12 years is a long time for Rangers, Milan, and Man Utd | OneFootball

If we go back in football 20-30 years, the order of the game was very very different. The top of the tree were Italy’s Milan and Juventus, England’s Man Utd, and Germany’s Bayern.

In Scotland Rangers were in complete dominance, storming through 9IAR then the McLeish, Advocaat then Walter years.

The painful irony now is that Rangers, Milan and Man Utd are all in exactly the same boat – regardless of how successful in Europe these clubs were, they were all massive clubs, arguably two of the world’s biggest, not to mention a not-so-shabby Rangers.

Milan were winning Champions Leagues, ditto Utd, and both sides were generally top three domestically in strong leagues. Rangers won title after title and put in some credible showings in the Champions League, and even got to Manchester.

Today?

Utd are nowhere, well and truly off the pace in England languishing in 14th, undergoing some kind of transition but finished outside Champions League spots in England last season and indeed, will face Rangers in the Europa League.

Milan are almost comically identical. No wins in 3 in Serie A, the Rossoneri sit 14th as well, under a new manager who is evidently out of his depth. They will be cannon fodder for teams in the new-format Champions League.

And there’s Rangers. Abysmal in the league, even worse in Europe, the Famous are, like Utd and Milan, blundering through football at this moment with no direction, no rudder, and no obvious target.

It’s bizarre how all three of these historic football clubs, each arguably the most important in their countries and some of the most successful clubs in history, are at the same time all in disarray, and it’s even more ironic that their declines began at the same time – 2012-2013.

2012 was Rangers’ admin then reboot, we all know the story. We don’t need to go there.

2012 was the year Milan sold off their best players (Silva and Ibrahimovic) and let a bunch of other players go (Gattuso and Pirlo among them), citing the start of a new project and reduction in wages. Milan supporters are still waiting for the fruits of that 12 years later. Just like Rangers they have won one title since then. Take note of that Rangers fans…

And 2013 was when Sir Alex finally retired and David Moyes drowned as his replacement – no one has been able to fill SAF’s void, not even close, and Utd have been completely overtaken by their city rivals.

These, of course, are all completely different football clubs, but there’s parallels to note – for the Rangers fans who demand such and such ‘be given time’, 12 years later Milan and Man Utd fans (and ourselves, in all honesty) are still waiting for the fruits of that time.

If those Rangers supporters are happy to wait, then there’s not much more someone can say.

But if Utd and Milan are examples in any way, it’s going to be a long, long wait.