Alex Rae has warned Pedro Caixinha that he is creating a poisonous dressing room.
While each new Latin signing is being greeted with whoops of delight it pushes another existing player further away from an appearance bonus.
There is virtually no interest in the rump of players under contract for another couple of seasons with most ready to sit tight and hope for a Joey Barton type pay off.
Unless he manages to sign up 16 new stars Caixinha is going to have to call on ‘the best squad in Scotland’ despite clearly dismissing them and his own ability to improve them as players.
Players don’t take kindly to being written off by an unproven manager with Rae well aware of the issues that will be bubbling away behind the scenes at Ibrox.
“The hardest part of Pedro’s job will be trying to get the players who aren’t in his plans out of the door as some of them are on two and three year contracts,” the former St Mirren boss told the Daily Record.
“How poisonous that will be depends on whether Pedro shifts them into the youth department.
“I know the youth department probably won’t want them either because they want to nurture young kids and they won’t want senior players moping about.
“It depends on the player and their application when they are moved there as you want to exclude them and the dynamics at Murray Park are such that you can put them in the other part of the building so they won’t be involved with the first team.
“We have all been at clubs where you are made to come in early or late, been asked to travel to reserve games in the back and beyond, it’s just a tactic from the management team to try and force players out of the door.
“If Pedro thinks that is the way to go then fine as I’ve been a player and a manager and know how both think.
“If you are on six or seven thousand pounds a week then it’s very easy to sit tight and say they’ll see it out. I know the mentality and know how they work, they’ll sit there and believe they can see the manager out of the door first. There were probably a few players at St Mirren last season thinking that as well.”
Rae added: “It’s just the nature of the game and it’s a battle of wits but agents are very much a part of that game. The issue they have is that these players are on so much money.
“It’s a different kettle of fish if it’s players on a few hundred quid, which takes me back to my Falkirk days when the manager had all the power.
“These days it’s about the player and it’s about what suits them and they’ll sit tight until the club comes up with a compromise.”
Among the players on long term deals Jason Holt, Andy Halliday, Josh Windass and Matt Crooks are all under contract until 2020.