BlueSuedeSambas Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Rangers chairman Sir David Murray has warned a number of players will have to leave Ibrox this summer. The Gers are currently crippled financially, with the club announcing a pre-tax loss of just over £4.1million for the six months ending 31st December 2008. With turnover also down due to failings in Europe this season, a pre-season cull of the playing staff is inevitable. Rangers were able to negotiate the January transfer window with the majority of their squad left intact, but Murray is keen to trim the numbers available to Walter Smith before the 2009/10 campaign gets underway. He told supporters: "The first six months of the financial year excluded income from Champions League football in comparison to last year. "The absence of European competition, together with the economic downturn, has confirmed that the size of the squad was neither sustainable from a financial nor football management point of view. "It is our aim to rationalise the squad to a more manageable level going forward, and integrate the young talent now emerging from Murray Park." Rangers currently sit top of the SPL standings with 12 games remaining, with Smith insisting his sole focus remains on helping the club take the top-flight title for the first time in four years. "It's nice to be at the top of the league but we are just operating in the same manner as we have been doing for the last period, where we have to win the games," he said. "That's the most important aspect. If people perceive that to be pressure, fine. "But we have to handle it and we have to make sure we continue to do what we have been doing recently and play as well as we can and hope we can win at the same time. "We've had a good response from everyone over the last couple of months and we've hit a good level of play. "We have to carry that on and, if anything, try to raise it a little. "We are happy where we are at the moment but we are under no illusions, we have to continue to do as well as
TMWWBK Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 To be honest, there's only about 3 or 4 players that i'd be disappointed to see leaving.
papaguy51 Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Notwithstanding the finanical crisis, the size of our squad was ridiculous anyway. More so given some of the dross that was in it.
simplythebest Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Seems to pretty much be saying dead wood will have to be cleared out which i approve of. Hopefully the likes of Bougherra, Mendes, Thomson, Boyd and Davis won't be going anywhere. The state Walter Smith has let this squad get into is shocking.
ShootSpeedKillLight Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Sell Boyd, Ferguson, McCulloch and Adam (if possible). Problem solved.
ExiledWeegie123 Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 the only players id have as safe are: mendes davis bougherra boyd thomson fleck id decent offers came in for anyone else id listen seriously.
BlueIsTheColour Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 We must start getting rid of the "squad players" who are contrubuting very little to the first team. The likes of Hemdani, Dailly, McCulloch, Adam, Beasley, Stevie Smith and Andrius Velicka should be the players to offload first and foremost. Of course, finding a buyer for some of them will be difficult. When it comes to the current first team i think the likes of Bougherra, Thomson, Mendes, Fleck and Lafferty are players who you can build your team around. The rest, in my oppinion are expendable. If any of these players leave in the summer i will be very dissapointed.
dukestreetsoup Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Sell Boyd, Ferguson, McCulloch and Adam (if possible). Problem solved. Why Boyd? Because you have a personal gripe or because he has put us on top of the table?
Stardog Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 No chance of us buying Aaron any time soon then. Getting rid of Hemdani, Beasley, Velicka, Dailly, Adam, Smith and McCulloch will almost save us that £4.1m. Probably about £3-3.5m. The rest play in the team too often and would need replaced if sold. If only Boyd had fucked off for the ridiculous amount McLeish offered. Hopefully Birmingham get promoted and come in again.
BlueSuedeSambas Posted February 27, 2009 Author Posted February 27, 2009 If Walter is truly serious about having a squad of about twenty with the rest of the numbers being made up from youngsters then it's imperitive that it's the deadwood we get rid of. Guys like Bougherra, Mendes, Davis, McGrgeor and Fleck will become even more important if we want to work with a smaller squad, and for that reason they simply cannot be sold. Velicka, Hemdani, Smith, Webster, Beasley, Dailly and McCulloch could now and wouldn't be missed So they should be the first ones out the door come Summer.
ShootSpeedKillLight Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Sell Boyd, Ferguson, McCulloch and Adam (if possible). Problem solved. Why Boyd? Because you have a personal gripe or because he has put us on top of the table? What kind of personal gripe would I have? I think for the money we'd get for Boyd we could get a much better striker, plus I'm confident that Lafferty and Naismith are going to come good. edit: He's also one of our only players that any other team is interested in. I'd rather sell Velicka than Boyd, but we all know how likely that is.
ManchestGer Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Nothing new being said there then, we have a lot of deadwood that we need to get rid of so there's no problem there. Hopefully we'll be able to keep a hold of our better players though
chris_glasgow Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Bougherra, Thomson, Mendes, Thomson, Fleck, Naimsmith, Fleck, Aaron, Lafferty, McGregor the rest can go
BoltonLoyal Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Sell Boyd, Ferguson, McCulloch and Adam (if possible). Problem solved. Why Boyd? Because you have a personal gripe or because he has put us on top of the table? What kind of personal gripe would I have? I think for the money we'd get for Boyd we could get a much better striker, plus I'm confident that Lafferty and Naismith are going to come good. Wish i shared your confidence mate. Naismith and Lafferty are nowhere near Boyd's goalscoring ability imo.
