The Rangers fans who danced away from the new Hampden Park were entitled to feel sheer elation at beating Celtic and winning the Scottish Cup. But when their feet return to the ground, they may reflect that it was still only a part of some seriously unfinished business.
Beating a Celtic side whose selection looked seriously flawed certainly brought them the Tartan Treble which they deserved, but the Rangers manager Dick Advocaat was not given the job and then Stg£30 million to spend simply to say that he runs the best club in Glasgow. There is the little matter of securing a place in the Champions League.
UEFA's dash for cash may have produced a competition run as an exclusive cartel for countries who can produce massive television revenues - and consequently works to the disadvantage of Scotland - but the Rangers imperative has always been to sit around that table. Before that, there are two preliminary European Cup rounds to be negotiated.
Therefore, what was an uninspiring final was followed by more significant developments. Advocaat revealed that he had signed a new contract keeping him at Ibrox until 2002. The not so good news for those delirious fans was that the open cheque book which permitted him to put together a strong team at short notice is now just a collection of used stubs. "We will have to sell before we buy," he said.
If they fail to pass through those qualifying stages, and clubs as impressive as Dynamo Kiev will be lurking in them, there will be no consolation prize of a place in the UEFA Cup where, last season, Rangers beat Bayer Leverkusen and tested Parma. For the Dutch manager, he could be forgiven for thinking that it is one damn thing after another.
Celtic coach Jozef Venglos, on the other hand, looked pale and tired as it sank in that, after a 16year gap, he was not going to win a medal with a club team and that doesn't really do in the seat he currently occupies. Celtic's chief executive Allan MacDonald revealed that he has interviewed three candidates for the job of director of football last week, including Kenny Dalglish. Venglos was hampered by injuries on Saturday, notably to Craig Burley. That left Paul Lambert to be more creative in midfield and forced Enrico Annoni out of defence to man mark Rod Wallace, a move that had little chance of succeeding for every second of 90 minutes. The Italian is a useful enough stopper, but too cumbersome further forward.
Rangers, though, will take little notice. They may be far short of the finished article by European standards, but they are dour, efficient and, above all else, consistent. Once Wallace had scored his 49th-minute goal, it was always a good bet that Celtic's increasingly frantic attacks would count for nothing.
The referee Hugh Dallas avoided controversy, handed out a rash of late bookings and made one superb decision, judging that a Lambert shot had not been handled, rather cleared with his chest. The monitors in the new press box showed the replays immediately and did not give the Celtic fans the comfort of knowing they had been hard done by.
Rangers: Klos, Porrini (Kanchelskis 77), Hendry, Amoruso, Vidmar, McCann (Ferguson 67), McInnes, Van Bronckhorst, Wallace, Amato (Wilson 90), Albertz. Booked: Wallace. Goals: Wallace 49.
Celtic: Gould, Boyd, Mahe (O'Donnell 79), Stubbs, Larsson, Wieghorst, Lambert, Annoni (Johnson 61), Blinker, Moravcik, Mjallby. Subs Not Used: Kerr. Booked: Mjallby, Blinker, Wieghorst, Boyd.
Referee: H Dallas (Motherwell).
