Well, well, after seemingly bad news and speculation regarding certain 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 skintı 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 landı 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, letıs say £6m (very very generous here and thatıs 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 80ıs. 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!!!!!
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