A week after sending out the first signals to lure Derek McInnes to Ibrox the compensation fee for the Aberdeen boss and assistant Anthony Docherty has been flagged up by the Daily Record.
This morning it claims with a degree of certainty: “Rangers can land top target Derek McInnes and right hand man Tony Docherty for just £800,000 in compensation.
“Record Sport can reveal that was the combined fee which Sunderland agreed to pay in the summer before McInnes turned down the opportunity to take over from Davie Moyes in the hot-seat at the Stadium of Light.
“And, although he subsequently put pen to paper on a bumper new contract at Pittodrie, the new deal contains the same release trigger.
“It has been wrongly reported elsewhere that Rangers might have to come up with almost twice that amount in order to secure McInnes as a replacement for Pedro Caixinha.”
Martin Bain is the chief executive of Sunderland.
Where Sevco can rumble up £800,000 is the big question with a number of hurdles to get over to reach that stage.
Despite his wish to move on and ignore over a decade of cheating it’s unlikely that Stewart Milne will agree to a payment plan for his management team.
Despite their widely reported summer signing spree Graham Dorrans was the only UK based brought to Ibrox with a transfer fee involved.
It seems that Sevco are happy to sit back and allow a number of stories to unsettle a rival club without making a move.
If McInnes doesn’t resign from Aberdeen the narritive is likely to shift to Sevco not being held to ransom as Graeme Murty is appointed ‘permanent’ manager assisted by fans favourite Kenny Miller who gets an extended player-coach contract.
