Rangers might indeed have the correct ownership and leadership today, but it clearly was not always the case. Of course, the headline is more than reflective of the absolutely appalling mistakes in the last five years alone. Rangers have lost £28M purely on three diabolical signings that offered very little to the club. They did nothing more than cost an absolute fortune.
Ben Davies summed up a failed era
Ben Davies was, of course, the first offence. Signed by Ross Wilson in 2022, he was a pseudo replacement for the outgoing Calvin Bassey and cost a ridiculous £4.5M from Liverpool. Liverpool themselves had signed him at absurd cost from Preston North End as nothing more than an emergency reserve in case of injury. It was not a Jurgen Klopp signing. When Liverpool did have an injury crisis, the last person he turned to was Ben Davies.
He never played a second for Liverpool. This is why, in 2022, when former Rangers sporting director Ross Wilson went to Liverpool to sign Ben Davies, the Anfield giants could not have been laughing more all the way to the bank if they had tried. On a ridiculous wage of £30,000 a week and an upfront cost of £4.5M, Davies went on to become the most underwhelming defender in recent memory. Of course, there is pretty strong competition in that area. This was under the Ross Wilson and Douglas Park era. Things were not strong at Ibrox and horrendous decisions were being made. All in all, Ben Davies, including wages and excluding the times he was away on loan, cost Rangers a grand total of around £8M.
Danilo proved even more expensive
Of course, he is not alone. As we now know, Danilo is negotiating his exit. We do not know which club to. It could potentially be back home to Brazil because his own dream was to return to Corinthians. However, he is negotiating an exit that we hope is permanent. The money wasted here is even more painful. This was when Ross Wilson had gone and Michael Beale was manager, admittedly left to fend for himself. He handled the negotiations as the lone ranger, per se. As such, in his desperation, he shelled out an appalling £6M for Danilo from Feyenoord. He then offered him a wage that was absolutely extraordinary. It remains the highest wage ever paid by a Rangers regime to any player in history. £40,000 a week for the Brazilian striker created a grand total of around £12M over four years. If we include his wages and exclude the loans away, Danilo has cost and wasted Rangers £12M.
Rabbi Matondo is painful
Then there’s Rabbi. £3M up front, and 3+ years of a £30,000pw wage, and yes, he’s another Ross Wilson failure, the Welsh winger also lost Rangers the same as Davies. £8M.
The scale of the financial damage
Add those to Davies and it is £28M down the drain. This is the kind of wastage that Rangers have been appallingly guilty of over the last five plus years. Those three are not the only examples. There are many players Rangers signed at high cost who gave next to nothing back. That came either through injury or simply because they were subpar signings who had no business being at the club.
A more sensible approach at Ibrox
We believe Derek McInnes is doing a better job this time around under the 49ers. Indeed, as we even know, only last summer the club was still doing it under Thelwell and Stewart. Even in January under Danny Rohl it was still taking place. This summer, however, Rangers have spent a complete net total of £4M on what is so far at least 6 players. The wages are modest, solid and within Rangers’ business model. It appears to be a far more scrupulous approach. Going back to the recent and more distant past, the crimes that certain regimes committed against the club and indeed the fans are basically unforgivable. We will never forget or accept the amount that we have lost due to appalling management decisions.