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"It's the most wonderful time of the year" sang Andy Williams in the Christmas of 1963.
He was in fact lying though, because as anyone knows the most wonderful time of the year for any football fan is the draw for the Champions League group stages (you can stop reading here timmy).
The excitement and glamour of Europes premier competition is what its all about, its like Christmas morning for football fans, the hype and build up and the nervous exitement fans get knowing that their team might land a tie with one of the giants of world football.....the Rangers.
This is Walter Smiths last crack at Europes elite and he won't want to go out with a whimper. Last seasons disappointment will be at the back of his mind as we go into Thursdays draw but we look arguably a better equipped side than last season and the arrivals of Vladamir Weiss, James Beattie and Nikica Jelavic (If Aston Villa manage to put that awful performance on Sunday behind them) should see us put more points on the board no matter who we are paired with.
So where should Rangers be aiming to finish in the group stages?
Obviously this will depend on which teams we are paired with but a quick look at pot one shows that finishing first may be a little out of our reach, a pot packed with the heavyweights of European football and taking any points off any of the teams in this pot will be an achievement, although thats not to say it can't be done. Who can forget Papac's display at Ibrox when he had that young Argentinian chap from Barcelona in his back pocket?
So second place? Possible, if we play very well and the draw is kind to us but make no mistake its going to be a big ask and will take some massive performances to get there.
So the most realistic finish in my humble opinion would be third place, with the bonus of dropping into the europa league, seems like the most achievable target and the most realistic finish for us. A quick look again at the teams below us in pot 4 makes for some confusing reading at times (Praha? Is that not a womens clothing?) But if history has taught us anything it is that there are no easy teams in the Champions League (hence no timmy involvement) and that we will have to be on top of our game to beat any team in pot 4 as well.
The possibilities sure do whet the appetite though...
Walter pitting his wits against the special one...
Jelavic tusslling with Ferdinand and Vidic...
Davis and Edu in the same midfield as Xavi and Iniesta...
King Kenny sticking one past Julio Cesar...
Kirk Broadfoot up against Fabregas...............okay that one is utterly terrifying, scratch that.
The draw takes place on Thursday at 6:00pm CET, live on Sky Sports.
Pot One (Some half decent teams, we might only win by one or two goals).
Inter Milan
Barcelona
Manchester United
Chelsea
Arsenal
Bayern Munich
Sevilla
AC Milan
Pot Two (Should really be putting 3 or 4 past these teams).
Lyon
Werder Bremen
Real Madrid
As Roma
Shaktar Donetsk
Benfica
Valencia
Olympic Marseille
Pot Three (Let some of the youngsters get a run out against these diddies).
Zenit St. Petersburg
Panathanaikos
Tottenham Hotspur
The Famous Glasgow Rangers
Ajax
Schalke
FC Basel
Anderlecht
Pot Four (Pub teams).
FC Kobenhavn
Spartak Moscow
Hapoel Tel Aviv
Sparta Praha
FC Twente Enschede
Rubin Kazan
CFR Cluj
Bursaspor
So the only question remaining is...
Who do we want in the Final?
Former FA Cup final referee, Jeff Winter, 
Rangers legend Andy Goram had a chat with us prior to his book launch, 
Going to the match? Better remember to pick up your Number One Fanzine.
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