When £100M isn’t enough

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When £100M isn’t enough

If ever anything set the tongues wagging in recent days, it was assistant manager Sir Davie of Weir’s fascinating assertion last night that £100M was no guarantee of winning the SPL or closing the gap on Celtic. To say this has been seized on is an understatement, with his claim that such investment was by no means a certainty to regain the title making headlines throughout the land.

And, it has to be said, it was a deeply concerning comment to make, whether he believed it to be true or not. As we know, Rangers’ budget of recent years has been modest at best and non-existent at worst, but nevertheless last calendar year Rangers spent well over three million on the likes of Garner (£1.8M), O’Halloran (£500,000), and the cross-border fees on the likes of Dodoo and Rossiter.

Now compare back to 2007 when Walter Smith spent only £2M over that January (alone) on the likes of Weir, Ehiogu and Thomson – essentially a bunch of free transfers, Thomson aside, and within a few weeks was dramatically reducing the horrendous gap to Celtic as a result.

Ergo, even a miniscule amount, used well, can be enough in the right hands.

So for Davie Weir to claim £100M is no guarantee of anything is up there as one of the most ludicrous claims I have heard from any Rangers man in many a year. The SPL is so weak that £30M is enough to guarantee the title. 10 £3M players? Any Rangers manager who cannot win the title with that budget is in the wrong job. As is his assistant for justifying it.

But £100M?! The pressure of their struggles is evidently getting to Davie – he further added that he was pleased with the progress of the youth schemes, which must mean he is happy with half of them being freed and half of them being yo-yo’d out to Championship club after Championship club, and barely any of them being given any sort of ‘pathway’ to the first team.

This was all in response to Walter Smith suggesting the board invest and take a risk. Well, truthfully, in the hands of Mark Warburton I am not sure I would want them to. Maybe that is what Weir really meant, that Warbs would somehow contrive to waste £100M and sign a bunch of duds. Quite possible.

Rangers host Motherwell this weekend on the back of the above nonsense, Warburton singling O’Halloran and Waghorn out for individual criticism, and Weir confirming two attacking midfielders were in fact their priority this window.

If ever Rangers fans needed something positive to cling onto, it would be now.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Back you a hundred percent ibrox noise, I for one am not seeing any progression under warbs nowadays and when you look at the squad it's full of low quality players that are not even close that are never going to make the grade at ibrox……. can't think why we do not go for Jason Cummings and the likes of johns Hayes guys who r proven in this league……. like warbs a lot as a man but not happening for him….. and mr King where r u??

  2. If you gave Tommy Wright the current squad we have and a couple of million pounds to spend as he saw fit we'd have a team that would give Celtic a run for their money, Warbs isnt the answer,one dimensional and unable to instill self belief in players- as for Weir he's very much like Ally, great player in his day but never a manager/coach- the standard of our defending says it all

  3. Every one of Celtics first choice 11 would sell for more than 3 million. Some maybe 20 million (Dembele, tierney)…..So £30million – 10 x 3 million pound players WOULD NOT guarantee the League. Dont forget the wages for them too !!

    • maybe so i don't think so how much did these player cost celtic pennies they are still penny pinching go through celtic team add it up 10 million we need to do same celtic don't spend more than 2 million on a player and there world beaters i for one don't think so new management a,s,ap 100 million davie weir what planet you on talk like that just go now please

    • It is the amount the squad was built for that matters, not what they are worth now. The current Celtic squad was bought for just over 25 million, so 30 million should close the gap completely. If a manager spent 30 million in Scottish football and failed to win the league, they shouldn't even get another job in the amateurs .

    • I think you would find that Brown, Simunovic, Sinclair, Eboue and Sviatchenko were all significantly bought for more than 2 million. That's well beyond 10 million right there, before you consider the current value of guys like Dembele and Tierney(10 million each min). You have to give credit to them; their scouts are very good at finding unknown players with potential, that they can develop and sell on for big profits. Champions League access is crucial in this respect – both in terms of attracting this kind of talent and increasing its value. Without this CL access their business plan would not work, which is exactly why we cannot copy it(along with lack of funds to invest in potential in the first place).

