Barry Ferguson pleads with Ibrox board to spend the Patterson windfall!

Barry Ferguson has urged the Ibrox board to splash the cash on the back of their Nathan Patterson windfall. The Alloa boss might be in for a disappointment. 

Earlier this season Steven Gerrard whined about spending no money in the last two transfer windows despite burdening the club with John Lundstram, Jack Simpson, Scott Wright and Juninho Bacuna on the wage bill. 

So far this month Giovanni van Bronckhorst has brought in two loan starlets and cut short Cedric Itten’s loan spell at German strugglers Greuther Furth. 

With Ianis Hagi ruled out for the rest of the season through injury the Ibrox squad is beginning to thin out but there is little sign other than loans, starlets or projects being added to the wage bill. 

Pleading the case for more spending, Ferguson told Daily Record readers: 

Look, Rangers are hardly awash with money. We all know how tight things are these days. 

But they did bring in more than £4m when Steven Gerrard took his coaching staff to Aston Villa. And they’ve secured a guaranteed fee of £11m for Patterson even before add-ons are taken into consideration. 

No one expects Gio to be given the whole lot to spend. The board explained to fans at the AGM that the club needs to become more sustainable. That model has now been put in place with Patterson’s sale. 

Yet it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect the manager to be given £2m or £3m to spend if he has identified a player he feels will make his team stronger. 

Not a work in progress. Not another body to make up the numbers. Not someone who hasn’t been playing and will take time to get up to speed, as might be the case with Diallo. 

I believe if he feels there is a player out there who can enhance his line-up then he’ll look to get him in the door and I’m also convinced the board will do everything they can to make sure they back their man. 

Let’s be honest, it’s been a while since Rangers brought in a player who really hit the ground running. 

John Lundstram is decent but hasn’t made the impact expected of him. Juninho Bacuna is on his way out after just six months and Jack Simpson has struggled to find his feet. Fashion Sakala is now starting to show that there’s a real player in there but big Cedric Itten still has a way to go yet. 

So it has been more miss than hit over the past 18 months or so and the manager could do with a strong finish to the current window. 

Transfer guru Ross Wilson has signed Hearts ace John Souttar on a pre-contract agreement.