Mark Warburton dismisses talk of him walking away from Rangers...

[ian1964 10,761]

...and states he trusts Dave King to deliver on signings

 

GERS boss is adamant the finance is in place for transfer swoops after former striker Kris Boyd claimed he the manager could walk.

 

RANGERS boss Mark Warburton last night insisted he trusts chairman Dave King to deliver on signings as he laughed off speculation he’ll walk away.

 

The Light Blues have already lost out on Toumani Diagouraga to Leeds and have dragged their heels on a move for St Johnstone attacker Michael O’Halloran.

 

Their interest in him may now be over after they landed Billy King on loan from Hearts last night until the end of the season.

 

Moneyman King has arrived in Glasgow for a scheduled board meeting today and has held talks with his manager over transfer policy.

 

Warburton is adamant the finance is in place for transfer swoops after former striker Kris Boyd claimed he the manager could walk if King failed to deliver on signing targets.

 

He said: “It’s like buying a house – if it is worth £200,000 and they want £250,000 you are not going to pay it.

 

“You’ve got another £100,000 in the bank and you could go to £300,000 but you won’t do it.

 

“Why? Because if you do then the next deal you do they’ll go a little bit more again. Right now, this is how we do our business.

 

“Any player we bring in has to be of value. Everyone is aware of the tough time the club has been through over the last four or five years.

 

“The last thing we can do is spend money inappropriately. The money is there. We are happy with that. If we find a player at the right value who will add quality then we’ll move.

 

“But we won’t pay over the odds. And we won’t be forced into a panic buy.

 

“The chairman is over here. I have met with him and gone through it. It’s about strong foundations. We said that from the outset. We can’t look for short-term fixes. If we do that, we are on a slippery slope.”

 

Asked if he trusted his chairman, Warburton added: “Yes, of course. I haven’t lost a player I’ve asked for yet.

 

“If I had gone for five in the summer, got three, lost two and been arguing about others then I could understand where you are coming from.

 

“But I wanted Foderingham, Kiernan, Tavernier, Waghorn, Halliday and Holt. I got them.”

 

However, he failed to sign Scott Allan after more protracted negotiotiations with Hibs but added: “If we think a player is worth a certain figure then fine. If his club thinks otherwise, no problem.”

 

Warburton shrugged off comments about his future from Boyd earlier this week and claimed his club are well positioned as they enter the second half of the season.

 

He added: “Pundits are pundits, they are being paid to say what they say.

 

“The beauty of this game is it excites comment and opinion, in the pub on a Friday night or down the local cafe on a Monday morning.

 

“Everyone has an opinion, someone saying I’ll be here for 10 years, others that I’ll be gone by Easter.

 

“My job is to do the best for Rangers. This is not a profession where you can say, ‘I’ll be here in 10 years’ time.’ At one point down south the average manager was lasting eight months in the Championship.

 

“This is a fantastic club and we’ve got a great opportunity here. If all parties get it right we’ll be in a good place.”

 

King, meanwhile, has signed a loan deal until the end of the season. It’s not expected Rangers will have the option to buy the Tynecastle winger.

 

Speaking to Hearts News, head coach Robbie said: “Billy’s at a stage where he’s looking for regular game time, and that’s not something that we can guarantee at the moment.

 

“We’re fortunate to be in the position where we’ve got an abundance of options on the wing. Sam Nicholson and Jamie Walker – who’s almost at full fitness – are two of the best young players in the country and are being pushed all the way by Arnaud Djoum and Prince Buaben.

 

“The emergence of Dario Zanatta has given us even more options in there, so it makes sense for Billy to go out on loan to continue his development.

 

“He’ll get a run in a team that is pushing for a title, so it will benefit him in the short term and Hearts in the long run, when he comes back an even more confident player.”

 

Read more at http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mark-warburton-dismisses-talk-him-7266342#7yAX7O4DFIdOyc3x.99

[Frankie 8,652]

OK, there's always the slim chance that what is happening privately is different from the public statements but I'm surprised anyone wants to buy into the negative spin with regard to MW's future.

 

It's pretty simple: the guy joined us knowing full well the league and financial position we were (and still are) in. Further, he's been backed suitably by the board - not only in terms of bringing in several players to completely change the squad but via the installation of his own background team to support his management philosophy.

 

Will he be frustrated at not being able to sign players he'd targeted? I'm sure he will but he's been at pains to highlight how difficult this is and 'value' is his strap-line so it's not a surprise to see him prefer short-term signings to retain monies for a higher calibre of transfer going forward. What's the point in spending circa £1m on a player now when better 'value' can be had in the summer?

 

On the other hand, of course there's a risk involved with such a strategy. We can ill-afford not to be promoted and winning the league title is imperative for a who;le host of reasons - primarily financial. However, given what's happened in recent years, it wouldn't make sense to over-spend on players that may not be good enough for their 2-3 year contract. Much better to bring in players with a short-term 'value' - such as King and - perhaps to a lesser degree - Forrester.

 

Most important, we need to back the manager and his board more than ever. 50,000 fans at Ibrox tomorrow will hopefully show the bulk of fans continue to do so.

