Rangers chairman John Bennett didn’t mince his words when he took a dig at the ‘mythical’ Ibrox player trading model.
Speaking in a long-overdue address to supporters, the Rangers supremo took a swipe at the decision-making at the top end of the club which has resulted in this summer’s hot mess.
“It frustrates me as much as it frustrates every Rangers supporter,” started Bennett. “This fabled, almost mythical player trading model.
“It’s not up and running, I don’t see it, that would be an accurate observation and criticism.”
Rangers – post-Covid or not – slept on the success of 55 and a failure to move on from Steven Gerrard’s exit to Aston Villa is emblematic of a lack of responsibility, or vision, when it comes to the club’s squad.
For all the hot air about player trading, Rangers clung to Gerrard’s boys all the way through three managers and backed the wrong horse between Van Bronckhorst and Beale.
Now, current manager Philippe Clement is the one left picking up the pieces.
Given assurances over his future at Rangers as the tension and toxicity in and around Ibrox begins to build, we wonder what the Belgian makes of the club’s latest player trading flop.
Gers-linked Pacho lines up PSG switch
Rangers fans might remember the club’s pursuit of William Pacho back in January 2023.
The Ibrox side were linked to a move for the then Royal Antwerp defender in Belgium before Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt eventually usurped Michael Beale’s team.
Whilst the reported fee of £8m is enough to immediately rule Rangers out of the running, the money-spinning fee PSG are reportedly about to pay for Pacho highlights precisely why we need to speculate to accumulate.
According to Fabrizio Romano, the French giants are set to pay €40m (£34.4m) to sign William Pacho from the German club.
That means Eintracht Frankfurt are turning a profit of more than £25m on Pacho only 18 months after he signed.
Rangers player trading challenge
Rangers fans have gotten used to stories about players who might’ve moved to Ibrox turning a big coin somewhere else.
Joey Veerman – the Dutch internationalist midfielder now tearing it up for Eredivisie champions PSV – is the undoubted poster boy from the summer of 2021.
But there are a number of names on the list from Xavi Simons, to Ian Maatsen, to Tijjani Reijnders, to Danilo Doekhi. And it’s not just Dutch players either.
Rangers have missed out on Lewis Ferguson and Josh Doig on Scottish soil, whilst the club’s failure to spend wisely is reflected in a stack of overpaid, unfit, Championship level footballers for whom the last few years have sorely passed by at Rangers without so much as a whimper.
The Gers have pumped their money into average players from south of the border but not managed to find the extra quid or two down the back of the Ibrox sofa to secure bolder, younger talents.
Now, Philippe Clement is left picking up the pieces and as the transfer window enters its final furlong, the club’s fans have been promised change.
But after 10 players from the club’s squad last season started the weekend’s 0-0 Scottish Premiership opener v Hearts, fans are waiting on evidence.
