players the grey doomladen clouds spread over the messageboard and it seems certain that the years of plenty will now be followed with year after year
of miserable famine.
The mantra repeated ad nauseum by bheggars both here and in the press that
ŒRangers are skint, Rangers are skint, Rangers are skint, Rangers are skint¹
seems at last to have permeated the thoughts of many Bears well folks the
reality of the situation is that every club both domestically and euro-wide
who could reasonably be called a competitor is in exactly the same boat.
Rangers are in the process of completing the first phase of our 3 year plan
that is looking to address the 3 key areas of concern to the club, namely 1-
chipping away at the long term debt, 2- servicing that debt, 3-
continuity/success on the pitch.
At the moment it looks as though there will be 8 or 9 players leaving (Amo,
Artur, Bonnisel, Eggen, Mols, Cannigia, Reid, Arteta, Konterman) with
perhaps 4 being brought in as replacements, this represents a large drop in
wages that will be replaced with 2-3 Bosmans and 1 or 2 purchases ie- 2
young and 2 experienced players to add to the squad.
This policy is designed to curb spending but crucially to pare down wages as
a percentage of turnover to a level of around 55%. I said elsewhere that it
is my belief that we as fans and the moneymen at the stadium should expect
no more than a decent UEFA run where anything better is a welcome boon this
year and concentrate solely on the title which will guarantee a Champions
League Group Stage place.
Budgeting for this will mean that as turnover increases, more high earners
(a la de Boer) leave and the possibility of a good and money spinning Euro
run becomes yet another financial bonus. I believe the squad is and will be
strong enough to achieve this and the accounts will improve immeasurable
with this initially cautious approach.
In a more Œla-la land¹ aside there is also the possibility of Murray
personally bankrolling a signing, another rich Bear (haulage firm owner)
contributing funds or even wee Davie Sneddon selling a million albums and
giving us Rivaldo for Christmas, o aye.
This being Rangers however we will always be compared to and in competition
with the denizenss of the east-end, now we are aware that the hubris of
Timmy know no bounds so a little rational thinking is required to look at
the likely scenario at the Beggardome this close season. Unlike some would
have you believe Celtic probably made as PROFIT between 4 and 8 million
pounds from the greatest euro run since yesterday, be under no illusions
this money will go to the exact same 3 priorities that were outlined above
and Tantrum will see at best £3m of it, add that to the spend already
allocated, let¹s say £6m (very very generous here and that¹s got to include
wages as well) added to an ageing squad and the talismanic and irreplaceable
Henrik in his last season (remember Gio and Brian) and all is not rosy in
the garden of hypocrisy either, whats more they have no trophies and are
hydrophobes, you have to think that we are not going to cast adrift like we
were in the early 80¹s. The fact is the Celtic plc board will simply not
countenance a rise in the percentage of wages to turnover and will also
budget conservatively realising on past performance that this years
impressive UEFA run was as lucky as you will see.
In short, yes, belt tightening and squad reductions are our new reality, but
this does not necessarily mean a beggo style empty trophy cabinet far from
it you, will now see the likes of Hughes, McLean (a match winner in all his
sides since he was 8 yo) hopefully McFadden, Ross, Malcolm form the nucleus
of a Scottish team with a Scottish manager who will have the benefit of
experience around them until they are experienced enough themselves to grasp
the nettle.
Fellow Bears, this article is pure speculation but we are addressing our
problems and being realistic, keep the faith that all is not as bad as it
seems, the playing field is very level, we are budgeting to build with the
bonus that any euro run will bring but we will survive without it, we have a
training ground which is moving towards an academy, we have the best manager in Britain, we are the people and the sellikk ARE shi.te
We can all pontificate and procrastinate but the real comment will come when
the flag is unfurled and the new team is on the park, our eyes are on a 51st
title and we shall not be moved!!!!!
Immortal7