Rangers will need to match Celtic's £24million wage spend to challenge...

[calscot 0]

Aberdeen are within touching distance of Celtic at the moment I highly doubt they are spending anything over 5 million.

 

WRT winning championships, a miss is as good as a mile. It's all about having the quality to stay ahead of the rest until the last game. Sometimes that costs twice as much or more as a close second place.

 

Aberdeen ran us close before when we were spending far more than anyone and were one of the top spenders in the UK. Motherwell have been second to us while on a shoestring.

 

The law of diminishing returns applies in spades in sport, when you're near the top, to be that little bit better and be the top, can cost a disproportionate fortune.

[Crimson Dynamo 128]

WRT winning championships, a miss is as good as a mile. It's all about having the quality to stay ahead of the rest until the last game. Sometimes that costs twice as much or more as a close second place.

 

Aberdeen ran us close before when we were spending far more than anyone and were one of the top spenders in the UK. Motherwell have been second to us while on a shoestring.

 

The law of diminishing returns applies in spades in sport, when you're near the top, to be that little bit better and be the top, can cost a disproportionate fortune.

 

I agree to a point especially if we want to have an impact in Europe. But to win the league forgetting the cups and this is just my opinion I reckon we'd challenge and may even win with 4 top players added.

 

A goalie, a top centre half , a midflield anchor and top class hitman.

 

When i say top class i mean someone thats obviously too good for Scotland don't mean we should be going for Pique and Messi :-)

[Tannochsidebear 2,414]

We are judging our squad against where the bheasts are now - I have no doubt they will significantly improve their squad and their attitude for next season so not only to we have to play catch up to where they are now, they will not be as bad as they have been now that they know they will have a real challenge next season, and that challenge is US. That is entirely different from them spouting off in the media about Dolly giving them a title challenge, that is just to try to keep the fans interested, which clearly they are not given the attendances.

 

While we wont need to spend the same wage budget to get to the required level, mainly due to the much lower base we are at just now whereas they have never got away from £20-£25Kpw earners on their books from when we were around before - we will have to bring in a significant number of better players than we have now to reach our goal.

 

I am confident we can do this without taking financial risks we cannot afford.

[RANGERRAB 3,677]

We are judging our squad against where the bheasts are now - I have no doubt they will significantly improve their squad and their attitude for next season so not only to we have to play catch up to where they are now, they will not be as bad as they have been now that they know they will have a real challenge next season, and that challenge is US. That is entirely different from them spouting off in the media about Dolly giving them a title challenge, that is just to try to keep the fans interested, which clearly they are not given the attendances.

 

While we wont need to spend the same wage budget to get to the required level, mainly due to the much lower base we are at just now whereas they have never got away from £20-£25Kpw earners on their books from when we were around before - we will have to bring in a significant number of better players than we have now to reach our goal.

 

I am confident we can do this without taking financial risks we cannot afford.

 

I'd imagine the yahoos will need to get rid off players before they add to their squad. That might not be so easy for high earners not out of contract.

[calscot 0]

I agree to a point especially if we want to have an impact in Europe. But to win the league forgetting the cups and this is just my opinion I reckon we'd challenge and may even win with 4 top players added.

 

A goalie, a top centre half , a midflield anchor and top class hitman.

 

When i say top class i mean someone thats obviously too good for Scotland don't mean we should be going for Pique and Messi :-)

 

I agree we COULD challenge, just look at Leicester, but while it's not proportional, paying significantly more money generally wins out in the long run, as long as it's spent half decently and with a half decent manager. To up our chances, I don't think we have to match them but I think the gap is a bit too significant, and so we have to close it somewhat.

 

Celtic don't look great but are still on course to win the SP and way ahead of the likes of Hearts, whom we've not outshone this year compared to their last - and they have improved their squad from last season and doing relatively well. We don't know how much Celtic are under-performing just because they can get away with it or due to a lack of motivation due to a lack of real competition, so the relatively small gap compared to expenditure is not evidence we can rely on.

 

There is also the RD factor, and whether they dump him for next season.

 

I agree with you and MW that we need about 4-6 new players in of a certain level - and above what we have now - and for me the central defence is a priority and a prolific striker would be good. I'm happy enough with the goalie and think the midfield is reasonable, although wouldn't say no to someone classy (but affordable) there.

 

I'm also convinced that our wage bill will automatically rise for the current squad, it's part of what they are playing for - so I would expect it to go immediately from 6m to about 9m without a change in personnel, especially if we do very well, due to the bonuses. I'm therefore expecting us to increase to at least £12m with the replacements to those that leave, and additions. I think we need to increase the squad by a few as we're lacking in some back up in some areas - especially defence.

 

That would be about half of theirs which I think brings our chances right up. A quarter just shows a probable gap in quality, as even if they don't have the best value for money, it won't be that bad. There's a reason players have different levels of wages and VFM only skews it so far.