DAVE KING knows that progression and points will equal pounds for Rangers on the continent. Yet it is Premiership prizes that he still covets most of all.
The former Ibrox chairman is well aware of the argument that suggests the Old Firm operating at the highest level of the game doesn't bode well on these shores and is bad for business in the SPFL.
As the rich of Glasgow only get richer, the gap between Rangers and Celtic and the rest of the league becomes a gulf. The problem is self perpetuating in many ways.
The issue can be extrapolated out European wide and the Glasgow giants know all too well how difficult it is to compete with clubs who have resources, both on and off the park, many times greater than they can even aspire to.
As the Champions League is continually tweaked in favour of the few rather than the many, the balance seemingly shifts further away from the Old Firm. Rangers will always be a large fish in a small pond domestically, but they are almost lost at sea when thrown in at the deep end.
"I think it's good for Rangers and it will be good for Celtic because the clubs will get bigger," King said when asked about further Champions League reforms. "But we will still be relatively small clubs in a bigger league.
"It goes back to what you do with the Scottish domestic league. There's an argument that has been put forward that Rangers and Celtic should move into a bigger European league and leave Scotland completely.
"There's an argument that could be good for Scottish football because Hearts, Hibs, Dundee United, Aberdeen would have a chance at winning league titles.
"I can get why an Aberdeen or a Hearts fan might like the idea of them winning a league championship. But then Scottish football would just go backwards.
"So I think it's very important that from a Scottish football point of view - which has to be Rangers-based at all times - that Rangers and Celtic don't make moves which are good for them in a narrow sense, which advances them into a greater revenue stream but still becomes a smaller club in an even bigger league having abandoned Scottish football.
"I certainly haven't seen a proposal yet that will give the balance of helping Rangers and Celtic [compete in Europe] but not harming Scottish football as a whole."
The solution is not for the respective boards at Ibrox or Parkhead to solve. As the Old Firm set their sights on success, they always have one eye across the city.
Their respective Champions League outings, and whatever endeavours follow after that, will raise the profile of the game once again and can only be good for business in a broad sense.
Rangers have been leaders in that regard in recent seasons. The run to Seville and this Group A campaign have raised questions about their level and the ambitions, though.
"I think it’s good for Rangers and Celtic," King said. "I don’t know if it’s good for Scottish football [to have two teams in the Champions League]. The way European football works is success based on results.
"I saw a recent publication where Rangers were the ninth-top team in the world and that was based on our progression in Europe and the points we get through playing games and going through qualification rounds. And there is no real differentiation between the level you are playing at.
"So from Celtic and Rangers’ point of view, playing in the Champions League is great for both of them financially. Whether on a net basis it works well for Scotland and the co-efficient, I’m not too sure because there is no doubt that Rangers’ performance in the Europa League was better for Scotland and for Rangers than if we had beaten Malmo.
"It’s a kind of balance: do you want to play at a level where you are always going to be in pot four, just kind of looking up all the time, but making a lot of money.
"Or do you want to be competitive? My preference would be to play Leipzig at Ibrox and beat them than play Liverpool and lose to them."
Qualification for the group stages this season was hugely significant for Rangers in sporting and financial senses. Crucially, it kept them on the coattails of Celtic.
Rangers find themselves at a crossroads. The target must always be to raise the bar across the board, but European efforts naturally fall in behind the quest for domestic dominance.
King said: "For me the issue with the Champions League is not so much looking out. It’s more the narrow looking in.
"The importance of the Champions League each year is that, in a two-team league, what we can’t afford is Celtic having the Champions League and us not having it. I am less concerned about what it means for Rangers and Celtic relative to Europe.
"I mean, you get clubs buying players for 70-80m euros and the players don’t even play. They sit on the bench. It’s a different scale completely.
"In the domestic situation, what we cannot afford to have is Celtic getting Champions League money for the next three years and we’re not there. My concern is always the gap between us and Celtic because my priority is still about winning domestic titles.
"We had a great season last year, but it wasn’t a great season. When we started the season, we should have won the title last year. But we threw that title away.
"I would much rather have won the league title and not got to the Europa League final. If that situation had been managed differently, we should have won that league title.
"As long as we keep winning the league titles, it protects our domestic position in Scotland. And that’s my main concern.
"For me, the big relief this year of the Champions League was making sure that we continued to narrow the gap against Celtic. That’s the most significant thing for me."
