Ross County as an excuse isn’t going to cut much ice with the angry fans or the money men in the Blue Room.
At Ibrox yesterday Morton were only able to name four substitutes, one of them a goalkeeper.
