What. A. Beautiful. Month.
This is supposed to be a round-up of weekly rumours, transfers or otherwise, but as you’ll all know, there’s far too much to discuss.
In terms of transfer rumours, there’s not loads happening. Due to the early work we’ve done, all we really know about are the bids for Dorrans and Jamie Walker. There’s been rumours of a move for Kenny McLean as well, but nothing that any media outlet has ran with yet. The figures behind the Walker offer have all been very public, which suggests negotiations are ongoing. It’ll take a bit of time, but I’d imagine he’ll be a Rangers player before the end of August.
With Dorrans, the situation is a little more complex. Sources have revealed that we met the initial asking price, only for Norwich to treble that. Again, we met that, and the price has went up even further. If reports of £1.5m being the final price are accurate, I certainly feel the player is worth it. You have to ask if you want to be dealing with a club who act that way, however. He’s the player I’ve hoped we’d sign most of everyone linked, and I’d imagine the manager really wants him in. It’ll happen, just not as smoothly as it should have.
Now, on to the really big news…
This week has seen two huge announcements coming from the club. The first of those was the confirmation of Mark Allen as Director of Football. We’ve been searching for a while, and his appointment is both welcome and required. He brings experience of running a top class youth academy, as well as a business acumen which is very rare in someone of his position. Whilst the role at Rangers will focus on more than he was responsible for at Man City, he’ll have transferable skills and a passion to prove himself.
And as it turns out, he’ll have more resources in terms of finance to work with as well.
Yesterday, Dave King announced the end of the toxic, crippling retail deal and told us it was finally time to buy strips and merchandise again. Somehow, we’ve managed to turn Mike Ashley around to offering a deal that’s very favourable, whilst also only being tied down for a year which allows the club to explore new avenues pretty quickly. This is not only worth millions to the club every year, it is also the biggest sign so far that the road to recovery is moving at pace.
The finer details, such as the lease of the megastore and the rights to our badge, will no doubt be clarified over coming days. The statement suggests that everything has been resolved, however. Whilst Mike Ashley has never cared about his public persona, that’s a climbdown verging on embarrassing. All the onerous deals, the litigation, the attempts to get directors jailed – all gone. He’ll make a lot of money, but he could have been doing that for years if he was more reasonable. That clearly wasn’t the motivation in the past.
Dave King and the board deserve huge praise for this. If they’d announced yesterday that the 7 year notice period had been cut to 1 year, there’d have been huge excitement. To proclaim that the worries are over and we’re back to a somewhat normal position is massive. Some will say “it’s only worth about four or five million a year”, but that’s a huge amount for us and makes a massive difference. At some point, we’ll have to speculate to accumulate, on or off the park. This will give us a real chance to do so.
If reports today of Ashley selling his shares are also true, we’re suddenly more atrractive to investors as well. There’ll be a share issue and a move to get us back on some sort of market there. All things we’ve been looking to do for over a year.
I don’t consider myself one prone to over-excitement with regards to my football club. The piece yesterday was a reflection of that, and was almost comical in it’s timing. I would say that the language used above, and the tone of this article, would tell you that even I find the last couple of days beyond promising. Sure, we’ve got work to do and a long way to go. That’s all to come, and will be enjoyable in itself. We’re now in a far healthier, more stable position than we’ve been in not far off a decade, though. No matter what others tell you, after everything we’ve went through and the work so many have put in to try and fix things, Rangers fans deserve this.
As one of the most talented men to ever walk this Earth once said, money can’t buy you happiness, but it’ll pay for the search. Finally, we’re seeing the signs that the journey back to where we belong can begin in earnest.
What was your reaction to yesterday? Any rumours we haven’t addressed? Tweet us @rangersnewsuk