Ibrox Noise somewhat stirred the hive recently with our claim that the Europa League is roughly comparable to the Championship in England.

This was angrily opposed by a few ardent souls who demanded we delete the content because they disagreed – nothing quite like free speech we say!

But we wanted to clarify what we were getting at.

See, we were not specifically saying that Real Betis are a Championship midtable team, far from it, but there absolutely IS a pattern of Rangers beating supposed Champions League level sides when we face them in the Europa League.

Dortmund, Leipzig, Porto, Feyenoord – these are Champions League quality teams, yet in the Europa League we can beat them, while in the Champions League we were slaughtered by those kinds of teams.

So what does this have to do with the Championship?

Psychology. Simple as that.

Real Betis are not a Champions League team – they have never even made it to the group stage bar 2006 when they were dumped quickly. They, like us, are a Europa League team. And we know how to beat UEL teams. And teams in the UEL in general.

Now, where’s the psychology here. It’s simple – teams work MUCH harder in the Champions League, try harder, and the level is massively higher. In the Europa League, it’s just not as hard, of course it isn’t. Dortmund give a tonne more in the UCL than they do in the UEL. Ditto Porto and Young Boys.

This doesn’t demean Rangers in the Europa League, it just means it’s our level, and Betis, for that matter.

Now, you’re still wondering how the Championship comes into it.

Just like in the UCL and UEL, the level in the Premier League is vastly superior – it is basically, competition wise, about the level overall of the Champions League. Look how Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey, outstanding in the UEL, have absolutely drowned in the Premier League (and the Eredivisie).

But in the Championship, the level is a big step down. Just like UEL from UCL. Mind you, Aribo isn’t even playing in the Championship, and yet this guy shone in the UEL?

Now, one guy made a silly claim we were comparing Real Betis to Oxford. Oxford aren’t in the Championship so this was ridiculous.

But we are saying that the intensity of competition in the Championship is lower, the quality is lower, and that’s akin to the drop between UCL and UEL.

It’s not exactly the same – we are not saying the Championship and UEL are identical for level, we’re offering the world’s best second tier down from the best first tier as an example of the equivalent drop off between UCL and UEL and a reason why Davies and Goldson (to name just two) look pretty good at that level while struggling in the UCL.

You may disagree. You may think UEL is about the level of midtable Premier League.

You might think it’s the same as UCL for all we know. And Brighton, magnificent in the PL, struggled hugely on their UEL debut. So it’s not an exact science.

But you are allowed your own opinion. And so are we!