Alex McLeish has warned Walter Smith that Sevco can’t go ‘splashing the cash’ to compete with Sevco.
Both men enjoyed the benefits of being able to offer players ‘tax free’ EBT’s to come to Ibrox but the potential tax bill that that generated played a part in scaring off potential saviours when the old club was placed in liquidation.
Smith, despite a spell as chairman of the new club, doesn’t appear to have learned any lessons from that chapter but the penny does seem to have dropped with McLeish.
Although stopping short of admitting that Celtic look likely to win the title for the next few seasons McLeish admits that managing the current club is a world away from what he managed at Ibrox.
“I don’t think Rangers can go big in the transfer market right now,” he told The Daily Record. “They are being very cautious and trying to bring in the right players for this moment.
“Recruitment is absolutely vital over these next few years but right now they can’t go absolutely crazy in the transfer market. The resources just aren’t there and they have to live by their means.”
Living within their means is still a problem at Ibrox with £14m in soft loans holding administration at bay.
No real plan of heavy recruitment to buy and sell or investment in youth development has been established with little value in Mark Warburton’s first team squad.
According to Warbo playing in European football is essential for the club however the budgets of the last three seasons mean that their overspend falls foul of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules.
According to the BBC McLeish picked up £1.7m in EBT payments during his four and a half years at Ibrox.