As Rangers manager, Graeme Souness delivered much success in a period when the Ibrox club enjoyed a considerable financial advantage over Celtic. Perhaps that’s why he finds it difficult to accept the boot being on the other foot as it is today.
While Souness has encouraged Rangers to invest in order to narrow the gap to their rivals, which may have been reduced in terms of the scoreline on Sunday but appeared to be a yawning chasm in general, the current custodian of the Ibrox manager’s office struck a more tempered tone when the question was raised yesterday over how Rangers can claw their way back to a level that would see them genuinely compete with Celtic once again.
Mark Warburton’s message was that there is no quick fix for Rangers to bridge the current financial advantage that Celtic enjoy over his club, no magic hat to pull the necessary cash from to level the playing field, as it were.
Unfortunately for Warburton, patience is rarely a virtue appropriated to either set of supporters in the perpetual bun-fight between Scotland’s two biggest clubs, but he resisted the temptation to endorse Souness’s calls for more money to invest in his playing squad in January, instead preaching caution over expenditure to safeguard the long-term future of the club. Admirable pragmatism, and if there has ever been a club that has the benefit of a cautionary tale over irresponsible handling of their finances then surely it is Rangers. Whatever the temptation to throw money at the problems so plainly apparent during yesterday’s game may be in search of a quick fix, Warburton accepts that he will have to find other ways to make his side more competitive.
Warburton said: “Graeme is a smart football guy but it’s his opinion. I know what we have to do – we have to work hard to close the gap.
“We know there is a financial gap and there has to be one. But what Rangers should never do is spend recklessly to try to close that gap. You have got to have strong foundations and ensure the club is in good health going forward. Hopefully we can play a part in that.
“There is a huge financial gap. We’re aware of that. But I saw some comments again saying: ‘Warburton worked in the City – he should understand that.’ What a nonsensical statement that is.
“Of course I understand the implications. I’m not a rocket scientist but I’m not a fool. So of course I understand the implications.
“When a near rival has had European football for the last four, five, six years and the benefits of that, when they have a budget probably two-and-a-half, three, three-and-a-half times what we have, we have to close that gap. But it won’t be done overnight.
“It would be reckless of the club and the board to try to close that gap overnight. We’re not going to close it in six months. What we have to do is keep constantly improving, improving our performances, by investing shrewdly and astutely in players. And hopefully as the weeks and months pass, we can close the gap.
“But we recognise and very much respect the fact that, at the moment, we can’t match Celtic financially.”
Questions over Rangers summer recruitment drive of course come sharply into focus when supporters witness a £500,000 capture from the English Championship fire Celtic to victory over their side, while their own striker recruited from the same division for three times the price is left kicking his heels on the bench for much of the afternoon. The contrast between the starts to the respective careers in Scottish football of Moussa Dembele and Joe Garner could hardly be starker.
But Warburton defended the signings that he made in the summer, saying that he has achieved the best balance to his squad that he could with the resources available.
"I've read some stories about what our players are being paid and it's laughable. Make sure of the facts," he said.
"How much money have we spent to assemble this squad of players? What wages are they on in comparison? There are lot of questions and people are so wide of the mark it's ridiculous.
"Our recruitment? Clint Hill? Free. You saw his quality against Celtic. Matt Gilks? Free. You saw him coming in at Hampden. Lee Hodson? Free. Northern Ireland international who was outstanding against Celtic.
“Joe Dodoo is an excellent young player. I'm delighted with Jordan Rossiter but he's been injured. Joe Garner is a proven centre forward. He's horrible to play against. I have no problem with Joe settling in. Matt Crooks and Josh Windass have been injured but will be long-term assets to the club.
"Niko Kranjcar? I've spoken at length about him. Clint, Lee, Gilksy...you tell me about recruitment. We have got a balance of experience, youth, maturity and energy.”
One of the positives for Rangers on Sunday was the outstanding performance of goalkeeper Matt Gilks, but Warburton revealed that it will be regular number one Wes Foderingham who will take his place in goal as Rangers welcome St Johnstone to Ibrox tomorrow night.
“At the moment I don’t think Wes has done anything to justify being dropped or rested,” he said. “Matt know he has to be patient and work hard every day – which he is doing.
“I played Matt in the qualifying rounds and then the knockout rounds and because we are playing in the semi-final I say ‘Sorry Matt we’re playing Celtic I’m going to play Wes’?
“What does that say to him about my opinion of him? I read about people saying ‘you must play Wes’ but Matt Gilks has an outstanding CV and he’s an outstanding professional.
"Will I do it in the Scottish Cup? I will do whatever I think is right. Squad players need to know you trust them.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel