On Thursday at 17:00 hours one Rangers player was absolutely gutted.
Jason Holt, linked with a move to QPR which went cold, suddenly found his departure options from Ibrox reduced by around 70 clubs as the English transfer window closed and all EFL and PL sides ceased trading for incoming.
He was the kind of player expecting a lower Championship side, maybe League One again with the likes of a Fleetwood, but sadly for the honourable wee guy, nothing manifested itself by 5PM and he found himself reduced to only SPFL sides.
It’s not the end of the world, that he will have to make do with SPFL (unless he wants overseas, of course) but he would have been disappointed that his chances of an exit were hurt by that early closure of England’s window, and the likelihood may be that unless a Scottish loan can be found (and in fairness, many lower SPL and Championship clubs would be interested in Holt) within the next three weeks, the ‘Angry Wee Man’ as we affectionately labelled him once might find himself stuck in Rangers’ Development Squad or freed entirely.
It’s a bit of a sorry tale for a guy who really did do us a turn in the Championship – he was a great wee player down there, and we truly believed, naively, that he’d thrive in the SPL.
The step up in quality, ridiculed by the likes of Mark Warburton, and, we admit it, ourselves, was far far greater than expected, and Holt just couldn’t step up to the challenge of it. His old stomping partner, Andy Halliday, took a while himself but now acquits himself impeccably as a valuable squad member. But Holt? Sadly, just never quite dealt with the hike in class.
So now what becomes of him? A Kyle Lafferty mutual consent? A loan to a lower SPL/SPFL side?
The one thing we do know is he’s not moving back to England, and we genuinely are surprised that it’s taking this long to figure his career out.
But equally we feel for him, and we hope he gets something sorted and soon. A modest club in a decent league would be perfect for him to have an honourable career with.
He deserves it.