[The Stroller 0]

I think MW is a little frustrated at the absence of a hands on "boss" he can work with on a daily basis. Have no inside on that but seems apparent. Maybe King could double his appearances & come over 10 times a year or appoint someone to run the place day to day

[Frankie 8,652]

I think MW is a little frustrated at the absence of a hands on "boss" he can work with on a daily basis. Have no inside on that but seems apparent. Maybe King could double his appearances & come over 10 times a year or appoint someone to run the place day to day

 

Warburton has a full staff to work with on a daily basis - including players, head of recruitment, academy head and a managing director.

 

No need for Dave King to micromanage and, in fact, I'm glad he doesn't.

[der Berliner 3,803]

While it is obviously well within their rights, the media can ask questions.

 

BUT nigh every article concerning us is negatively spun, so much so that you could (sic!) come to the conclusion that they are out to undermine anything good that is being done. So they raise questions about King, possible transfer targets, Warburton staying and whatnot. And almost all of them join in with this.

 

For us, it is important to stay vigilant. And in all directions. But we need no advice on how to do this, something which the media seems hellbend on doing. For at the end of the day, we know that those in charge of the club have the best interest of the club at heart. No amount of slander and snarling will change that.

[Rousseau 10,821]

This is ridiculous: An baseless opinion from Boyd -- not the sharpest tool in the shed -- has been taken up by so-called "journalists" and has now become a story?! WTF?!

 

Frankie's outlined the situation perfectly. I'm not sure how a half-decent "Journalist" cannot do the same. To take the individual cases: Diarougara we missed out on because we're not going to pay £1.5 million on a 28-year-old; and presumably, we're still in negotiations with O'Halloran, to find the right value. The latter is certainly taking it's time, but that's not unusual for a transfer. In regards to his future, that's just mischief-making: Warburton knows the situation, and I gather he's not unhappy.

[Juancornetto 1]

A certain section of fans and media in Scotland are absolutely desperate to see the back of Warburton. They know he's something a bit special.

[Darthter 542]

Take the O'Hallaran signing.....where is all the info coming from??? It certainly ain't MW or Ibrox. It is all coming from St Johnstone & pundits "in the know". The truth being that the pundits probably know nothing about what is going on behind the scenes,

St J. are putting out spin, making RFC look bad - that we are dragging our heals, or have no money. The media then jump on this & it becomes gospel.

 

Does ANYONE outside of MW & a few folk within Ibrox actually know the signing priorities???? How do the media know that O'Hallaran is a top priority - MW ain't saying that.

 

A little less paranoia & belief in media/pundits would go a long way with some fans.

[Frankie 8,652]

I think MOH was a priority but the terms of the deal means we're relaxed enough to leave it for now.

 

If St Johnstone are defeated tomorrow, it wouldn't surprise me to see them revisit the terms of how the fee is constructed (i.e. they may not be quite as aggressive in asking for the full monies up front).

[andy steel 0]

This is ridiculous: An baseless opinion from Boyd -- not the sharpest tool in the shed -- has been taken up by so-called "journalists" and has now become a story?! WTF?!

 

Frankie's outlined the situation perfectly. I'm not sure how a half-decent "Journalist" cannot do the same.

 

As you know, that would require a huge change in media working practice, from owner through editor down to journalist. Ironically, the journalist is probably the one who would most like to see such a change - far more satisfying to work on a long, involved piece than grind out 500 words of attention grabbing cobblers - but since what they write won't see the light of day unless they package it in the way an employer wants, they do as they are bid. They all have mouths to feed, after all.

 

With the current business model so heavily reliant on clicks, you can see why papers only want what we might call 'pish' to lure punters in. But it's unsustainable in the long run, because I believe the majority of customers don't want the Barnum & Bailey approach. Sensationalist claims of impending doom tend to lose their effectiveness at the eighth or ninth time around - Frankie's #Rangersbad, echoing the media desperation which has seen even merited criticism of the Scottish Government dismissed as part of an #SNPbad campaign of crying wolf, will drive football customers away just as politically minded customers have abandoned newspapers for their analyses.

 

The appetite for pot-stirring rubbish grows ever smaller, outside the fantasist-obsessive world of bloggers or, on here, the Cult Of Rabness, gathered around the pyramid with the all seeing eye atop it, intoning arcane chants about how poor our signings are, asking where King's money is, ignoring the lessons of The Fall, etc.

 

There's only a small window left for some outfit to reject the click bait route and focus on high quality, before traditional media is rejected completely and irrevocably. Interviewing widely, and recognising that the people spoken to are people, with all the foibles that come with humans, and not some de-personalised representative of a knuckle dragging monolith, could find an audience - but this is an exceptionally conservative country, where anyone with a radical business vision usually takes it elsewhere. Many years ago I thought Graham Spiers was the man to do this - he had wit, elegance of tone, an interest beyond Glasgow's boundaries. No doubt we all have our opinions on how that worked out.

 

Again, there's an irony - serious, forensic, well written examination of just about every football club (and certainly Rangers - I doubt anyone takes a board member's 'word for it' anymore) could produce interesting and potentially sensational copy - the industry has been horribly mismanaged for decades if not longer. Instead of which we get acres of print about flares, songs and Kris Boyd's psychic insights. The meat is there, but is usually ignored in favour of a thin diet of gruel and bullshit.

 

#Rangersbad can't be a media crutch for ever. The club has been for nearly half a decade the go-to guy for easy sensationalism. It's certainly worked for the industry to a point, but it can't be used forever - at some point we either croak completely or stabilise. I think most of us here feel we're stabilising. If that turns out to be true, the media will have to either catch up or be left behind.

Edited January 29, 2016 by andy steel