Frankie 8,562 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 John McIntosh on the main site asks if fans can change their attitude with respect to player turnover... http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/news-category/current-affairs/412-can-rangers-fans-embrace-being-a-selling-club Rangers are embarking on a new era, under a bright and progressive manager, and with a board that has Rangers’ best interests at heart. All of this is fantastic stuff and the new found positivity around the Club is a very welcome change. However, there are some fans who continue to turn their nose up at the type of player we are signing and targeting. Some of the comments are along the lines that we shouldn't be signing League 1 standard players, but some are more sinister: accusations that we are going for this type of player due to Dave King not having any money. Quite incredible stuff, and 100% incorrect. I don't like to look at Celtic for inspiration, however when looking to compare and contrast it really is quite interesting. They signed Gary Hooper from Scunthorpe for £2.4 million in 2010 and, let's face it, he was a cracking purchase and a fantastic player for them. They also signed Victor Wanyama - now a top class Premiership holding player - for only £900k from Beerschot AC and, with respect, Scunthorpe and Beerschot AC are hardly household names. Celtic look to buy young talent on the cheap, then develop them through high class training and lots of game-time, and then sell the best of the crop on to the English Premiership at inflated value. Obviously, this does not always pay off and Celtic have signed a fair amount of duds recently, but the beauty of the system is that they only need a couple to pay off in terms of player sales and they will continue to turn a profit. Football is a changing game and apart from the very elite clubs, few others clubs can now say they are not a selling club, and there’s no shame in that. It is the right way to go for our club and an absolute must for every club outside of the top 5 leagues in the world and those funded by an oil rich businessman who can afford to fund the inevitable losses. Take Porto for example. They have turned over £600 million since 2004 - a quite outstanding achievement and they are followed very closely by their great rivals Benfica in this. There are several differences between the Old Firm and Porto and Benfica which limit how much we could look to match them, but following their route can lead us to success. In Portugal, work permit laws are far more relaxed than in Britain and they can tap into the lucrative South American market more readily. Along with their league, language, weather and culture being far more relative to this market, the great work of super-agent Jorge Mendes means they can bring in this sort of player, develop them and sell them on very easily. The principle, though, can be translated to what we should be doing in Scotland and what I feel the new management team will be focusing on. For a relative estimate, once we are back in the top flight there is no reason why we couldn't be turning over £10-15 million in player sales per year and then spending around £5 million to replace them with young hungry talents before repeating the cycle. This requires an incredible scouting network, a management team with a keen eye and top squad management and a thriving youth team - this would be the perfect chance for youth team players to step up but, again, they must play at the level expected when brought into the first team. A perfect case in point for me is the recent signing of Wes Foderingham. He is highly rated and was also on the shopping list of several English Championship clubs, and he will hopefully be a fantastic, solid goalkeeper for us. If he performs well, he may well get a big move in a few years. This would be the perfect chance for the highly talented Robby McCrorie to make the number 1spot his own – I am a massive fan of Robby’s and believe he is destined to break through at Rangers, given he was once chased by Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal. Taking a look at Mark Warburton last season, the average age of his Brentford squad was 23.5 years of age. If you compare that to our squad, with an average age of 28/29, you can see that he really does love working with young players. It is also interesting to note that he played a 33 year old and a 34 year old in this squad as experienced players to mentor the youngsters – something that he is looking to implement with John Eustace – again some fans are unsure of Eustace but you need to trust Warburton and see what he is looking to achieve. He is a born leader, Derby fans rate him very highly and all he will be doing is protecting the back 4. He and could also be key in mentoring the likes of Andy Murdoch. Another argument is “where is the money we should be spending on players?” This is nonsensical. The quality of player has nothing to do with the transfer spend. So far, we have made 3 signings at a transfer cost of £200k but these additions have probably added between £1.5 and £2 million to the playing squad’s value. If the right player becomes available at a decent cost I'm sure this will be looked into - with Scott Allan a case in point. An offer up to £400k would probably be justified, but paying above that for a player with only one year left on his deal, who is yet to prove himself in the top flight over a sustained period of time waiting until January and getting him on a pre-contract makes far more sense. Going forward into the top flight there will naturally be more funds available for transfers, but still we should be seeking out young lads who we can develop and always be looking to find value – this is something our club should have started doing a long time ago – it is long overdue. As Assistant Manager Davie Weir has recently stated, not having a scouting network is hampering the club going forward and needs to be implemented as soon as possible. We will be targeting young players that we can develop and, currently, there may be more free transfers brought in or development fees paid out due to the level we are at but this does not mean that the players won’t still be top quality. A thriving youth team is also a necessity as we must come to terms that we will be forever a selling club. Football has changed to the point where only elite clubs can honestly claim not to be selling clubs