I’m expecting a phone call from Walter Smith in the next few days, which will go along the lines of, “Hi there, I’m a wee bit short of players for the game on Saturday. How would you fancy a game at centre-half?” Well, maybe I’m exaggerating a touch (I’d probably only manage to make the bench), but you get my drift.
After all, do Rangers actually have any players left?
It seems slightly curious that, having seemingly got their affairs in order, sorted things out with the bank, and insisted that their financial footing is a gazillion times better than it was last year, Ibrox has seen a sale so substantial that you’d think the club had been taken over by DFS.
While their Old Firm rivals have been desperately (and, largely, unsuccessfully) trying to flog their deadwood this summer, Rangers seem intent on letting most of their first team squad head for pastures new. It wasn’t that surprising that there was no money to coax the out-of-contract players into staying, so cheerio Kris Boyd, Nacho Novo, DaMarcus Beasley and Steven Smith. Boyd’s departure leaves an enormous hole – and I don’t mean the size of his backside – as, even
as the quality of the SPL diminishes, finding a player with a comparable strike-rate costs an awful lot of lolly. But as for the others…well, Novo turns up for the big games but is increasingly just a sub, Beasley is more fragile than a Ming Vase and it seems a long time since Smith seemed set to become Scotland’s left back for a decade (in my eyes at least).
What was not so predictable was that some of the guys with contracts would depart. It is interesting that David Murray apparently had to give Kevin Thomson a pay-off when he left for Middlesbrough – if Thomson was keen to head for the most minging city in the UK (it is minging, trust me – I’ve been there. Cumbernauld runs it a close second, mind you) I’m surprised he demanded extra cash. Strikes me that Rangers were keen to get that £2m into the coffers, or at
least into the bank’s vaults. The Danny Wilson deal seems a bit iffy as well – it has been painted to the press as a move orchestrated by the player himself, but surely Wilson knows his development is better served by another year alongside the evergreen David Weir and another shot at the Champions League, rather than a season in the Anfield stands punctuated only by the odd Carling Cup appearance? Either that, or he is worse advised than Chamberlain before the
Munich agreement.
Rangers are so stretched that they felt compelled to offer Jordan McMillan a new deal. McMillan, who has spent most of the last 18 months on loan at Hamilton and Queen of the South and did not overly impress at left back even in the first division. But he’s cheap, I guess. And there is not much sign of funds for Walter Smith to spend – though a little cash was raised for the failed bid for Chris Eagles of Burnley. But there’s a bunch of guys whose contracts are up
next summer – Alexander, Weir, Papac, McCulloch, Miller, Velicka, Webster – who are up for grabs for relatively modest fees. And all the while, the studs of the stable (Allan McGregor, Madjid Bougherra and Steven Davis) must be wondering if it is worth hanging around, when all three must fancy that they get a game in the lower end of the English Premier League.
Of course, Walter Smith retires at the end of the season, so it must be tempting to just think “to hell with it”. But there’s no doubt that Rangers need some signings before the seasons starts, signings that are better than the waste of space that was last year’s vintage, Jerome Rothen. (Rothen by name…)
Otherwise, as I said, you might yet see me on the bench, just to make up the numbers…
L
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