Despite what some facets of the Scottish media will have you believe, there is no fire sale at Rangers, nor is there any need for one.
As you will know, if you want to get an impartial, balanced account of Rangers finances, the best place to go is Kieran Maguire’s “The Price of Football” podcast, and this time, the football finance expert has been speaking exclusively to the This is Ibrox podcast on which he explains how the commitment of the directors allows our current business model to be sustainable.
When asked by host Tommy McIntyre how the defeat to Malmo would affect this summer’s player trading, and in particular sales, he said:
“They (Rangers) are probably now in the position where a sale would help but is not essential, and I’d really like to stress that, whilst the directors are continuing to be willing to put money into the club. Then everything is fine.
“But these guys eventually will turn round and if its costing them £10-15million a season, they will ask ‘what do we get out of this?’ because they will only have signed up tom make this commitment for a finite period of time.
“If Rangers are successful and winning trophies sometimes their hand will be forced in terms of player trading because someone will come in and offer more money in terms of wages, we all know agents get involved and talk to players.
“Sometimes you end up with a player trading profit even though you don’t want to lose the player himself.”
Earlier in the summer John Bennett spoke to Maguire and reiterated that he and Douglas Park will underwrite any losses, so there will be no fictional black hole even if players aren’t sold.
The plan though has always been to sell players but they must be sold at their worth and not below market value, we can’t keep a hold of players indefinitely and allow them to run their contracts down, we have to trust that the recruitment team already has replacements lined up for the likes of Alfredo Morelos, Glen Kamara and Connor Goldson if they are to be moved on this year.
For those of a green and grey persuasion, our defeat against Malmo was truly bed wetting stuff but, as McIntyre alludes to in the interview, they should perhaps pay more attention to their own finances – it’s not Rangers that have sold several key players already this year with more tipped to move on before the window shuts, however, I can’t see them changing the habit of a lifetime.