  4. back you on that one ibrox noise this guy davie weir deafetest 100 million you must be joking celtic penny pinchers they have spent very little over the years only reason they got money s,f,a has gave them fast route to champions league for the last 4 years tell you what they have got that rangers don't have somebody with a eye for a good player as they have made tens millions buying cheap selling high . lets get back to the title wee play them 4 times a year is only 12 points if we can win just one and draw one we are in with a good chance thats what wee need from our manager give us a terry butcher type get right into them physically if we aint got the skill .is davie weir saying we can't compete with hearts aberdeens e,t,c as i said two good results against celtic a year we will get there

  5. The lack of budget as an excuse for Warburton's s failure continues to be a red herring. Garner – one of the worst forwards ever to wear the jersey – cost almost 4 times as much as Dembele! The other player he paid serious money for is O'Halloran – without seemingly any idea where he would play him and how he fitted into his preferred system. We need a manager first and foremost that will make us hard to beat!

  6. Any manager or assistant who honestly thinks they couldn't win spl with 100m to spend is in the wrong job.

    Surely we have had enough excuses from the current managerial team. They are failing in every possible category and if there is any progress on or off the park they have managed to hide it well.

    What I would agree with is that the current managerial team would find a way to waste the money. Their weak tactics could make a good player look bad.

  7. the last thing wee need is loan players young loan players running around midfield we've done that last year waste of time money yet weir warburton say these two were there top targets I'm fed up commenting they should have been sent packing last year after hibs cup final

  8. Is weir really admitting that they don't have a clue who to sign to improve the team?

    Or that he doesn't have any confidence that even with huge recources that he and Warburton can outperform Rodgers at Celtic?

    Either way its probably the most publically defeatist statement yet, from a management team that has no plan and no clue how to challenge Celtic.

    We should thank them for their efforts and getting us promoted, but it's time for someone new with fresh ideas.

    Some say who? There will be dozens upon dozens of interested managers from across Britain, Europe and beyond. It's time for the club to make a smart appointment and for the board to back the new man with a modest budget. Failure to do so risks the club's future more than a small debt.

    Celtic are in danger of getting so far ahead that they will leave us behind. But with a new manager who is tactically astute and a couple of quality players we can at least give them a proper challenge, who knows they might not like it.

  9. Usually try my best to defend the team or manager but a statement like that from weir is absolutely ludicrous and very worrying if you look through the celtic squad they've prob spent 30m max so this makes the 100m even more baffling' bring through couple good youths ie a mckay couple good bosmans remember prso boumsong rae in years gone by' throw in 1 or 2 good loans weiss davis spring to mind and there you have it some good scouting and smart management I appreciate it's not as plain sailing as that but with good management it can be done btw warburton should try selling getting some money in the summer for the dross like tavernier halliday forrester kiernan holt waghorn

  10. It actually gets boring listening to all the winging. We are in a sorry state right now end of. Its not going to change, we'll have to wait until at least the end of the season. Either Warbs is backed for a anther season AND given money or hes shown the door and we go in a different direction with a manager.

  11. Hopefully get an answer here!To all the fellow bears who want mark warburton out as rangers manager,who would you want as the new rangers manager,taking into account there's not a bean to spend and we have to rely heavily on rearing our own and hopefully picking up gems along the way??

    • terry butcher or his like someone who is going to give us fight someone who is going to get players up for it we have been watching utter garbage this last 6 months ever since warburton shipped the last of our scottish players warburton has not picked up any little gems has he .when is our youngsters going to get a chance never. he's more interested picking youngsters from his mates . totally criminal

  12. Only young Barrie McKay turned up against Leipzig…. Only young Barrie McKay turned up against Celtic…. McKay and Wallace are the only TWO FOOTBALLERS we have at Ibrox… The rest, (not inc. Miller), are very mediocre to say the least, were brought in by MW and DW. So why would DAVE KING trust them with our/his money. There has to be a manager out there somewhere to replace MW and DW. We have a FANTASTIC SUPPORT who deserve better. Celtic NEED to be STOPPED reaching 10 in a row but it looks more and more that Warburton and Weir do NOT have a "Scooby Doo" how to go about it.

  13. For certain individuals on here who want terry butcher to replace warburton as the new rangers manager have a word with yourselves guys,truly!!Terry butcher has not a cats chance in hell,of EVER being the manager of glasgow rangers!What makes any bear think he'd be better than warbs and challenge celtic for the title?He's honestly nowhere near good enough to be the manager of glasgow rangers!!

