Thomson OUT - Eagles signing cancelled...!

[pete 2,499]

Personally i think Edu is a far better player than Thomson and is certainly more likely to crop up with a goal. Is 2 mill enough? Well we could possibly hold out for more but at least we are now in a position to use the 2mill. If Mbro held out until the last day and we got 3mil but couldn't use it would be throwing money to LLoyds or Murray. Walter maybe has learned his lesson after the Kaunas drama. We got 500.000 off Davis but it possibly cost us 10mill.

Sometimes less is more.

[gavin3084 0]

We dont have strikers that will score consistently , and without that you dont win games , draws will kill us next year .

 

We are top heavy with defenders , just about able to cover center mid , no width and very questionable up front AT THE MOMENT . This will be a long seaso and I am even debating whether it's worth paying for C/L football , as I dont take out my bond seat , the only time I may be inside Ibrox will be the AGM

 

Did miller not score 20 plus last season? Can't really comment much on lafferty because he hasn't had a lot of games in his NATURAL posistion and when he did he was under so much pressure because of the stick he was getting he wasn't doing it until the last half a dozen games. We need to have supporters there next season not season ticket holders that are not goin to go games I think you call that glory hunting when things aren't going the teams way you stay away! Remember we are the champions here and WE WELCOME THE CHASE!!!!

[rbr 1,247]

Did miller not score 20 plus last season? Can't really comment much on lafferty because he hasn't had a lot of games in his NATURAL posistion and when he did he was under so much pressure because of the stick he was getting he wasn't doing it until the last half a dozen games. We need to have supporters there next season not season ticket holders that are not goin to go games I think you call that glory hunting when things aren't going the teams way you stay away! Remember we are the champions here and WE WELCOME THE CHASE!!!!

 

Firstly Miller has had his first ever 20 goal season I believe , he's nearly 30 years old and this is his first , secondly I had my season ticket way back before David Holmes and Souness arrived , and held it for over 25 years , I have a bond and shares did the strips and club merchandise every year , but a few years ago enough was enough and I cannot go back whilst Murray is still there , when he stood down YET again I thought things were on the up but nope ,listen mate this hurts me more than Rangers .

 

The only way to get Murray away IMHO is for the rank and file fans to stay away , that's only my opinion

[Frankie 8,145]

Andy McInnes at the Express suggests Eagles and Conway are not targets...

 

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/186800/A-new-heart-for-Rangers-mid-field

[ascender 352]

Piece today with quotes from AJ in the Evening Times.

 

Rangers chairman Alastair Johnston today hit back at claims Walter Smith was forced to sell Kevin Thomson to drive down debts at Ibrox.

 

Thomson is expected to seal a �£2million move from the SPL champions to Coca- Cola Championship club Middlesbrough today after a personal issue delayed his arrival on Teesside last night.

 

Many worried Gers fans fear Smith had to offload the tough-tackling Scotland midfielder in order to reduce the club’s bank debts. However, Johnston, at the Open Championship in St Andrews this week, where he is working for sports giants IMG, insisted that was not the case.

 

The Rangers supremo stressed the decision to sell the player to Gordon Strachan’s side lay with manager Walter Smith and chief executive Martin Bain.

 

With Steven Davis, Maurice Edu and Lee McCulloch still on the payroll at Ibrox, Rangers can arguably afford to offload the highly-rated player.

 

And Johnston stressed that Smith does have funds available to him to strengthen his squad before the SPL season kicks off next month without the need for sales.

 

He said: “The decision on who stays and who goes at Rangers definitely rests with the manager. It is not being imposed upon him by the board at all.

 

“Personally, I heard about it (the sale of Thomson) when they told me that the deal was about to be done and that was it. There was no imposition of it.

 

“Martin and Walter did it together. They made the decision and it was entirely consistent with what the board would have expected them to do.

 

“Walter and Martin are highly talented professionals who have been doing this for a long time.

 

“For the board or myself to impose our own opinions on things would not be very constructive for the operation of the club.

 

“Everybody is aware of the ramifications of who is going and who may come in – it is carefully thought out, it’s not spontaneous.”

 

The loss of Thomson follows hard of the heels of the departure of top scorer Kris Boyd – who also joined Strachan at Boro – and DaMarcus Beasley, Nacho Novo and Stevie Smith who also departed under freedom of contract.

 

Many Rangers supporters are growing increasingly concerned about the strength in depth of their club’s squad ahead of the defence of the title and their Champions League tilt next season.

 

However, Johnston revealed that Smith is working on deals – and Rangers will not be rushed into business in reaction to what Celtic are doing as Neil Lennon’s revolution continues to gather pace.

 

Johnston added: “I think Walter said it right earlier on this month. We are not going to dive in to do certain things just for the sake of doing them.

 

“It just means that, in this financial environment we have at this moment in time, we have to be doubly careful about how we use our scarce resources.

 

“I think that is important, and all Walter is saying at this moment in time is that we are not going to go in and spend money for the sake of spending money.

 

“We are not in a race to spend more than the competition. We want to be smarter about it, but there IS money available.

 

“Martin made that point several weeks ago and there us nothing inconsistent about that.

 

“But it is a question about the money we have to spend, the requirements that we need for the squad, and the availability of the player at the right price.

 

“It is not just automatic that if you have got money you go and get a player tomorrow.”

