BIG CUP IS ALMOST BACK, BABY

Having seen off PSV Eindhoven to qualify for the group stages of Big Cup this time last year, Rangers had every right to feel bullish about their chances of repeating the feat on Wednesday night. While their tie against the Eredivisie side was finely poised after a 2-2 draw at Ibrox, any notions Mick Beale’s team might have had about getting a result at the Philips Stadion were quickly disabused when their Dutch hosts set about taking them apart with the meticulous efficiency of horologist Steve Fletcher getting stuck into an antique clock on The Repair Shop. If anything, the 5-1 scoreline seriously flattered Rangers, who were long out of the tie when Connor Goldson summed up their performance with a comedy, no-look own goal past Jack Butland.

Rangers must now settle for a place in Big Vase, which – fiscal blow aside – is probably the best place for them when you consider the various humiliations visited upon them in last season’s Big Cup group stages which they ended with a record of P6 W0 D0 L6 GF2 GA22. “For this team, this game came far too soon, that’s what’s clear,” barked Beale, who bristled at the suggestion his team had shipped a hiding despite all available evidence to the contrary. “It’s bitterly disappointing we are out of [Big Cup]. I think we played against an excellent team. But just an apology to our fans who came across. They stuck with the team in both legs and they expect a bit more than what they got.” One suspects they will certainly be expecting more than what they get on Sunday lunchtime, when Rangers host Celtic in the first Old Firm derby of the season.

Related: Rangers out of Champions League as PSV’s Saibari leads 5-1 playoff thrashing

While this game may have come too soon for Rangers, Thursday’s Big Cup group-stage draw isn’t coming soon enough for Football Daily. The world’s most tea-timely football email is due to slink apologetically into inboxes around the globe at precisely the same time as Pedro Pinto and Reshmin Chowdhury start explaining the long and extremely convoluted process of sorting 32 clubs into eight groups of four. By the time you read this, there’s a very good chance fans of Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle and Celtic will be crashing the websites of assorted budget airlines in their rush to book tickets to far-flung corners of Europe, with those of a Geordie persuasion likely to be particularly excited about seeing their team rubbing shoulders with Europe’s elite for the first time in 20 years.