Novo stunned by Rangers’ European embarrassment

Novo knows how it feels to suffer a Euro disaster and insists Rangers flops must get their act together fast

WALTER SMITH was barely a month into a new era at Rangers when an evening of European failure prompted a furious and brutally frank discussion. It would change every man in the line of fire’s perspective on playing for the club.

‘I watched him (Smith) come back into the hotel with that look on him,’ recalled Nacho Novo, scorer in a 2-1 loss to Hapoel Tel Aviv earlier that evening.

‘Walter wanted a meeting straight away. You would s*** yourself just to look at him, never mind hear him. We knew we were in big trouble.

‘He said none of us had performed as if we knew what it meant to play for Rangers. But he then handed an option to everyone.

‘He said: “I’ll give you the chance right now. If you don’t think you have what it takes to play for this jersey, to cope with the pressure of Rangers, then put your hand up and f*** off”.

‘He hadn’t seen any fire out there. And, if you didn’t care, then you were dead to him. He’d pretty much make you realise that to your face. It was the right thing to do. No one put their hand up. We stuck together instead.’

Eight days later, the second leg was won 4-0 at Ibrox. Sixteen months on, Rangers contested a UEFA Cup final.

The highs on the way to that final against Zenit Saint Petersburg in Manchester and the Champions League group-stage campaigns that followed for Novo are a world away from the experience last Tuesday night.

Then, he sat dumbstruck by the poverty of display as Rangers exited Europe to Progres Niederkorn — the fourth-best team in Luxembourg.

Novo would love to think there will be a reaction from the current crop of underachievers cobbled together by manager Pedro Caixinha. There are far less lofty ambitions at stake this time, too. Simply to put up a greater fight in the league, gain ground on Celtic and hurdle Aberdeen.

However, the striker has genuine fears that the recipe is not right within the current Ibrox squad to draw such an immediate response and attain those goals.

There are leftovers from Mark Warburton’s reign, veteran Scots, plus new arrivals Ryan Jack and Graham Dorrans to go with a seven-strong Portuguese, Mexican and Colombian influx well known to the manager but with many questions to answer in a harsh Rangers baptism.

‘A Rangers team needs to have a balance to make a real team,’ said Novo. ‘My opinion is it’s too hard to bring in so many players from abroad at once. That can cause a split. As soon as there’s a split in a squad, you are never going to win.

‘I was a foreigner at Rangers but we always used to have a good structure around us.

‘In all my time at Ibrox, there was a mix — I was Spanish, a bit of Dutch with Fernando (Ricksen), there was a Bosnian, Sasa Papac, Jean-Claude Darcheville (France), Brahim Hemdani from Algeria.

‘Different countries, but mixed in with many Rangers fans who teach you things (about the club) and you learn.

‘I think that if you want to change everything as soon as you arrive, the majority of times it will not work.

‘It happened before with Paul le Guen. He wasn’t a bad coach — he was a really good coach. But he wanted to change everything so quickly and it crashed.

‘Coming here, you need to get used to playing for Rangers. I saw many good players with big reputations who took time to settle. They couldn’t handle it or it took a while.

‘People say Rangers need three or four years to get back. They need to try now. You must have the fire and winning mentality — in every 50-50 challenge. But the way they have signed players means things will take time to settle.’

The time ahead for Rangers was supposed to be built up by competitive European football. Now there are four blank weeks for Caixinha to fashion a fusion of his foreigners and Ibrox inheritance into a unit viable to tackle a long 10 months dedicated to domestic action.

‘It’s all about how the players react to this defeat,’ said Novo. ‘I have no doubt Kenny Miller is going to push to bring everyone on board, to show them what it is like to play for the club. I used to lock myself in my room and watch the games again many times to see what I could improve on.

‘I was in a bad mood when we lost, I wouldn’t speak with anyone. At

least there’s still a long way to go until the league kicks off.

‘We need to give the players a chance. Then we see the reaction. It’s time to stop thinking about the green boots and things like that.

‘Concentrate on getting results, make it difficult for other teams and win things. Hopefully, everything will come good.’

That was certainly the case in 2008-09 when Smith’s Rangers crashed out to Lithuanians Kaunas in the second round of Champions League qualifying in early August.

Novo set up Kevin Thomson to score the opener in Lithuania following a goalless first leg but Rangers then conceded twice to exit Europe.

The group gathered themselves to concentrate on sealing the domestic Double, with Novo netting a Scottish Cup final winner against Falkirk.

‘Kaunas was the worst feeling,’ recalled Novo. ‘It was a terrible experience for the players, fans and the club. I remember getting back into the changing room and all the players were fighting afterwards. It was nowhere near good enough.

‘Coming home that night was awful, everyone was hurt. But what we had in that team were really strong characters. People who would hold their hands up and accept responsibility. ‘The only way was to get back

together and concentrate on the league, which was the most important thing. We eventually worked everything out.’

The signings of Steven Davis, Madjid Bougherra and Pedro Mendes swiftly helped alter the misery of the Lithuania defeat and losing Carlos Cuellar to Aston Villa.

Novo hopes the late arrivals of new capture Dorrans and Portuguese veteran Bruno Alves can help in that regard.

Carlos Pena has fitness to find, Eduardo Herrera featured only as a late sub in Luxembourg, but the early signs from Alfredo Morelos, Daniel Candeias and Dalcio are not encouraging.

‘I am happy Dorrans has come. I think he’s a great player who knows what the club means,’ added Novo.

‘Alves will be a good signing, a centre-half for Portugal who can maybe do the same things as Davie Weir.’