During a press conference on Friday, Rangers manager Steven Gerrard appeared to take a swipe at the club’s board for a lack of transfer spending [RangersTV].
The Gers brought in four new players during the summer in Fashion Sakala, John Lundstram, Nnamdi Ofoborh and Juninho Bacuna.
However, none of the signings required an initial transfer fee, with the players in question either out of contract or surplus to requirements at their previous clubs.
There was no marquee signing but it was seen as a success that the Gers managed to hold onto key players like Alfredo Morelos, Glen Kamara and Ryan Kent amid considerable transfer speculation.
Gerrard asserted that he was happy with his squad during the closing stages of the window [STV] but has now suggested that a lack of high-profile arrivals has made it near impossible to kick on in European competition.
“We’ve been short in the two Europa League games but at this level, which is improving year on year, if we want to keep growing and going to the extra level, we need, in transfer windows, to spend big money,” he said [RangersTV]. ‘It’s as simple as that.”
“To compete with the teams that we’re playing against, we have to spend big money.
“In the last two windows we haven’t spent a penny, so there has to be some realism there as well. To compete with these teams and to beat these teams on their own patch, when transfer windows are open, we have to spend money.”
These are surprising comments from Gerrard given that he’s regularly spoken about the need to be realistic regarding the financial situation at Ibrox.
The board backed him considerably in order to build his current squad but there comes a time when player sales need to follow to fund further arrivals.
With no big-money sales taking place for several years, major investment was always unlikely in the summer.
It looks as though some frustration is creeping in for the manager, but the reality is that at this stage, this is his squad and even with all the injuries, the Gers should have had enough to at least avoid defeat against a similarly understrength Sparta side.
On Thursday night, after the defeat in Prague, Rangers fans were shocked by a claim made by the manager.
