Hopcraft, who died four years ago, might have been surprised how far the poetry of football has spread. We've seen it expressed at the Olympics this week by young women who play the game to the highest level, and older men have shown they still understand its rhythms and can draw a big crowd to watch the Legends series on ITV4.

All these people – young and old, men and women – have mastered the poetry of football. But the 'Gers of Ibrox simply can't fathom the artistry inherent in the simplest of ball games. Conflict and beauty? Rangers have got hold of the conflict bit – it's the beauty that eludes them.

"In the end Rangers played in such a defensive way that one day it would come back to haunt them," said Pat Nevin at the end of the debacle in Kaunas which sent Walter Smith's lot out of the Champions League and the UEFA Cup. "The fans will be furious and rightly so." Quite.

If you didn't have the pleasure of watching, it's hard to describe how woeful this game was. Suffice to say that if "Kirk Broadfoot" is the answer to the question, "Who was the outstanding Rangers player?" you can probably begin to understand the epic scale of the badness.

Amazingly, back in the BBC studio, top pundit Craig Levein appeared lost in admiration for the Rangers way. Giving a good impression of a man rehearsing for a job interview at a company he admires, Levein remained unmoved at half time by Kaunas's first goal. "That really caught me by surprise," he said. "I thought Rangers were comfortable. Rangers have been well in control." Even at the end when the £12m bounty for European qualification had gone west, he managed: "It's a shock."

Levein must have been watching with his eyes closed and his fingers in his ears, because it wasn't a shock at all. For the best part of the second half Rangers were playing for the draw, and with 10 minutes left looked simply desperate for the final whistle. They succumbed to Linas Pilibaitis, who looked a little like a striker and sounded a lot like a contagious disease. He certainly made Rangers sick.

Those who are Ibrox-minded will have found the week's other football instructive. Every game in the women's Olympic tournament had a skill and desire simply lacking from that match in Lithuania. And when Argentina's Ludmila Manicler (below) threatened to pull her shirt over her head in a goal celebration, it achieved the kind of impact on neutrals which Nacho Novo can only dream about. She didn't, but she's one to watch.

On Thursday it was the Legends competition, in which the veteran German side smacked five past England in the final of the Derek Dooley Memorial Trophy. The problem for the English, said Kenny Sansom, was the Jerries had "much more legs than us". And it's a fact, this kind of thing can influence a result. No wonder wise men say, never write 'em off.

I watched this game on-line at Justin.tv where along with a very dodgy live stream you get a chatroom with 64 inhabitants. Conservation ran thus: "Does ny1 talk lol." (Does anyone talk, laugh out loud) "Nobody talks because this is legends, everyone is too old and tired lol." "They should have put Gazza on the pitch lol." "Bring out the wheelchairs lol." This is the way you converse apparently if you're a 19-year-old with nothing to do, like Kyle Lafferty.

Among the Legends geriatrics on show was the former Bolton striker, Fredi Bobic, a decrepit specimen of 37, a year younger than Rangers' David Weir who 48 hours earlier had been playing in a real match in Europe. Bobic scored a hat-trick and looked 100% more mobile than Christian Dailly, a first pick at Ibrox. Expect Bobic to sign tomorrow – or Ally McCoist to make his comeback lol.