    • he knows scottish football he would not stand for players slacking he s fed up beating celtic with smaller teams couple rangers directors wanted him before warburton .big tel would give his all to get us back on top .we have strikers that can't score we have defenders that can't defend our 20 midfielders what can i say .if warburton is good enough why not big tel what has warburton done

  14. What a lot of fans are failing to understand is they are not just ahead of us on the park they are ahead of us in youth development scouting etc, unfortunately the have a very good business model and structure that is paying dividends for them and we don't have any. Everyone seems to be looking at the first team all the time but there is a bigger picture !! No young talent is coming through or getting bleeded in to the first team, look at Hearts how they have went about there business since administration they are in good health and have young talent in the first team that's came through the ranks no debt, new stand getting build why ?? Cause they put a structure a business plan in place once out of administration.
    We need a manager with experience at the top level someone who knows how to run a club properly, warburton just hasn't got a clue his 2 recent signings prove that what use is two loan signings that we are never going to be able to buy or afford if we could. The future is bleak we are so far behind because of miss management through out the club…

  15. Warbs is implementing a style of play which is going to take player adjustments and time. The way football is moving into the modern era you can surely understand why, especially with how the game is played on the European stage. That a side we have a manger that ran the next gen series, I mean tour not giving that level of responsibility with youth for no reason. Warbs is highly thought of by top level managers in England and has a great ties with these guys as shown in the loans. WarB's is the man for the job, we have no money, running off investments and soft loans, doesn't take a genius to see why he has bought mostly young players in the hope they can be sold on to generate profit until we're at a point where we can operate without the loom of administration hanging over heads which I think is evident to everyone that it's still very much on the cards. Give the guy a chance, he's sorted the youth set up, he's implementing a style (albeit not running as smooth as last season) and with time, backing financialy and support from the fans we will come back stronger. 24 weeks till were in Europe, we will finish 2nd this season GUARANTEED and let's take it from there. NO SURRENDER rangers forever

    • Harris, the thing is most fans are OBLIVIOUS to this very fact that administration is very probable with how things are right now, been talking about for a long time, but we have run up 15 million losses the last 3 years, and IF we DO want to play in Europe we will need to be given a wild card from SFA in form of license which otherwise couldnt be granted since we dont match criteria. circa 1,4 loss a year is maximum, we have around 3 times as that. fear for the future..

  16. hate to say this followed rangers for 40 years never have I saw it so bad for rangers we have a manager who doesn't know his best 11 we can't defend we don't look like scoring we can't pass a ball basics.

  17. A lot of fans are clutching at straws in the hope Red Bull come in to invest in the club, under UEFA rules no two clubs owned or influenced by the same person or company can play in UEFA competitions in the same season .

  18. Two centre backs who are quick, good in the air and can tackle.
    Two DMs, in the same side, who are quick, can tackle, can pass a ball and are capable of stepping forward from time to time.
    Two full backs who are quick, can tackle and actually defend well.

    Some of the above might be on the books already but are not playing in the required roles or manner for various reasons. They might be injured (Rossiter?). They might have been loaned out without being given a chance (Crooks? Thompson?). The manager might be telling them to do too much attacking, rather than defending (Hodson? Wallace? Tavernier?). They might be playing beside too many others who are slow, can't tackle, or are hopeless in the air (Halliday? Kiernan? Hill? Wilson? Tavernier?). They might be half decent in some areas but not being given a chance (Senderos?). They might all be playing to a formation that is beyond their capacity to play well in (4-3-3?). Maybe some of them could perform better in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Maybe not.

    A lot of question marks and that only covers our present "defence".

    If none of the current players can do what is required, they should be shown the door and players with the required skills should be brought in. If the manager and his staff can't find those players, maybe they should be replaced.
    If there is no money, maybe that should be made clear. A lot of other managers, coaches and scouts, with little to spend, seem to be able to find and sign players with reasonable skills. Maybe they could do the same, or even better, for Rangers.

  19. Weir was only stating the obvious, the current fees being paid are driver from TV money down south. The only way to break into that at present for a Scottish club is to have a bit of puck developing Scottish youth or attracting possible opportunities elsewhere. Sadly, we are being let down in both departments by a mediocre manager and a certain Mr King who quite frankly continues to deceive every season ticket holder J.

  20. I agree with martin black.why spend money we dont have justto come in second in the league (which we will do) wait till the end of the season and see where we are.i think thats what King is gonna do.some people said we wouuld be lucky to finish fourth.