Rangers’ transfer record is back in the spotlight this week as Dave King guns for the floundering Ibrox boardroom.
Whilst ex-Gers chairman King is not currently in the running to replace John Bennett in Glasgow, it didn’t stop the Ibrox shareholder slaughtering his contemporaries.
Claiming that Rangers have ‘wasted’ the funds generated through player sales and European forays, Dave King has shone the spotlight on the spending of the last few seasons.
“The limited resources that we had in competing with our neighbours had to be applied very smartly,” King told TalkSPORT. “We did the opposite.
“We’ve actually wasted the money that we did have.
“We’ve quite frankly wasted the limited resources that we did have.”
Dave King also took aim at the board ‘abandoning’ a previous recruitment model which focused on the ‘temperament’ and ‘character’ of would-be additions.
One player who certainly falls into the category of expensive failed transfers in Ben Davies might’ve escaped the Ibrox spotlight, at least temporarily.
But after making his league debut for new club Birmingham City, opportunity is about to strike with the Gers hoping to at least get something back on their investment.
Dave King talking about players like Ben Davies
Rangers agreed a £4m deal with Liverpool to sign central-defender Ben Davies in the summer of 2022.
The Gers had just agreed to the £16m sale of Nathan Patterson six months previously, whilst the £6m transfer of Joe Aribo and £23m deal for Calvin Bassey also boosted reserves.
Throw in the Europa League Final run – and qualification for the Champions League – and from the outside at least the Rangers coffers looked to have been sizeably bolstered.
Davies had been signed to provide left-foot folly to Connor Goldson and be a composed leader who would deliver yet more success to Rangers.
But in the two years since, the Davies deal has proven a transfer which pretty much sums up everything that has been wrong over the last few seasons.
Regularly injured and routinely uncommitted, there were questions over Ben Davies’ mentality and physicality as he struggled to be an effective option at centre-back with Rangers.
Two years on, the defender was still suggesting that he hadn’t settled at Rangers and the club had been actively trying to shift his high salary off the wage bill.
In the final furlong of the transfer window, in came League One Birmingham City to take the plunge with the US-backed outfit signing a year-long loan deal to bring Davies to St Andrew’s.
Rangers loanee gifted huge chance to impress
Now a few weeks on from moving to Birmingham City, Ben Davies has officially made his league debut for the club.
Having come off the bench for Birmingham in an EFL Trophy defeat to Walsall, this was the defender’s first experience of League One with the Blues.
Coming on to replace ex-Celtic midfielder Tomoki Iwata, Davies got a couple of minutes in the wake of Polish defender Krystian Bielik being red-carded in the 3-1 win over Wrexham.
It’s clear that as things stand, the Rangers loanee is third choice centre-back behind Bielik and teammate Christoph Klarer as Tom Brady-backed Birmingham City look to earn promotion.
But following that red card, Ben Davies is now odds on to get a starting chance at Birmingham City and Rangers fans will be hoping he grabs it with both hands.
Saturday’s clash against Rotherham represents the perfect opportunity for Davies to leave an impression on Chris Davies’ team.
If Rangers have any hope of recouping even part of the £4m to Liverpool, then Davies must perform at Birmingham this season.
Let’s hope it’s a fresh start for all parties as Rangers look to put the club’s disastrous transfer record behind them going forward.