and, rather than fight this reality, we should embrace being a selling club and concentrate on making sure that we get top dollar for our players in every negotiation. We must, as Warburton says, target mainly young lads with the potential to develop and implement a top class scouting network that will help identify targets with high potential everywhere from close to home to the far corners of Europe, branching out to other regions as time progresses. In conclusion, I hope that fans will be patient and understand that we are going down a different route to the one we have tread in the past, one where we seek value, look to nurture and develop talent and make big profit from player sales whilst still being fiercely competitive on the pitch and I am especially delighted that we will be looking for thriving young talents to be brought into the Club. I for one am absolutely buzzing for the new season to start and I am excited to be purchasing my season ticket after I chose not to renew last year. Everything is set for this to be one of the most exciting seasons in a long time: young talents, attacking expansive football and a new era - so I hope you will all also be purchasing a season ticket and follow following the team. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tannochsidebear 2,405 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 The author makes a lot of good points, but I almost splattered the screen when I read that Wanyama is a top class midfielder. Hilarious. If that really was a serious assessment of this no-mark, it takes away from the article. The point he was making about buying relatively unknowns for peanuts and selling them on to the EPL for large fees is a valid one, but he fails to mention the role our Scottiosh media have in getting the bheasts such high fees with their indulgence in talking up these players as superstars, vastly inflating their selling prices, lying about three or four clubs being really interested in signing the players etc. It is a tried and tested policy that our press and the bheasts have got down to a fine "dark" art. However this only really works for so long if the players they sell on continue to be duds when placed in the higher level of the EPL. I feel that time might be about now as the last two or three that have went down south have pretty much failed to make any significant impact. They also lie about the fees they get in order that they can try to get more for the next one. The transfer fees are always officially "undisclosed", but the press tell us for example that the Korean boy that went to Cardiff/Swansea was sold for £6M. Two days after signing him, the Welsh club announce on their official website the purchase of another player for a club record £5M fee. Not one note or correction from the media up here at this clear error. In contrast, we always got our players prices talked down in the media. Players every bit as good as their celtic counterparts are somehow only worth half the value when the papers run their rumoured to be leaving pieces. Anyone underestimating the importance of getting the gutter rags on board for this type of policy to work is missing the trick. And this trick is every bit as important as the scouting and development mentioned in the OP as it will most certainly affect the overall success of it. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 I am sure this will be the way forward for Rangers, it looks like the Board and Manager are together in this . . Although it's probably just a dream . . . It also begs the question, have we no ambition to be a top European Club ? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,562 Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 Fair points TB but clearly the club need to be stronger in their own valuations and PR work to deliver higher fees. I don't think Celtic's transfer strategy is all the better than ours but it's something we do need to improve upon if we're to make the club viable in a league that decreases in quality every single year. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangersitis 0 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Clubs don't spend millions of pounds on players based on the back page of The Daily Record. That is comical. European exposure will have clubs interested and willing to take a gamble on players who have shone. Hutton was a prime example. Had a blinder of a season, got a big move, never fulfilled the promise of that one season since. The trick is to be able to repeat that every season and to have the financial stability to be in a position not to jump at the first offer on the table. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangersitis 0 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 I am sure this will be the way forward for Rangers, it looks like the Board and Manager are together in this . . Although it's probably just a dream . . . It also begs the question, have we no ambition to be a top European Club? Qualifying for the Europa League group stage will be regarded as a successful season very soon. Scottish clubs tumble down the rankings year after year resulting in ever harder paths towards qualification. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 We have been since 2002. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbr 1,256 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 It should also be pointed out that Celtic success rate in these transfers of " winning the lottery" with the likes of Wanyama , is more than offset by their abysmal % rate with other duds , they have less than a 20% turnover rate in selling players at a profit . Adam Mathews is just another quick point incase , he was bought for just under £2 million , and was sold for the same money , minus his cut as he didnt ask for a transfer . 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Would ST sales of 30/35k be a thing of the past, in my opinion selling your best player(s) every season would seriously affect attendances. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhunter 0 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Celtic look to buy young talent on the cheap, then develop them through high class training I struggled on to here and just burst out laughing. The point may very well be a good one but the illustration is dreadful. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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