Generally in Europe, the Old Firm are extremely strong at home.

Ibrox and Parkhead are intimidating places to play and Rangers and Celtic have taken advantage of that.

This season though has been a nightmare for both of them on their own patch.

Celtic have been poor at Parkhead, first in the Champions League and then in the Europa League while Rangers lost their third match in a row at Ibrox this week in the group stages of the Champions League.

As Walter Smith said after the 2-0 defeat to Stuttgart it’s just not good enough.

It’s well known that Rangers have major financial problems so going out of Europe will only make that worse.

The fear now is that they may have to sell their top players.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see clubs from England move for players like Pedro Mendes, Kris Boyd and my international team-mate Steve Davis in January.

He’s surely got to be worth around £5 million in today’s market.

I believe Rangers have to keep hold of players like that otherwise their domestic ambitions will suffer.

Even now I’m not so sure that Rangers or Celtic will win the Scottish Premier League.

I’d like to see the Gers do it again but Hibs and Dundee United are challenging at the top of the table and this may be one of those rare seasons when the Old Firm don’t claim the title.