With promotion, Rangers’ fans had a slightly misguided belief that the Ibrox men suddenly had access to all the gold in the world. That the “Promised Land” of the Premiership would wield a steep hike in monies available and Rangers’ target market for the new season would be a huge rise compared with the ‘bargain basement’ of the Championship and other lower leagues in England.
So far, on five players and counting, Rangers have spent close to zero. That is correct; zip, zero, nada.
On Josh Windass, Matt Crooks, Joey Barton, Jordan Rossiter and Clint Hill the outlay for these players’ services has been borderline nothing beyond agent and development fees and impending wages.
While some fans may decry the apparent lack of use of a supposed ‘war chest’, it is better to get Joey Barton for free than pay for him, is it not? Simple economics. The only significant fee actually on the books for this summer’s business so far is the development compensation paid to Liverpool for Jordan Rossiter, supposedly in the region of a modest £250,000, based on cross-border rules for U23s.
But that aside, it is absolute zero – the Accrington pair’s (soon to be) former chairman is complaining about how business was conducted, but Rangers did nothing wrong and he is purely bitter about losing his two prize assets for free. If Rangers had paid out in January we would have been furnished with the players, but it would have cost the development fee/compensation. Now, they are free.
But it is not just those five players Rangers can boast of – if reports in the press are true, Croatian international Niko Kranjcar is set to put pen to paper this week and finally clinch his deal, something fellow new recruit Clint Hill appeared to already confirm when he arrived to seal his own move to Govan.
Ergo, Rangers will have made six very, very decent signings for a complete cost of £250,000. And few could deny a Rangers team filled with the likes of Jordan Rossiter, Niko Kranjcar and Joey Barton is SPL standard. It might not boast the Gazzas and Laudrups of yesteryear, but it is good enough to be in the top half of the table at the absolute least and is the step up in quality Paul Murray, Dave King et al promised.
Ok, we are not seeing the big bucks splashed out at the moment, but do we actually need to? As long as Mark Warburton is being supported, and we are obtaining the players we truly want, it is not critical to get players who cost. We want players who can actually help a serious assault on the SPL next season, not ones we have paid for purely to ‘make a statement’ with.
If Warbs wants a player who will cost, then one will conclude he will be supported to do so, within reasonable limits, but an SPL challenge and paying for players do not necessarily have to rely on one another.
Paying for a player does not guarantee success. The Michael O’Halloran example shows a premium for a player does not mean that player will be a sensation. Still time for him to come good, but transfer fees do not lead to instant results.
Rangers’ market, for now, does seem to be out of contracts – Bosmans, in other words. James Vaughan, Lee Hodson and Adrian Mariappa are all such players and Rangers most definitely held talks with the latter (a defender), so for now, that is the frugal route Rangers are going in.
As long as the quality of the team benefits from it, it really is not a problem.
I would like to see some money being paid for Weiss I would love to see him at Ibrox he would do well, And I believe it would be a Fantastic statement of intent to show everyone that we mean business
great to see us living by our means instead of splashing millions on players as long as the players who have come in play for the jersey that will do me plus the team warbs is slowly building at the moment I think will be strong enough to take the manky mob's crown WATP
Dreamer, here we go ten in a row YNRA.
Exactly if we spent money on one player that wud get fans buzzin I wud be looking for a player exactly like Weiss exciting gets u on edge of your seat a real threat n he's the right age. So King get the money out £1mil -£2mil shud do it I wud imagine. Watp
I beg to differ,it is far from guaranteed that the players you have listed will be able to compete with Celtic at the top ,the youngsters are unproven at any reasonable level ,the older ones are 2nd rate yesterdays journeymen ,I truely hope they all gel together and the hat can make it work ,bt with a quality striker ! (Vaughn) Really ? Like Danny ings
Ok Declan.
Did they get a good deal with there wage demands i take it they are only on a few thousand each all bargins i look forward to the first game now,we could win the main prize get in there.
I would have to agree on Weiss. Not sure we would have to pay a fee. He desperately wants to come. Find out when his contract runs out and let him know he will be welcome. He can negotiate with his employers. That way we find out how much he wants to come.
Totally trust the board and management, I am happy the way we are going
Every one can play football but all those above can play and it will
not be easy but we can do it i know we can beat them all with those
players we are still better than all the rest.
Great point well made. Money paid in transfer fees guarantees nothing. Smart Bosman deals and low value transfers are the way forward as the club will hopefully be able to start selling some of them annually for £5-10m profit in the same way other clubs do – it's a great revenue stream we do not have right now and keeps the club sustainable.
Some of the best players in the world were transferred for very low values before being discovered. I'd love to see us pay £5m for a centre half, but he might be Scheidt….!!!
Stop Prodan about for a like!
Paying mega bucks on players doesn't guarantee anything we've found that out plenty of times. Like the other guy said scheidt Flo the list can go on and on. But we Are definitely going the right route I honestly believe in mw and what he's doing. Windass crooks rossiter let's see how they develop over a couple of seasons and sell them for a decent profit. That is what we have to do nowadays
Windass has a3.5million get out clause,i met his dad
Let's just trust the guys that is steering this ship and see where they take us. I for one think they are doing a good job so far. 😀
Why pay 2 million on a player when you can get a better one for free and pay him a decent salary plus save a few quid, Frank mcparland has saved us 10 million so far that's a fact! We have a better squad than celtic already that's also a fact, we just need depth and I'm sure 4 or 5 more signings will happen over the rest of the summer, celtic are playing catch up, if they want someone like windlass it'll cost them 2 million or a Jordan rossiter it'll cost them 6 or 8 million that's the penalty for being late at the races down south, there best hope is to bring in more European mercenaries and let's face it there squad is littered with shite, Breedon Rogers will be sacked by Christmas because I can see us running away with the league , WATP.
Deluded, YNRA, here we go ten in a row.
I'm loving the new signings, hill Barton and fingers crossed kranjar will bring that experience we lacked last season, and rossiter winds and crooks bring that fresh breed of talent were always moaning to see, can't wait to see how the team gels together, I for one feel that there is a team in place that can challenge celtic,
Obv these new young guts haven't been fully tested bt let's be honest, with the knowledge of the game warbs has and old mcparland doing his usual gem hunting, I can't see these guys not being able to produce the goods, especially when there getting to play in front of the greatest fans in the world, oh it's good to be a bear
Baby steps until we know what we have!
Baby steps until we know what we have!
You have a team full of free transfers.
Comments are closed.