The Rangers AGM has passed without any real scandal, issues such as safe standing and disabled access being two of the biggest talking points after the funding gap for this season had been put to bed early doors.
Ross Wilson, perhaps, gave the most interesting insight for fans though, the sporting director being a busy man of late and the perfect example as to why his role – and having someone competent in to – is so important to a club of our size.
With several of our key players – Joe Aribo, Ryan Kent, Filip Helander, Connor Goldson, Ryan Jack and Alfredo Morelos – all approaching or in the last 18-months of their contracts, it’s easy to see why fans might be apprehensive, however, as Wilson explained, there is no need to panic:
“I get that player contracts is a hot topic as it’s something people are excited about.
“Generally we’re really, really relaxed about where we are with our player contracts.
“We have a clear contract model here and a clear wage structure. Anybody that signs a contract with Rangers, I can assure you, they will sign a contract within that structure.
“We wouldn’t be prepared to break that structure at all because it’s important to us that we have a prudent way of working.
“However, it’s also fair to say that players can take their own view and can take their own time. And if they want a contract which is in excess of that model then that’s also okay for them to take that view.
“We’re very relaxed about that. We take a view on every contract on its own merits, providing it sits within our model.”
“So irrespective of a player’s contract status I don’t think it’s fair to label that at them. But as a general principle, we’re really, really comfortable with where we’re at with all our player contracts.”
This is encouraging on a couple of levels – we won’t allow the wage structure to run out of control and the man in charge of negotiations isn’t concerned about the current status of the squad in terms of when some of the contracts expire.
The general consensus when selling players is that when they reach the two year point they are at their most valuable, however, as we saw with Celtic in the summer, things have changed, they were still able to get big fees for both Kris Ajer and Odsonne Edouard when they were in the last year of their deals, Ryan Christie even went for a seven figure sum in the last six months of his.
Wilson has spoken before about our player trading model and having plans in place to replace each player should they leave, if he is relaxed then I am too, well, kind of.