Former Rangers star accuses board of ‘unsettling’ rival players in incredible rant

When Motherwell sold Scotland’s top striker outwith Celtic and Rangers recently, few in Scotland made a big deal of it.

Louis Moult, the on-fire Steelman, went down south to Preston for £450K – 25 year old free-scoring striker who Rangers were loosely interested in but whose interest did not manifest as a bid.

So, one would argue the going rate for a top SPL player outwith the Old Firm is probably in that region, right? Especially for a mid-to-bottom of the table club like Motherwell.

Hence Rangers started their bidding at just below that amount, with a reported £350K for Kilmarnock’s Jordan Jones.

Steve Clarke’s arrogant response was one thing – he is said to have affiliations across the city.

But Kris Boyd?

We at Ibrox Noise have praised Boyd’s honesty in the past, and we were one of the few to agree and endorse his slating of Hearts’ appointment of Ian Cathro, and one of those who pointed out the guy was right.

But for all that, his slurs on Rangers today are troubling. Not only is there a bizarre lack of logic and reasoning in what he has said, but it goes further than being critical of Rangers – it strikes us as mildly hate-filled too, and very unexpected in tone for a supposed Rangers man.

“There’s a common theme the whole time. There’s one club unsettling everybody. If they want players then pay the money and come and take them. Jamie Walker was the exact same. There’s a list — we could go on and on. Calls have been made and nothing has been backed up. It’s easy to unsettle players now. But we all know how football works. If you want something, you go and get it. If a deal has been agreed and Jordan is happy with it, then go and pay the price to the football club.”

To attack Rangers over the Jamie Walker saga in a manner which suggests all we were doing was trying to unsettle him is a bewildering, bizarre and frankly illogical comment. We wanted a good player, at a good price. There is nothing wrong with that. It is called bartering. Rangers have nothing to gain by unsettling Walker.

“When Kilmarnock were struggling for money in the last few years there may have been players they got rid of (for cheap).”

This appears to have been a direct response to our point yesterday about Josh Magennis. Problem with it though is while Rangers’ initial bid may indeed have been below market value, to call us out on bidding low rather than immediately paying the asking price is naïve and mildly spiteful.

“But Kilmarnock are not in a position to be bullied any more. We are not stupid — there will come a day when Jordan Jones leaves this club. But the value has to be met and he has been performing at a higher level than the value of the bid. Jordan could be the difference between us finishing in the bottom or top six. And we are not talking about a Kilmarnock youngster. We are talking about a Northern Ireland internationalist. Why would the club sell someone for way lower than they need to when he has a year left on his contract?”

Ok Kris, you will require to explain then why Aberdeen, who also do not need money, sold Jonny Hayes, a Republic of Ireland internationalist, for a sum reported to barely have hit seven figures. Or why Wigan paid only £300k for Jamie Walker? Where is your outrage over these sums?

Boyd’s entire diatribe is not that of a Rangers man. We know we have been incredibly critical of Rangers here at times on Ibrox Noise, but we have never accused the club of the conduct Boyd appears to be.

If his priority is Killie, fine, we can accept that – but he has allowed a media narrative over the years which paints him as a bluenose. Well, today’s comments suggest he is not any more.