Ibrox side Glasgow Rangers were dumped out of the Europa League in embarrassing circumstances last year.
Jamie Murphy has told The Scottish Herald that new Rangers team-mate Connor Goldson witnessed his shock at the Gers’ defeat by Progres Niederkorn last summer.
Rangers – then under Pedro Caixinha – came in for plenty of criticism last July after losing a first-round Europa League qualifier to the Luxembourg side.
Murphy, a lifelong Gers fan, and Goldson were both on the books at Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion at the time.
And the 28-year-old, who joined his boyhood club this summer for £1 million on a permanent deal [The Daily Mail], claims that such embarrassing results shouldn’t happen to clubs of this stature.
“I was down at Brighton when I heard the result,” he told The Scottish Herald. “Everyone down there could see the disappointment in my face. Connor will tell you. I was surprised more than anything.
“Clubs like Rangers shouldn’t be going out as early as that, but it happens and you move on. It’s up to us to make sure it never happens again.”
Rangers embark on another Europa League journey next week under Steven Gerrard and hopefully for their sake it will be more fruitful than the Progres debacle.
Gerrard’s side host Macedonian outfit FK Shkupi at Ibrox on Thursday, before heading to South-East Europe for the return leg on the following Tuesday.
The Gers should, in theory, make light work of Shkupi, but if there is an upside to losing to Progres it’s that such defeats are forever cautionary tales and ought to weed out any complacency.
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