Craig Whyte: I Am Not Scrooge

[ally mccoist mr rangers 1]

CRAIG WHYTE insists he HAS spent big this summer — despite NO box office arrivals.

The Rangers owner was last night forced to defend his signing policy in the face of mounting criticism from supporters.

Whyte pledged to spend £25million on new players over the next five years.

He later upped that and claimed £15m would be ploughed in this summer.

But SunSport's damning figures show Gers' net spend at the close of the August transfer window was just £500,000.

But Whyte said: "Ally's signed seven new players and re-signed seven more this summer, which has been a significant investment in the squad.

"While all Rangers fans want to see as many star signings as possible there has to be realism as well.

"Unfortunately. we've not qualified for the Champions League or Europa League group stages and the club has to be run in the correct manner.

"Ally and I discuss these matters constantly and he has told me he is happy with the squad he has at his disposal.

"We look forward to the rest of the campaign and doing all we can to continue our success."

Rangers rejected a £6.5m bid from Leicester City for striker Nikica Jelavic on Tuesday.

Aston Villa also enquired about Steven Davis with Whyte delighted both players are still at Ibrox.

He revealed: "We had a serious offer for Nikica, but it fell well short of the player's true valuation.

"Ally McCoist is building a good squad capable of competing for the domestic treble and Jelavic and Davis are key players."

Meanwhile, McCoist insists Gers' decision to spurn interest in Jelavic and Davis is a big signal.

The Gers gaffer said: "I am delighted Nikica and Steven are staying.

"There was no pressure to sell either, but the club received a serious offer for Nikica from Leicester.

"I have no doubt the players we have here are more than capable of defending the title."

Read more: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/3789942/Craig-I-am-not-Scrooge.html#ixzz1Wkcnr7Vc

[Colonel Mustard 380]

"While all Rangers fans want to see as many star signings as possible there has to be realism as well.

"Unfortunately. we've not qualified for the Champions League or Europa League group stages and the club has to be run in the correct manner.

No European football, no big signings.

Way to go with the cowardly football Ally.

Lesson number one should now have been learned. File it beside "McCulloch and Edu could get me the sack".

[TerryButchersDoor 8]

No European football, no big signings.

Way to go with the cowardly football Ally.

Lesson number one should now have been learned. File it beside "McCulloch and Edu could get me the sack".

Don't recall Whyte saying his cash was based on European qualification.

[Colonel Mustard 380]

Don't recall Whyte saying his cash was based on European qualification.

Well, if you could actually understand his quote in my post, you might see that he's saying it now.

Do you struggle to do that?

[skinnymate1690 665]

if whyte had just said we will invest some money in the squad rather than spout out figures in every interview then i think fans wouldnt be as pissed off

he knows he hasnt done what he promised and that is the reason he now has to defend himself

still dissapointed

[OzGers 425]

interesting...perhaps if he actually invested further as he claimed he would, we would have qualified for these tournaments...speculate to accumulate Whyte

[Colonel Mustard 380]

interesting...perhaps if he actually invested further as he claimed he would, we would have qualified for these tournaments...speculate to accumulate Whyte

What was wrong with the players we had?

Was it too much to ask them to earn their thousands of pounds a week, and get us past a couple of nonentity teams who were earning wallies?

[Goianegra 4,704]

Not looking forward to seeing this thread in the morning

[Dublinbear 5]

He's right.

RFC has to live within it's means.

No signings to appease the fans and boost the Chairmans ego. We are a business and need to be run to break even, as a minimum. It was very obvious after Maribor that we woudln't spend anything.

Hopefully now Beattie is off the wage bill, we can get a loan in Jan if we need it.

[OzGers 425]

What was wrong with the players we had?

Was it too much to ask them to earn their thousands of pounds a week, and get us past a couple of nonentity teams who were earning wallies?

What was wrong with it? The squad had performed extremely poor most of pre-season. Boogie was looking for an out, 5 loan players had disappeared, including the player with the leading assists in the SPL, we had one fit striker, weir was out injured...

My point is, IF he had perhaps started his recruitment drive earlier, or moved quicker, players like bedoya, goian, boca and mckay would have all be settled and integrated, we wouldnt be playing with a ramshackle defence and wouldnt have had to play that donkey EDU

[OzGers 425]

He's right.

RFC has to live within it's means.

No signings to appease the fans and boost the Chairmans ego. We are a business and need to be run to break even, as a minimum. It was very obvious after Maribor that we woudln't spend anything.

