McCoist Hoping to Extend Bartley Deal

[Stefanovitch 0]

from The Daily Record.

 

ALLY McCOIST will attempt to make Kyle Bartley his first signing as Rangers boss.

Record Sport can reveal McCoist - who will take over from Walter Smith in May - has already decided to ask Arsenal if they would be willing to extend the 19-year-old's loan deal by another full season.

Bartley has made just eight starts since joining the Ibrox club on the last day of the January sales but McCoist has been hugely impressed by the defender's contribution. Now he wants to have the Englishman on board for his first term in charge.

But McCoist suspects he may have a battle on his hands to persuade Gunners manager Arsene Wenger that it will be in Arsenal's best interests to farm Bartley out again.

Come this summer, Bartley will have spent 18 months on loan at Sheffield United and Rangers.

Wenger may wish to begin integrating him with his first-team squad but McCoist will argue his development would be better served by one more year at Ibrox.

McCoist is scrambling to beef up the numbers of his top-team squad in the face of more summer cost-cutting.

He had been warned that, unless a new owner is found for the club, he will need to chop �£1million off the current wage bill.

But fears within Ibrox are now growing that Lloyds are set to make more drastic demands - and those proposed savings may be as much as doubled.

McCoist has still to be told just how hard the bankers intend to squeeze his budget but is bracing himself for bad news when chief executive Martin Bain meets with the moneymen to be discover the full extent of their cuts.

[Frankie 8,186]

The lad certainly looks a useful player but will Arsenal feel his development will be aided or hindered by playing another year in Scotland.

[Stefanovitch 0]

A similar call to Manchester City regarding Vladimir Weiss should also be high on Ally's 'to do' list.

[MoodyBlue 0]

I'll try and get some info on this. I work with someone who's nephew is Craig Eastmond - an Arsenal player around the same age as Bartley (think he's 21 actually) who is on loan at Millwall at the moment.

 

I'm not sure Wenger will put him out on loan next season. He'll either want to integrate him into the matchday squad or sell him IMO. But you never know.

[Frankie 8,186]

Cheers MB...

[MoodyBlue 0]

No worries Frankie. Hopefully I can get a bit more insight.

 

Only bit of info I've had was about 3 weeks ago when Eastmond had some contact with Bartley via text and Bartley said he was "loving it". There are two things that would be good to find out - a) Would the boy want to stay on with us again next season (I'm guessing he would) and b) have there been any discussions on the boys future with Wenger.

 

I think a) should be easy to find out sometime soon, but I suspect b) may be more difficult to answer at the moment, but I'll see what info i can get.

[craig 5,199]

We could cut 1 million quite comfortably in my opinion, but that means even fewer players....

 

However, we could cut more than 50% of that 1 million by simply dumping Bain. Not saying a CEO isnt worth their money, many most definitely are - but, for the most part, I dnt see what Bain is doing that someone else could do for less than half the cost.

 

If we need to cut 1 million then the easiest way of doing so at the least disruption to the club would be to sell McGregor. Alexander is a more than able deputy. McGregor is probably on 20k a week, so the 1 mill wage saving is made right there. The problem then is that we would have McGregor plus an untried, untested youngster. We could probably pick up another experienced keeper relatively cheaply and on lowish wages. McGregor also would command a decent fee which will suit the bankers.

 

Our problem is that in order to shave costs we have to let the higher earners leave and most of them are the ones you need to keep as they are the better players. In order to beef up squad numbers we need to let more than just McGregor go as his wage going only covers the demanded reduction. To increase numbers we need to let another 20k player go and replace him with 3 players at 7k a week.

 

It seems that these days being Rangers manager is not so much about coaching, formation, tactics as it is about balancing the books - and that is a difficult task to undertake.

[Gazza_8 233]

Eastmond has played a few 1st team games for Arsenal whereas Bartley hasn't. I think there's a good chance we could get him signed up for another season.

[Stefanovitch 0]

On the subject of savings? How much does Walter earn? I assume his wages will be saved next season or will McCoist and his new staff all receive increases to coincide with added responsibility.

[Frankie 8,186]

I'd fancy Walter will be on double what Ally will expect to get as manager but that's only a guess.