Keith Jackson: Rangers want players to take a pay cut..

[bluebear54 0]

For a Club with our size of support, I don't see anything wrong with this.

Jackson either doesn't like us one bit, or his editor has asked him to pepper his prose with "eye-watering", "head-melting" and "eye-popping", and to make sure with liberal use of "arrogance", "extravagance" and "basketcase".

How would the media ever shift print without the famous Glasgow Rangers?

[craig 5,199]

This was never going lead to anything from the Scottish mhedia, nor is anyone at Fifa or Uefa (whichever of those ridiculous organisations it was) at all interested. They stressed in their one comment about it that they had to look at it because they had received complaints. That struck me as a rolling of eyes to the ceiling, a deep sigh and a "now we have to pretend we are doing something in that meaningless backwater that we keep getting e-mails from."

 

It was the European Commission if I am not mistaken. From what I have read they take these matters seriously.

 

Swansea & the Ospreys are the latest to be investigated for State Aid.

[Max Rebo's Big Blue Nose 0]

FFS. Threads like this really hammer home how much of a joke we have become. Rangers used to be known for integrity, class and quality. Now we are friggin freak show soap opera to be laughed at on daily basis.

[der Berliner 3,885]

M McKay, K Kyle, Bedoya, Celik, Sandaza, Ortiz, McMillan, Cole, K Naismith, Mitchell.

 

There's 10 players, not 1. All given contracts a matter of months before they were terminated/paid off/binned.

 

Oh, you go back that long. Methinks some of the players you mentioned were signed the summer pre-admin ... and we had to give those promising youngsters something to make them stay at the club after admin too. Nigh all of them did not show the correct attitude or ability to stay on under normal circumstances either.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

As Frankie says this has been discussed on here before, most notably in reference to the Stranraer game last August (which was when the team stayed overnight at Turnberry I think or somewhere equally plush, so they only had to spend an hour at a time on the bus).

 

There seem to be two schools of thought.

 

One is that if you buy a Rolls Royce, Mercedes, BMW or the like you have to pay what it costs to keep it serviced in tip top condition so it can roar into action for you at the mere touch of a button. So I suppose the question then would be: are our players Rolls Royce models or even Mercs or BMW's (though many may drive such prestige cars) or would treating them as such turn them into top quality products. Well, a Mini is still a Mini even if you send it to BMW for service; it won't go any quicker. So my answer to this question would be a double NO. Our players are not top quality and treating them as such won't make them play any better. That does not of course mean that we treat them as rubbish, they still require proper servicing or they won't start at all.

 

The other point of view (which I subscribe to) is that you treat each case on its merits. Now if you are going to play Elgin, Forres, Peterhead etc each of which are around 4 hours in a bus, at 12 noon on a Sunday, then it is entirely justifiable to stay overnight in a good quality hotel in the surrounding area and if you can go up early the day before and grab a game of golf if that is your thing, then I don't have any problem with that; provided you don't do yourself an injury in the process. However, if you are going to Stranraer for a 3.00pm kick off or Forfar for a 7.45pm kick off and the journey is less than 2 hours, how can you justify even spending the day there (never mind overnight as in the case of Stranraer)? For tonight s game, the players could have trained in the morning as usual, had lunch, a good rest and travelled up mid afternoon with the added convenience of a massage on the bus, had time for a light meal and still arrived in good time for a warm up before the game. I don't see anything arduous in that kind of itinerary. You could even skip training in the morning and adjust the travel plan accordingly if it was felt necessary.

 

I do agree that looked at in isolation the cost is probably a drop in the bucket and even taken over a season I guess it might come into the £50,000 - £100,000 bracket; but at a time when the players have just been asked to take a 15% pay cut and the CEO is looking for cost savings wherever he can find them, what message does it send. We can't aford to pay your full contracts but we can afford unjustifiable, luxury days out. Again, I realise that 15% of £6.8 million is around £20,000/ week and let's say the cost of this jolly is about £2,000-£3,000; but it still seems insensitive to say the least.

