When it comes to cash, Americans are very much capitalists. It is safe to say that Rangers have capitalists in charge. Andrew Cavenagh, as the lead man behind the 49ers Enterprises, obviously is the owner and chairman of Rangers F.C.. And as an American, he is very much keen to receive a return on his investment alongside his consortium. They, of course, are mostly on the board these days, and they are mostly Americans who want to see revenue coming in and this profitable venture living up to what it’s supposed to be. So as we can tell, money is big here. It’s a big deal. And it always has been when it comes to Americans. And of course, making its way into sport changes the dynamics of sport a little bit, not necessarily for the best, but them’s your days. Simple as that.
Why Rohl Is Under Pressure
However, the big deal here is Danny Rohl. And this is yet another reason why Andrew Cavenagh is looking into not only replacements, but an internal review of the process which saw Rohl arrive. Why? Well, we obviously know Rangers are out of the title race and we are going to finish third, which is appalling. However, Danny Rohl spent around £25M worth of player this January window. He signed what essentially would be more or less a summer budget on four players. Now, of course, one of them was on loan and is a symbolic £11M in the case of Andreas Skov Olsen. But the other three were up front investments. £4M on Tuur Rommens. £5M on Tochi Chukwuani or Chucky, and lastly £5M on Ryan Naderi.
The January Spending
That comes to the grand total of around £14M. Add to that the £11M value of Skov Olsen, and that’s £25M worth of player. And look what it’s got us. That’s right. The Americans, seeing their cash being invested in players like this, that has in actual fact led to a reduction in performance. These players have led to a below 50% win ratio for this point of the season. The second half of the season has seen Rangers’ win ratio crash to among the lowest of all time.
Of course, it doesn’t apply for the whole season because Rohl got the new manager bounce after Russell Martin, which helped to elevate that win ratio, and of course created a lot of false narrative around him. But the second half of the season has seen the wheels truly come off and the result of his investing of the owners’ cash.
The Owners Will Not Like This
This is where capitalists are not happy. This is where Americans are not happy. They don’t want their money wasted. Their money has gone on players who have not only not improved Rangers, but have in actual fact deteriorated us. That is Danny Rohl’s players. Rangers fans who still back Rohl, and yes there are a few, want to see him given the summer and given his own players. That’s what he’s already got. He’s now picking the players that he wants, and he has four of his own that he’s been using, but of course half of them haven’t even been starting half the time.
Ryan Naderi is injured and barely plays anyway, and of course Chukwuani is also not fit for purpose. And last but not least, Skov Olsen has spent an awful lot of time on the bench and has done nothing in his time at Rangers. That’s your Rohl signings. Tuur Rommens the only success but he’s barely been available either.
Who Takes Responsibility?
Dan Purdy, of course, has a big role to play in it as well, but this is still Rohl signings. What’s it gonna be in the summer? Are these gonna be rubbish signings if it’s down to Dan Purdy and great signings if it’s down to Danny Rohl? How does this work exactly? Who’s responsible for what signings?
But at the end of the day, it’s under the Rohl era. And the January signings costing that level of cash, almost £25M in theory. Of course it wasn’t with the loan, but symbolically it was, and consequently, Danny Rohl has wasted all that money. Thankfully, Skov Olsen’s the loan and it won’t be made permanent, but at the end of the day, what an absolute disaster it would be to give Danny Rohl anything like big cash this summer. Not that we can, of course, thanks to losing out on the Champions League, but nevertheless, the owners do not want to see that money wasted and an awful lot of it was in January.