Hopefully now Beattie is off the wage bill, we can get a loan in Jan if we need it.

I agree with living within our means, and in hindsight, now that we are out of europe, the amount we have spent is reasonable in the circumstances...HOWEVER, we also should have appreciated that with an extra one or two signings earlier, we would be in europe, making that extra revenue...

[Thermopylae 15,287]

What was wrong with the players we had?

Was it too much to ask them to earn their thousands of pounds a week, and get us past a couple of nonentity teams who were earning wallies?

I kinda agree with you but perhaps Jelavic wouldn't have been stinking the place out with bad attitude if we had signed a few decent players

[belter 1]

This speculate to accumulate stuff is the reason we got in the financial mess in the first place.We need to go back to a business plan that factors in our income against expenditure and cut the cloth accordingly.This in the short term means that we will have to sell to balance our books ,not a great thought but realistic imo.We then need to identify young players as the future,as both cash raising and team building through proper scouting networks across the world of football.

[SirWalterSmithLegend 206]

What i have been saying for the last fortnight. Well said Mr Whyte.

[TheLawMan 6,240]

We do have to live within our means but buying players should not have affected the clubs funds as Whyte promised they would be paid for BY HIM.

Clearly that has been another element of the duping process. Very poor fsyre.

[bombaybadboy08 15,660]

We have the squad there more than capable of winning this league although a partner for Jela would have been pretty good.

The blame of us not qualifying for Europe lies firmly with Ally and the players,IMO of course.

[JCS 649]

There can be no doubt that Craig Whyte is quite right to be prudent and cautious and, as some of you have already pointed out, we must ensure that we do not have a repeat of the 'boom & bust' years.

However, his statement is disingenuious (to say the least) and does not address the real concerns expressed by the supporters.

It is a FACT that his spending is NOT what he had promised, although that may not necessarily be his fault.

I note Whyte's statement that Ally is content with his squad, and we need to ask if that 'contentment' is based upon his genuine belief that he has a good squad, or that Whyte would not put the required money on the table. If it is the former then Whyte cannot be blamed for accepting Ally's view of his squad. If it is the latter....well...serious questions must be asked.

But to say now that investment was influenced by non- qualification for the Champions & Europa League is dishonest. He is simply harnessing an excuse in retrospect!

There was ample time before both competitions commenced to strengthen the squad with quality plyers... and we didn't do it! WE DID NOT LEARN THE LESSONS OF OUR DISMAL PRE-SEASON when it was, patently, obvious that our squad was inadequate and almost devoid of any quality.

Nor does Mr. Whyte's statement address the 'shambles' that was our 'transfer policy' and our associated 'negotiating tactics'

Not even the staunchest supporter could argue that our transfer dealings were, at times, embarrassing, confusing and inexplicable!

Certainly, it is clear that we lost out on some valuable targets in circumstances where we could have completed them relatively easily. Our bidding 'strategy' was incomprehensible and our attitude to the targets we were focusing on was even more incomprehensible still.

The transfer window is now closed and we are unlikely to sign even a free agent now.

I do hope that Ally is right, and that our squad will suffice. Personally, I have considerable doubts. Whilst we, undoubtedly, have some quality players in our squad, it is also clear that we have a number who are 'not fit for purpose' and should not play in the famous light blue jersey.

Notwithstanding, the last thing we all want is a witch hunt or a public 'inquest' at this time. I would not give our enemies the pleasure of providing them with any more ammunition to fire at us.

Yes, hard questions need to be asked, but let's do it in private, through our recognised supporters organisations, whilst giving our wholehearted support to Ally, Whyte and the team - whatever that team may be!

[chris182 6,369]

Don't recall Whyte saying his cash was based on European qualification.

This

[Ayrshirebear73 27]

mcgregor, alexander

Whittaker, broadfoot, McMillan, cole

Goian, weir, perry

Bocanegra, Bartley

Wallace, papac

Bedoya, Ortiz

Davis, edu, (Hutton)

mcculloch, ness

Wylde, naismith

Jelavic, hemmings, (fleck)

Lafferty, Healy, (little)

At least two players in every position. Players ally rates. Maybe, just maybe ally does think we have enough.

More would have been spent if players had wanted to come or if clubs accePted our bids. Goodwillie / cuellar/ juhaz but they were priced outwith our valuation / budget

I would have liked another striker but I also realise our young Plsyers need opportunities to break into team if rangers as a business is to thrive.

