Is the financial meltdown underway at Rangers?
Every day there is fresh news coming out of Ibrox which paints an increasingly bleak financial picture.
This morning the official Rangers website is highlighting the fact that John Fleck and Danny Wilson have both turned down new contracts.
Both players still have 18 months to run on their current contracts, there is probably less than 50 players throughout Scotland that have contracts beyond June 2011.
The official Rangers site said: “Rangers could lose both Danny Wilson and John Fleck to English football after manager Walter Smith revealed the pair turned down new contracts.
“The 18-year-olds, who both have 18 months left on their current deals, were offered lucrative new contracts but have been advised by their agents to turn those offers down and look to further their careers down south.”
Condemnation of players is virtually unheard of through official publications, in contrast they can usually be relied on to put a positive spin on even the most depressing news.
During the last week Kris Boyd’s contract offer has remained unsigned with doubts emerging about whether Rangers could honour the pay rise that was greeted with such enthusiasm last week.
News has also emerged of an apparent bid for a club with £100m plus of assets for a knockdown price of £18 with two of the potential investors currently sitting on the Rangers board.
Strangely it has been claimed that the bank, Lloyds/TSB, rejected the offer despite David Murray having control of 90% of the clubs shares.
The Rangers Supporters Trust have predictably been quick to criticise the bank which seems a dangerous policy since it appears to be the goodwill of the bank and their sensitivity over bad publicity that is keeping Rangers from administration.
Should there ever be a change in ownership of the club they could find themselves struggling to find bankers willing to take on an account where they may be publically criticised despite their apparent generosity.
As soon as Fergus McCann took over at Celtic he moved the club’s account from the Bank of Scotland to the Co-Operative bank to register his disapproval at the way they handled the clubs business.
It seems that everyone from the bank to teenage footballers are to be sacrificed in the blame game for Rangers troubles.
As yet there appears to have been no bids made for any players halfway through the January transfer window- during the same period Celtic have sold four players and signed two.
There are signs of panic coming from Rangers which will be noted by clubs monitoring their better players.
The January transfer window is notorious for clubs moving into action in the last days and hours, the panic messages coming from Rangers suggests that they will be in no bargaining position if last minute offers come in for any of their players.
Selling Fleck and Wilson seems inevitable with the club website apparently readying the supporters for their departure.
11.45am update: Rangers have only been able to name six substitutes for today’s game at Hamilton
I'm a Celtic fan – and I still think that rrangers will win league. Stuff like this is galvanising the team. The siege mentality is efinitely working at Ibrox
Celtic's performances and results seem to be galvanising Rangers towards the title.
What happens on the park doesn't interest the bank and it does seem like Rangers are preparing their supporters for the sale of two 'greedy stars'.