After his departure over the summer, David Bates has disagreed with Graeme Murty that he left the club for more money.
Bates, who’s developing nicely in Hamburg, left Ibrox for Germany over the close-season after signing a pre-contract. The move at the time came as a frustration to the Rangers support, many of whom felt Bates had something to offer.
Murty stated that the reason the former Raith Rovers stopper left was for an increased salary and that Rangers had offered him a contract.
Bates, however, has come out and said that was never the case. Speaking in the Daily Record this morning, Bates had this to say on why he left Rangers.
It was a hard decision to leave Rangers. When I was there I asked for a contract for a long time and never got one. I don’t want to say too much about how I left. But in my opinion what was said was complete lies. It was never about the money or stuff like that.
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Impressive figure
Bates was one of the more impressive figures in another disappointing campaign last season. He seemed to be one of Murty’s favoured defenders, and didn’t put much of a foot wrong in the final six months of the season.
This led to increased fan demand for the centre-back to be tied up long-term. Now, it seems that the club have claimed they offered him one whilst Bates denied it.
These days, Rangers fans won’t be complaining too much with their defensive options. Connor Goldson and Nikola Katic continue to impress at the heart of the defence. Meanwhile, England under-21 captain Joe Worrall and Northern Irish veteran Gareth McAuley are on stand-by.
Having Bates alongside those stars perhaps would’ve been good for his development. But the defence is a lot stronger these days than when the former Raith kid was in it.
The disappointing aspect from this is that someone’s lying. Whether it be the under-20 coach Murty or Bates, someone is fabricating the truth. It would’ve been nice to know the club tried to keep him given fans wanted that last year.
Regardless, it’s changed days for both parties, and in the end it’s probably been for the better.