Rather it'd been bad than sub-standard (5-4)
I believe the answer is:
third-rate
'sub-standard' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'rather it'd been bad' is the wordplay.
'rather it'd' can be anagrammed to 'THIRD-RATE'.
However, I am not sure how the anagram is indicated.
'than' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for third-rate that I've seen before include "Very inferior in quality, using ordinal number" , "Very inferior in numerical way" , "Of very poor quality" , "Very inferior in quality in numeric description" , "Very inferior in quality - count down" .)