 

Johnston also knows that a lot can happen next month as the transfer window starts to close. There is also the added factor that Rangers could land an extra Ã?£2.5m windfall from Uefa if Celtic don’t come through Champions League

 

qualifiers as they would be Scotland’s sole representatives and bank the entire TV pot set aside.

 

He added: “I think a lot of things happen in August. The season has already started and you get a better idea of the way things are going to play out in time.

 

“Celtic are involved in European competition early on. We have to look at what the competition is, how they start. Are these factors? Of course they are factors.”

[wabashcannonball 0]

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/editor-s-picks/rangers-exclusive-walter-smith-s-decision-to-sell-kevin-thomson-1.1041301

 

Believe it or not.

[Frankie 8,145]

So in other words, our budget is �£2.5million and is reliant on Celtic not qualifying so we're going to be into August before we buy...

[Frankie 8,145]

Thomas Jordan disagrees with Andy McInnes and suggests Eagles will be signed imminently.

 

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/editor-s-picks/rangers-in-talks-for-chris-eagles-1.1041280

[Frankie 8,145]

More from the chairman:

 

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/editor-s-picks/talking-rangers-exit-strategy-is-no-worry-1.1041294

 

 

 

Big names on move to help club for future says chairman

 

Rangers chairman Alastair Johnston is no stranger to the outrage which invariably accompanies the departure of a major player from Ibrox.

 

The boyhood Gers fan well remembers the ill-feeling which arose among supporters when first, George Young, and then Jim Baxter exited the Govan club.

 

So, while Johnston can understand the alarm which has been felt in some quarters about the loss of Kevin Thomson this week, he is not panicking.

 

Even when it comes during a summer when the Scottish champions’ top scorer Kris Boyd, among several others, has departed, he is unperturbed.

 

Nor have headlines about those members of Walter Smith’s squad who are out of contract next year being up for sale caused him any great alarm.

 

“When I was growing up as a Rangers fan, I can recall when George Young and then Jim Baxter left the club,” he recalled. “Everybody thought it was end of the world. It wasn’t.”

 

Rangers have, of course, survived legendary captain and defender Young and the outrageously talented Baxter moving on to pastures new.

 

And Johnston, the man charged with maintaining the fortunes of his childhood idols during an unprecedented economic downturn, is positive they can do so again.

 

The transfer of Thomson to Middlesbrough, the Coca-Cola Championship club managed by former Celtic boss Gordon Strachan, has not gone down at all well with Gers followers.

 

Yet, Johnston – as much as anybody currently involved at boardroom level at the Ibrox club – understands the harsh realities of the current difficult financial climate.

 

With talented players such as Steven Davis, Maurice Edu and Lee McCulloch in Thomson’s central midfield position at Rangers, he isconfident they can cope without him in the future.

 

“These days, you realise it is a fluid situation,” he remarked. “You are building a team. You have to maintain a team. Not just for this year, but for four years down the line.

 

“The Rangers fans’ passion for tomorrow is what then drives them to go and see the game tomorrow. That is fabulous, that is what we need, that is the lifeblood.

 

“From a board standpoint or a management standpoint we have to say: ‘Well, what resources do we have today?’ That covers playing resources, management resources, financial resources.

 

“We need to know what are we going to have a year from now. What are we going to have a year thereafter? Being the chaperones of the club, you have to think about that a bit more.

 

“Every fan is entitled to an opinion and the fact that every fan has a different opinion is what drives passion and interest in the club.”

 

Johnston added: “With all due respect to that issue (the out-of-contract players being up for sale) Walter was describing something that was factual.

 

“Several players are coming out of contract next season. Some of them we want to keep, some of them we have got to think about.

 

“We have to program for what you think about this year, next year and the following year. We have to look at all of the different elements.”

 

Johnston, meanwhile, admitted he has been buoyed by the public admission that multi-millionaire director Dave King has contemplated taking over Rangers.

 

King is currently fighting tax problems in his adopted homeland of South Africa and has admitted he may not be able to take a greater role in the running of Gers at the time being. However, the Glasgow-born businessman confessed he is monitoring the situation surrounding Sir David Murray’s majority shareholding in Rangers.

 

And the chairman, who was responsible for brokering King’s Ã?£20million investment in Rangers in the early 1990s, would welcome his or another wealthy benefactor’s increased involvement.

 

He stated: “I have known Dave for a long time. He didn’t really say anything that surprised me when he spoke. I haven’t talked to him lately so I can’t really add anything to it.

 

“I have said it very consistently, and I said it after the announcement about the Andrew Ellis bid when Sir David Murray took the club off the market, that we still require investment in the club.

 

“Any and all opportunities that are credible and genuine with respect to any transaction that basically involves an investment in the club we would welcome.”

 

In the foreseeable future, Johnston envisages graduates of the Murray Park training complex playing a greater role in the fortunes of Rangers on the field.

 

He explained: “When you talk about strengthening the squad you talk about young players that have been there getting more experience and you talk about players that are good becoming very good.

 

“I think we are still going to see Steven Davis and some of the players at that level perform better at the club. We are not dealing with a flat situation.

 

“On the other hand, with some players time will tell. Old Father Time goes on and at some point in time players in the preceding season may not play as well as they did in the current season.”

 

[chilledbear 16]

If he calls the years after Jim Baxter left surviving, dear God.