Uefa cup final blog: "Why are 4000 Rangers fans sleeping in a car park?"

Dick Advocaat has said he regrets stepping back from his biggest crisis at Rangers as well as the £12m signing of Tore Andre Flo that epitomised the period of financial recklessness that nearly ruined the club.

The Zenit manager last night claimed he was wrong to accept the director of football role at Murray Park in December 2001 and should have seen out the season before recommending Alex McLeish to replace him as manager.

Advocaat's last match in charge at Ibrox was the penalty shoot-out win against Paris St- Germain in the UEFA Cup. For the remaining six years of his contract, he watched awkwardly from his office at the training ground as McLeish sought to repair the damage to team morale and harmony. His move upstairs' coincided with a similarly jaded David Murray standing down as chairman and being replaced by John McClelland.

"I now regret I quit in December," said Advocaat. "David Murray wanted to step down at the time, so I felt it might be right for me as well.

I was also so tired.

"But we went through to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup and we still had the League CIS Insurance Cup and Scottish Cup to come. Feyenoord knocked out Rangers, with Alex McLeish in charge, and went on to lift the trophy. Maybe those players needed to see another face or hear a different voice and that was Alex's. I was so happy in Paris, though, because I knew the end was coming."

Advocaat diplomatically addressed the comparisons between the entertainment value of his era and the success, founded on a more conservative budget and template, of Walter Smith.

"I think we were a better team to watch: attacking football and exciting football," he said. "Wherever I go in the world, Rangers fans tell me thank you for the great time you brought to us'. They may also have different words for the way it was at the end. They remember the good times."

Advocaat did accept the failure of Flo to justify Rangers' record transfer after joining from Chelsea, but expressed his unhappiness at bearing the brunt of blame for the financial fall-out. "They can blame me for one thing: buying Tore Andre Flo," he said. "At that time, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole cost £12m for Manchester United and we could only, with a lot of pressure, get Flo. Unfortunately, he did not do it for us. I asked the board if we could do something and they could decide on the signing, but I was a big part of it.

"I also disagreed a lot with the way the debt was portrayed in the media. My view was that while Rangers had debts, they had some very talented, valuable players. You have debts and you have players, that's how I saw it, but nobody viewed it like that; the squad was so valuable that Alex came in and won a lot of trophies with those same players."

Advocaat's legacy is in bricks and mortar. He pleaded with Murray to build a suitable training academy and despite the running costs, Murray Park's productivity has now increased after a high turnover of coaching staff and employees during the early years.

"The training ground was a must for Rangers, Celtic or all the clubs," said Advocaat. "I still think there is a lot of talent in Scotland. It can be an escape for a youngster if he has the talent. Murray Park is great for Rangers and it has helped them attract players and also to produce their own players."