Despite the promise of a summer ‘war-chest’ of £5m Rangers manager Walter Smith has admitted that his side will struggle to compete in the transfer market.
Smith was reported to be considering walking out on the club if further cuts had been implemented by Lloyds TSB but signed a new one year deal after a compromise deal was agreed between the club and their bankers.
The departures of Kris Boyd, Nacho Novo, Steven Smith and DaMarcus Beasley along-with Pedro Mendes in January has considerably lightened the Rangers wage bill but there has still been no additions to the squad since August 2008.
Speculative stories about swoops for David Goodwillie, James McArthur, Chris Brunt and of course David Healy have failed to materialise with Smith admitting that dealing in the bottom end of the transfer market is proving testing.
The Rangers boss told the club website: “Market forces are against us right now and that is happening a lot.
“Everyone says we have a small group of players and that we will need to bring new ones in and, of course, that is correct.
“But when we are looking around it’s difficult to achieve the balance of getting the level of player you want given the level of finance available.
“So that is the task that faces us and we will obviously try to bring in the best we possibly can.
“I would hope to have new faces in before we travel to Australia but it is not something we are going to dive into.
“In the past through different sets of circumstances the club have maybe had to do that and it has not worked out in the right way.”
Rangers’ problems were highlighted by the departure of Boyd on a Bosman deal to Middlesbrough.
In January it was reported that Rangers had offered Boyd a new contract worth £18,000 a week. Whether that included a signing-on fee or bonuses will never be known but Middlesbrough’s offer of a two year contract was enough to tempt the player away from Ibrox.
Discussing Boyd’s departure Smith admitted: “From our point of view, we made him an offer that was as much as we could go to for any player that we were hoping to keep at the club or bring to the club.
“We are disappointed he has gone. But with the club’s situation at the moment we have to accept that.”
A three year deal to Boyd at £18,000 a week would have cost Rangers £2.8m- a hefty chunk of the £5m war-chest.
On that basis it’s unlikely that Rangers can afford to pay out any more than £500,000 for a player with the wages and signing on fee factored into the deal.
Despite the lure of the Champions League it looks very likely that Celtic will be faced with a familiar challenge from Rangers with a few familiar faces missing.
Retaining players such as Kenny Miller, Lee McCulloch and Kenny Miller who will be out of contract in a year’s time will also be a consideration although not directly for Smith.
The likely arrival of Joe Ledley from Cardiff City looks like a decent show of ambition from Celtic, taking advantage of the cross-border issue to offer the player a financial deal that Stoke and West Brom appear unwilling to match.
Signing players who haven’t played for Hibs or Dundee United also marks a refreshing change.
The arrival of a quality defender and proven striker will certainly add substance to the ideas that Neil Lennon expressed when he was unveiled as Celtic manager.
Winning the forthcoming SPL title is essential for Celtic’s credibility. Cashing in on uncertainty and weakness’s at their only rivals has to be a priority- on and off the park.
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“Signing players who haven’t played for Hibs or Dundee United also marks a refreshing change”
I agree with a percentage of what you say, with the higher quality of players being targetted outside the SPL by Lennon but I would bite your hand off to have a stable of proven SPL players.
Players like Bamba, Stokes, Bauben and even Cadamateri to bolster the Bhoys squad, squad players that add depth would seriously add to the competition for places and act as decent cover for the current contingent of players, the only letdown being their lack of European competitive experience, but away at tough environmental surroundings at fixtures like Inverness Callie or Aberdeen on a cold winters night, it’s these types of players and their experience that shines through.
As for Rangers warchest, I think it could be more of a tiny pellet bag with a draw string.