Taxi for Miller
Kenny Miller has been told that he won’t be getting a lucrative new deal to extend his stay at Ibrox.
The striker has already turned down two new offers to stay on at Rangers beyond his current deal which expires in June.
Rangers’ first offer to Miller amounted to a wage cut but despite handing out lucrative deals to Nikica Jelavic and James Sebo Beattie the Ibrox money men won’t be bursting the bank to keep Miller.
American based chairman Alastair Johnson admitted: “As a fan, I would do it (give Miller a new deal) in a millisecond. As chairman, I have to look to the consequences of any decision in two or three years’ time.
“I don’t want to commit all the budget we may have for player manoeuvrings when we might have a much more critical reason for needing that money three years from now.
“The way Miller, Allan McGregor, Sasa Papac and others are playing is terrific, nobody could be happier than the Rangers board and the Rangers executive team.
“But we do have to put it all in proper perspective. As a fan I’d do it in a second, but we have to stand by our decisions and live with the consequences.”
It doesn’t take a Philadelphia lawyer to read between the lines on that statement to realise that Miller, who turns 31 in January, won’t get the sort of offer that he’s looking for.
After losing Kris Boyd on a Bosman deal at the end of the season it looks likely that Miller will follow his Scotland team mate out on the door at the end of the season.
Miller scored twice for Rangers against Dundee United last Saturday with Walter Smith recognising the importance of his main striker to the team.
The Rangers boss said: “The door is open to go back to Miller. We will do that and are speaking to his agent.
“It was another good performance from Kenny. The goals are great but it’s not just about that – he’s also playing very well.”
Despite earning £16m from the Champions League Rangers were only able to reduce their debt by £3.1m with Johnson admitting that the club is still working closely with Lloyds TSB.
He added: “We have performed very well in Lloyds’ eyes in the last year. They have been reasonable to deal with, increasingly reasonable. In the last couple of years we have reduced the debt and we are continuing to do that.”
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