GONE UP IN SMOKE

Beale admits season of promise after the glee of PSV has now turned into an Ibrox nightmare

- SCOTT BURNS

MICHAEL BEALE admits everybody at Rangers has to do a lot better after a season of promise petered out with more Hampden heartache.

The Englishman reckons it has been a campaign to forget for the club since they saw off PSV Eindhoven to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League back in August.

That was at a time when Giovanni van Bronckhorst was still in the Ibrox hotseat and had led them to Europe's top table and a massive financial windfall.

That Champions League dream turned into a nightmare as they failed to register a point against Napoli, Liverpool and Ajax and were left with the worst record in group-stage history.

Rangers were also left flagging in the Premiership and that cost returning the Dutchman his job, with Beale to Ibrox in November.

He was tasked with closing the gap on Ange Postecoglou's Celtic but it proved too much as their rivals saw them off in the Viaplay Cup showpiece then inflicted more Hampden misery in the Scottish Cup semi-final yesterday.

It means that Rangers will end the season without silverware while the Hoops just need to beat second-tier Inverness to claim another Treble.

Beale admitted: "This one will sting for a couple of days but the problems are not today, are they? The problems are throughout the season.

"It's been a disappointing season from the moment we beat PSV. This season promised a lot more than what it has given. It's the first season in a couple of years when we haven't won a trophy.