Glasgow Rangers pundit Alan Hutton has been left thrilled by some news that has now emerged on his former club.
The Lowdown: Group stage place
Taking to Twitter, reliable ESPN editor Dale Johnson has shared that due to Russia now having no affiliated teams participating in UEFA club competitions next season, the Ibrox faithful will be guaranteed group stage football in Europe, as well as both Celtic and Hearts.
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The rebalancing of qualifying means that they cannot fail to reach the groups, and at worst would be playing in the Europa League, with a Champions League spot up for grabs if they can do the unthinkable and beat Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville.
The Latest: Hutton reacts
Speaking to Football Insider, former Light Blues right-back now Rangers TV pundit was thrilled when he heard the news, claiming that it is 'absolutely massive' for his former club and 'good' for the Scottish Premiership in general:
“It’s absolutely massive. These are the competitions you want to be in.
“You want to be playing in Europe. I always found it difficult in previous seasons that you could win your league and you’d still have to qualify for the Champions League.
“It’s called the Champions League for a reason. You look at all these other nations that get four teams in there. I understand they’re in a strong league but if you win your league, you should be in it.
“The way things have worked and everything that’s going on, it’s not ideal.
“But it’s good for Scottish football the teams are going to progress.
“Rangers go into the third qualifiers for the Champions League, Celtic are straight in it if they win. It’s nice to see other teams, like Hearts, to be playing European football.
“It spurs the rest of the league on to say: ‘We can do this. We can push for this as well.’ So I think it’s just good for the league in general.”
The Verdict: Reaping the rewards
Just by the Teddy Bears getting so far in the Europa League, they have reaped the rewards by increasing Scotland's overall coefficient, and thus giving them a guaranteed place in the group stages next term.
This will help them qualify for future European tournaments as well, and adding more Scottish sides in the mix next campaign will only increase the coefficient further.
Nonetheless, the Gers' success in the Europa League has been a triumph for Scottish football, and will have a long-term positive impact on both Ibrox and the Premiership as a whole.
In other news, find out which 'really exciting' attacker RFC could now lose this summer here!