A mere mention of Malmo is enough to send a shiver down Stevie Naismith ’s spine or any of that Rangers team who last played in the Champions League.
The striker was part of Ally McCoist ’s team who were unceremoniously dumped out by the Swedes 2-1 on aggregate back in 2011.
That was a blow to lose in the qualifiers but an even bigger fight was to come as Craig Whyte’s pack of cards collapsed and from the debris of that the Light Blues were plunged into administration and had to start again in the bottom tier of Scottish football and work their way up.
More than a decade on Steven Gerrard has finally seen Rangers crowned Scottish title winners and the prize for that is a return to the holy grail of the Champions League.
They embark on qualifiers where their first match could be against old foes Malmo, if the Swedes can get past Finnish side HJK Helsinki.
Rangers will find out who they’ll face after next Tuesday’s second leg.
Naismith’s watched Gerrard build up Rangers domestically and in the Europa League and believes they’re ready to make their mark among the elite.
He said: “The first goal was to win back the league and be on the top of the tree in Scotland.
“They’ve done that but now the demand is to continue doing well in Europe and the Champions League.
“European performances, over his Ibrox spell, have been the manager’s best results.
“They have some work to do to get into the group stage of the Champions League but if the previous seasons are anything to go by then the manager understands what needs to be done to get through those early rounds.
“The rewards at the end, especially this season, are big. The Champions League is the best covered competition.
“It was the norm when I was at Rangers because we consistently got there and if not, we did well in the Europa League or UEFA Cup.
“It will be high on the agenda for Rangers to be involved in and I’m fairly confident they’ll make it to the group stage.”
Naismith recalls the agony of going out to Malmo as they lost 1-0 at Ibrox and could only get a draw away from home.
Rangers were struggling on the pitch and they also went out of the Europa League at the first stage to Maribor.
Naismith knows their team hadn’t hit the heights but even then they weren’t aware of how much trouble the club was in off the park – by February 2012 they were in administration.
Naismith said: “It wasn’t a great tie, but our situation wasn’t really something we were aware of going into those European games.
“As a player you’re really one of the last people to know, until things unravel and come out.”
It has been a long wait for the long-suffering Rangers fans who had been used to Champions League football against the likes of Manchester United, Valencia and Barcelona and if they weren’t dining at the top table then they were making it to the UEFA Cup Final under Walter Smith.
Naismith knows Rangers will feel they are back where they belong if they can get to at least the group stages of the Champions League and can make up for some lost time.
The former Scotland cap said: “We had a few good Champions League campaigns and also did well in the UEFA Cup so we were making a mark on Europe at that time.
“You would never have believed it’d be 10 years or so before they were back there.”
Scottish teams have traditionally found it difficult to get through the early qualifiers but that is something Gerrard and his teams have had very little issue with.
He has not only led Rangers into the Europa League group stage but out of them and into the knockout stages.
It has not only built up the Scottish co-efficient but given the Rangers team and squad a really hardening European understanding that Naismith believes will help them progress among the elite.
The Hearts coach said: “The biggest thing is the manager knows what it takes. Gerrard and his coaching staff have been brilliant. I’m sure he and his staff will be ready to make a mark and the players will be
the same.
“They have also added a few players but they still have a mainly settled squad and that will be a big factor going into this European campaign.”
Now rather than a shiver there is a sense of anticipation and expectation from the Rangers’ camp.