Lafferty,

[Adoniram 1,919]

There can be no doubt that Craig Whyte is quite right to be prudent and cautious and, as some of you have already pointed out, we must ensure that we do not have a repeat of the 'boom & bust' years.

However, his statement is disingenuious (to say the least) and does not address the real concerns expressed by the supporters.

It is a FACT that his spending is NOT what he had promised, although that may not necessarily be his fault.

I note Whyte's statement that Ally is content with his squad, and we need to ask if that 'contentment' is based upon his genuine belief that he has a good squad, or that Whyte would not put the required money on the table. If it is the former then Whyte cannot be blamed for accepting Ally's view of his squad. If it is the latter....well...serious questions must be asked.

But to say now that investment was influenced by non- qualification for the Champions & Europa League is dishonest. He is simply harnessing an excuse in retrospect!

There was ample time before both competitions commenced to strengthen the squad with quality plyers... and we didn't do it! WE DID NOT LEARN THE LESSONS OF OUR DISMAL PRE-SEASON when it was, patently, obvious that our squad was inadequate and almost devoid of any quality.

Nor does Mr. Whyte's statement address the 'shambles' that was our 'transfer policy' and our associated 'negotiating tactics'

Not even the staunchest supporter could argue that our transfer dealings were, at times, embarrassing, confusing and inexplicable!

Certainly, it is clear that we lost out on some valuable targets in circumstances where we could have completed them relatively easily. Our bidding 'strategy' was incomprehensible and our attitude to the targets we were focusing on was even more incomprehensible still.

The transfer window is now closed and we are unlikely to sign even a free agent now.

I do hope that Ally is right, and that our squad will suffice. Personally, I have considerable doubts. Whilst we, undoubtedly, have some quality players in our squad, it is also clear that we have a number who are 'not fit for purpose' and should not play in the famous light blue jersey.

Notwithstanding, the last thing we all want is a witch hunt or a public 'inquest' at this time. I would not give our enemies the pleasure of providing them with any more ammunition to fire at us.

Yes, hard questions need to be asked, but let's do it in private, through our recognised supporters organisations, whilst giving our wholehearted support to Ally, Whyte and the team - whatever that team may be!

Simple questions here.

How much of the budget was spent on wages for the forthcoming season?

Was the £25M set aside purely for transfer fees?

Do you or does anyone know what our income is for this season against expenditure? (i.e the actual profit)

If we bid for a player and spend say £1M on a transfer fee and give him £20K per week( Or £1M per annum) does that mean it is only £1M from the budget or £2M as we have to include a players wages.

And finally if Whyte promised £25M to be spent over a 5 year period and did spend say £15M of it in the first season...what were we to do in seasons 2,3,4 and 5. Especially now we are out of Europe and a major chunk of our revenue is now gone.

[maxiblue 18]

He's right.

RFC has to live within it's means.

No signings to appease the fans and boost the Chairmans ego. We are a business and need to be run to break even, as a minimum. It was very obvious after Maribor that we woudln't spend anything.

Hopefully now Beattie is off the wage bill, we can get a loan in Jan if we need it.

couldnt agree more,we have to be run as a business and at least break even over the next couple of seasons and get all outstandig tax bills etc paid in full,and at the same time be competative in our leauge,which i dont believe we are to far from achieving at the moment.....WATP

[ScottBF2 3,540]

if whyte had just said we will invest some money in the squad rather than spout out figures in every interview then i think fans wouldnt be as pissed off

he knows he hasnt done what he promised and that is the reason he now has to defend himself

still dissapointed

Whyte never spouted figures. One lying bastard journo interview Whyte and when Whyte said there would be more money available if there was a big need for it - they took that to mean we were giving the manager £15million and it's become gospel now.

[Raligt 2,541]

The squad should've been good enough to beat malmo and maribor. We lost therefore its allys fault.

[caseyjones 3,009]

What was wrong with the players we had?

Was it too much to ask them to earn their thousands of pounds a week, and get us past a couple of nonentity teams who were earning wallies?

They simply aren't good enough.

[caseyjones 3,009]

He's right.

RFC has to live within it's means.

No signings to appease the fans and boost the Chairmans ego. We are a business and need to be run to break even, as a minimum. It was very obvious after Maribor that we woudln't spend anything.

Hopefully now Beattie is off the wage bill, we can get a loan in Jan if we need it.

Not having the required quality to beat Malmo will result in us failing to break even unless players are sold.