 

I find it hard to believe that in the current circumstances any player would have an issue with a day bus trip to Forfar stopping for lunch and/or dinner or that they will play any better tonight because they spent most of the day at Carnoustie, playing golf or not.

 

Forfar has been a tough venue for us this season and perhaps that is part of the thought process (though one wonders if Carnoustie was on the itinerary for the previous matches) and, of course, if we win and better still if we win handsomely then it will be said that the preparation was spot on; but if we were to draw or lose then I think questions will rightly be asked.

[Zappa 0]

The golf related aspects and connections of the Club's pre season and pre away match visits and stays are a lot stronger than I had ever realised and it's no doubt been going on for many years.

 

Just looking at this season alone, we kicked off pre season with the trip up to play Brora Rangers and where did the squad stay? Royal Dornoch Golf Club, yet another championship links course!

 

Then it's off to Hotel Klosterpforte in Marienfeld, Germany. The luxury hotel and training complex we've been to before several times going back as far as 2007 under Walter. No surprise to find that Hotel Klosterpforte has it's own private 18-hole golf course.

 

Add in the Turnberry and Carnoustie visits en route to play Stranraer and Forfar, as well as no doubt a good few others we don't yet know about and it's really making me wonder. I mean was the trip up to Brora in July really primarily about football, or was it actually more about golfing at Royal Dornoch?

 

Walter, Ally, Durrant, McDowall and whole host of current players, ex-players and hangers-on are all keen golfers, so it shouldn't really come as a huge surprise that golf is high on the agenda. Just how high it's been on the agenda and how much it's cost while the cash is pouring out of the club is another matter.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

The golf related aspects and connections of the Club's pre season and pre away match visits and stays are a lot stronger than I had ever realised and it's no doubt been going on for many years.

 

Just looking at this season alone, we kicked off pre season with the trip up to play Brora Rangers and where did the squad stay? Royal Dornoch Golf Club, yet another championship links course!

 

Then it's off to Hotel Klosterpforte in Marienfeld, Germany. The luxury hotel and training complex we've been to before several times going back as far as 2007 under Walter. No surprise to find that Hotel Klosterpforte has it's own private 18-hole golf course.

 

Add in the Turnberry and Carnoustie visits en route to play Stranraer and Forfar, as well as no doubt a good few others we don't yet know about and it's really making me wonder. I mean was the trip up to Brora in July really primarily about football, or was it actually more about golfing at Royal Dornoch?

 

Walter, Ally, Durrant, McDowall and whole host of current players, ex-players and hangers-on are all keen golfers, so it shouldn't really come as a huge surprise that golf is high on the agenda. Just how high it's been on the agenda and how much it's cost while the cash is pouring out of the club is another matter.

 

Makes you wonder what our priorites are golf or football? Joking of course

 

Wonder if any of the journos get invited for a round?

 

Edit: Don't think Durrant will be playing much golf right now though

[Gribz 966]

Where else are they going to stay? Split them in half into Dundee's 2 Travelodges?

[BrahimHemdani 1]

Where else are they going to stay? Split them in half into Dundee's 2 Travelodges?

 

(Not sure if you were just being sarcastic; but in case not.....)

 

They didn't need to stay anywhere for a game at Forfar and if they did then there's a Hilton in Dundee with a casino across from the front door; that might have suited some of them more than the golf.

[Gribz 966]

(Not sure if you were just being sarcastic; but in case not.....)

 

They didn't need to stay anywhere for a game at Forfar and if they did then there's a Hilton in Dundee with a casino across from the front door; that might have suited some of them more than the golf.

 

Dundee has a Hilton? Where did they steal that from!! Jeez its so long since Ive been in Dundee.

 

I was thinking that maybe they didn't need to stay anywhere but in that case they would need to travel early in case of traffic and then they would be stuck in Forfar for hours before kick off doing nothing so they would need a place to prepare.