NOLUWDC Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Bougherra, Thomson, Mendes, Thomson, Fleck, Naimsmith, Fleck, Aaron, Lafferty, McGregor the rest can go 2 Thomson's and 2 Fleck's I agree with most of that list
dundeebear3 Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 We must start getting rid of the "squad players" who are contrubuting very little to the first team. The likes of Hemdani, Dailly, McCulloch, Adam, Beasley, Stevie Smith and Andrius Velicka should be the players to offload first and foremost. Of course, finding a buyer for some of them will be difficult. When it comes to the current first team i think the likes of Bougherra, Thomson, Mendes, Fleck and Lafferty are players who you can build your team around. The rest, in my oppinion are expendable. If any of these players leave in the summer i will be very dissapointed. Agreed. Add the likes of Aaron and perhaps one or two players we have loaned out (Efrem etc) and it may not be all bad news next season.
ShootSpeedKillLight Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Sell Boyd, Ferguson, McCulloch and Adam (if possible). Problem solved. Why Boyd? Because you have a personal gripe or because he has put us on top of the table? What kind of personal gripe would I have? I think for the money we'd get for Boyd we could get a much better striker, plus I'm confident that Lafferty and Naismith are going to come good. Wish i shared your confidence mate. Naismith and Lafferty are nowhere near Boyd's goalscoring ability imo. Neither of them are 25+ goal a season strikers, but I think between them they'd score more than enough goals. If not we have Miller
ScotBear Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 I'm very relaxed about our financial situation, and do you know why ? Because I haven't got a fecking clue what is going on behind the scenes. Nobody really does. The media and internet rumours were all telling us that the banks were on our back, that £3m had to be raised and that every player was for sale. Well, a rejected £3.5m bid for Mendes put all that crap to bed. What will be will be, and there's no point in allowing the media to put our heads in a spin, because they showed in January they are, like us, in the dark on this. My guess is that in the summer we'll see a pile of deadwood leave. If any seriously high offers come in for key players, we'll accept. And in terms of bringing players in, we'll probably spend a very modest amount, which is fair enough if we're tight for cash as long as we keep our key men.
simplythebest Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Another fucking thread descending into a Kris Boyd debate.
dukestreetsoup Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Sell Boyd, Ferguson, McCulloch and Adam (if possible). Problem solved. Why Boyd? Because you have a personal gripe or because he has put us on top of the table? What kind of personal gripe would I have? I think for the money we'd get for Boyd we could get a much better striker, plus I'm confident that Lafferty and Naismith are going to come good. Wish i shared your confidence mate. Naismith and Lafferty are nowhere near Boyd's goalscoring ability imo. Neither of them are 25+ goal a season strikers, but I think between them they'd score more than enough goals. If not we have Miller On what planet would you be able to get a striker for Boyd money who has scored 21 league goals already this season? Without his goals we would no doubt be in a far worse position football wise, and therefore worse financially in the long run. That wouldnt be very good business really. God knows why Murray ever considered selling him in the January window. I personally think if he had gone then it was season over, settle for second place time. Basically Murray is now calling to win the league because he didnt get his January windfall and wants it now. Im sure if the money had come in for Boyd he wouldnt give a shit about winning the league. But thats just business. Your confidence with Lafferty and Naismith is nice to see, and I'd like to hope I can continue to have that confidence. The thing is its not speculation with Boyd. He is scoring goals and is more likely than anyone else to continue doing so. I dont understand how anyone can have the clubs best interests at heart and say 'sell our top scorer'.
ShootSpeedKillLight Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Another fucking thread descending into a Kris Boyd debate. There needs to be some kind of ban
Leiper Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 I'm getting slightly worried by a few things SDM has been saying. Although us fans have kinda demanded that youth start giving a chance...I can't help but feeling, after the amount SDM has said about it, that youth will become a reason for not spending money in the transfer market. Whilst I fully agree that we need to start running the club better financially, we will still need to spend money to succeed and progress. However I have a feeling that in the not so distant future, we will be getting told that money is tight and instead of improving via the transfer market, we will continue to improve our youth players in hope that they grow into first team regulars.
TexasGers Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Me thinks we're screwed Even if we wanted to get rid of the deadwood, we're unlikely to find buyers. It might be another Chris Burke scenario, where we have to pay a team to take him.
TMWWBK Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 Another fucking thread descending into a Kris Boyd debate. It has got seriously out of hand. It's just trolling basically.
chris_glasgow Posted February 27, 2009 Posted February 27, 2009 can we just name he this the Kris Boyd Den
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