“He’s not worth that” – the multimillion Rangers dilemma….
So our last piece on player value certainly attracted the predictable mockery. First from the crazed obsessed who always mock anything Rangers (usually a sign of being threatened, in truth), but also from the handwringers in our own support who love to play down everything about our club and suggest we’re small time.
Now, some of you, on the fence here, are wondering if we suggested the prize assets could be worth up to £130M in total doesn’t that indicate delusion par excellence on our part?
But then we present the case of Mr Scott McKenna esquire. Mr McKenna, an above average defender if even that, and who has 12 caps for his country, has been the target of PL sides for some time, and Aberdeen have gone as far as to reject an £8M bid for him from Aston Villa. REJECT. As far as the Dons are concerned, he’s either worth more, or unsellable. Or both.
That a small-time club like Aberdeen with their financial gulf to Rangers never mind Celtic can reject a bid like that, while our ‘fans’ mock the idea that our similar age and cap players would be worth double that makes us sad.
Ok, here’s another one:
John McGinn, Hibs’ prize asset, moved south for around £3M – the only shock about this deal was that he went for ‘as little’ as £3M – many saw him as a player well above £5M into the £10M zone.
But when we suggest Rangers players are anywhere between £10M-£20M in market value, it’s pure derision. And more often than not, from our own fans.
Borna Barisic cannot be worth £20M as a Croatia international but no one bats an eye at McKenna being worth around half that as a Scotland cap?
Anyone else see the flaw in this?
There’s such an inferiority complex from so many supporters of a Rangers persuasion – fans who may well be younger and are dominated by the 2012- era – back in the day Rangers were regularly selling our best assets for £7M, £8M, £9M – and those were WELL before the days of the crazy fees we see now.
Now many of our fans appear see us as small time. They can’t comprehend a valuable Croatian, Canadian or Colombian international actually being worth the kind of money the market dictates – seemingly because he’s OUR player.
If he’s a Celtic player no one bats an eyelid, and £25M for Tierney isn’t even a shock, ditto £20M for Dembele, or McKenna at the Sheep or McGinn at Easter Road.
But as soon as he’s ours, it’s nonsense. Just nonsense.
We can tolerate and don’t care if SPL fans try to deride what our players are worth.
But when our own fans do it too, we have a problem with that. If Stewart Robertson and Steven Gerrard expect serious cash in the region of £20M for a player like Alfredo Morelos, why won’t our fans?
You tell us.