It seems like getting rid of Jon McLaughlin is not going to be terribly easy for Rangers. He, like Scott Wright, has been told he is not part of Michael Beale’s plans going forward, and the club, having failed to sell Wright to Preston (had looked a done deal but collapsed) are now stuck with the pair of them for the foreseeable future.
Wright, we don’t mind. He’s ok as a squad option, bring on late, cause a bit of mayhem against Dundee United. He’s even done surprisingly well in Europe in cameos too. He’s not expensive, and he isn’t the worst player in the shirt. We do want to ship guys like this out, but for now we’re stuck with Wright.
McLaughlin on the other hand we really want to get shot of, but the moron (called Ross Wilson) who extended this guy’s deal till next summer has lumbered us inexplicably with an absolute parasite. That may sound like a harsh term, but McLaughlin is barely any better than Andy Firth, and that was just a parody signing.
True, his wage is not colossal, but we need the squad trimmed and we desperately need to raise the quality of it while reducing the age, and a mediocre 35-year-old goalie unfit for the Scottish Championship never mind Rangers really isn’t what we need on the wage bill.
But as we say, no one is interested in him, and the only way to get him off the wage bill at this point is mutual consent.
It’s not like we can sell him to Arbroath – why would McLaughlin give up his circa £40,000 pm wage to play his football in the Scottish sticks and suffer a gigantic wage cut?
The lad is of course effectively English, and has played his whole career there in lower leagues aside one year at Hearts, so the best likelihood is getting some League 2 mob to take him. But they can’t afford that £10,000pw wage.
And until that’s freed up and his place is vacated, we’re lumped with him.
Like we say, Wright not so bad – he’s way below what we need but is useful in some senses, but he’s not part of Beale’s plans so we need a buyer. He shouldn’t be so hard to sell in theory, but unfortunately his deal runs over two years more which might make him a little tougher to deal with.
The point is Rangers need rid of this kind of dead wood ASAP, because bringing in new players isn’t as easy when your squad is still as full as ours is.
More outgoings needed!