Player and staff redundancies expected on Friday

[Frankie 8,186]

Stories in the Record and Sun about 6-11 players expected to be released...

 

Scottish Sun:

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/4163627/Six-players-facing-Rangers-chop.html#ixzz1nqpCAbRo

 

Daily Record:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/2012/03/01/rangers-in-crisis-11-ibrox-players-set-to-be-axed-as-administrators-begin-savage-cuts-86908-23770531/

Edited March 1, 2012 by Frankie

[Frankie 8,186]

From The Sun:

 

SIX Rangers stars face the sack in the next 24 hours.

 

Administrators Duff and Phelps were last night edging closer to deciding which of Ally McCoist's anxious aces will go.

 

Top players have offered to take a wage deferral as they seek to safeguard the future of their team-mates.

 

It's understood that won't be enough to stave off redundancies at the crisis-hit SPL champions.

 

Those players left behind could also be forced to take a wage cut of more than 30 per cent.

 

The administrators could choose to axe players like Sasa Papac, David Healy, Sone Aluko and Salim Kerkar who are all out of contract in the summer.

 

It's also likely some ageing high earners could face the axe as the bean counters are forced to make crippling cuts.

 

That would leave the likes of Neil Alexander, Lee McCulloch and Kirk Broadfoot in the firing line.

 

All three have less than 18 months left on their current contracts and have less of a sell-on value than Allan McGregor and Steven Davis.

 

Gers boss McCoist could deliver the devastating news himself at the end of another traumatic week at Ibrox.

 

Carlos Bocanegra admits EVERYONE is living in fear of the sack.

 

The USA defender said: "The mood has changed a little bit where everybody is a bit timid.

 

"It's just been dark days the last few weeks.

 

"Obviously the club is in administration at the moment and people are worried about losing their jobs.

 

"That's the worst part of it. That's never a nice feeling hanging over your head when you are going into work.

 

"You have to stay upbeat because you don't know what's going to happen and nobody knows the magnitude of the situation and what is going on."

 

[Frankie 8,186]

From the Record:

 

AN entire team of 11 Rangers players will be axed this morning.

 

But those who survive the cull will also suffer savage cuts. Record Sport can reveal the players who avoid the chop will have their wages slashed by half.

 

It’s believed all the players agreed to the pay cut in advance of the hitlist being drawn up to avoid even more heads being put on the chopping block.

 

It is also understood manager Ally McCoist will demand his own salary be reduced dramatically but club sources stressed last night that he was struggling to come to terms with the numbers.

 

The cuts are much more swingeing than he or anyone else had thought and by the time all the players on the list have been tapped on their shoulders, today will go down as one of the blackest in the club’s long history.

 

This is the day everyone connected with Rangers has been dreading but the club’s administrators insist the wage bill must be cut savagely now if the club are to struggle on.

 

Fear has been stalking the corridors of the training complex and Ibrox since the club slipped into administration and although chief operating officer Ali Russell and director of football Gordon Smith were axed last week, the cull begins in earnest today.

 

It remains to be seen if McCoist will also lose valuable and trusted members of his backroom staff.

 

The manager couldn’t be contacted last night but he’s said to be ‘devastated’ by the cuts and the loss of people he considers friends.

 

The reduction means McCoist will be left with barely enough players to come up with a match-day squad and although he’d wanted to distance himself from the process he’s had to accept that he can’t step back.

 

He is aware of the list and it’s believed one of the names on it is that of Lee McCulloch, who has been a stalwart for Rangers.

 

McCulloch has always put this club first and although all the job losses will come as severe blows to every player his will be one of the unkindest cuts of all.

 

A player of many positions McCulloch’s departure will have a massive effect on dressing-room morale. That, of course, will leave McCoist with a seemingly impossible task.

 

He will have to work wonders if he’s to talk the remaining players around in time for Saturday’s match against Hearts because a thick cloud of depression will fall like a heavy shroud over Murray Park as the players are called in to be told that for them it’s time up.

 

They will have their contracts torn up and be told to pack their belongings.

 

Then they’ll say their goodbyes and drive out through the Murray Park gates for the final time.

 

Other players, Sasa Papac and Dorin Goian, have already spoken of their fears that they’ll be part of the Ibrox exodus and it has also been suggested reserve keeper Neil Alexander, striker David Healy and Kirk Broadfoot could also be on the list.

 

The fact is only those players with high residual values, players like Steve Davis, Allan McGregor and Steven Naismith, can be certain of avoiding the axe when it falls this morning.

 

The job cuts would have been implemented earlier this week but last night’s international friendlies meant the administrators, Duff and Phelps, had to hold off until today when everyone will report back to Murray Park.

 

Duff and Phelps have started legal action in London in an attempt to persuade a judge to force Collyer Bristow to open up their books and release money they insist belongs to Rangers.

 

It’s believed there could be as much as £4million of the club’s money in the Collyer Bristow client account which Craig Whyte set up last year when putting together his takeover strategy.

 

The client account is also where the £24m Whyte raised through his deal with Ticketus was deposited and this arrangement is also likely to become a court case.

 

It’s been shown Whyte’s plan was flawed from the very beginning and serious questions about the legality of the entire process are being asked.

 

Some sources close to what is a rapidly developing as a scandal believe Whyte and Rangers’ company secretary Gary Withey must be called to account for the mess into which Rangers have descended since the takeover was signed and sealed on May 6 last year.

 

And late last night it was reported that Withey, a partner with Collyer Bristow, might no longer be in position. If so, that’s one loss no Rangers fan will lament.

 

The administrators have been pursuing Withey since they took over but have been disappointed and angered because they believe he could have been more co-operative.

[chilledbear 16]

Let's hope we are left with a competitive team.

 

Fine balance on cutting costs, and being able to fill Ibrox on match days.

[Gazza_8 233]

Reading that would bring a tear to a glass eye. Very sad.

[johnnyk 158]

We would of course miss them all but most of all Aluko, McCulloch and Kerkar who all have been playing well recently IMO. Alexander has been a great pro but we can't afford 2 top keepers just now, Healy won't be greatly missed, Broadfoot is borderline for me.

 

I can't see Aluko or Kerkar being on big wages so that seems strange? IMO McCulloch (and others) should offer to play for virtually nothing as he has been injured for long spells with us but I doubt that will happen and I suppose they do have bills to pay like the rest of us but you think they would have money in the bank from their careers.

 

Sad times

[Darthter 542]

In some ways it may prove to be a good thing - providing the majority of promising youngsters are kept. While its never a good thing when people loose their jobs, if it clears out some of the aging, high earners, and gives some of the younger guys a chance, it can only be good in the long term.

[der Berliner 3,290]

Not saying that any axes won't occur, but essentially all of the above is conjecture by the media folk.

 

I for one would e.g. be very surprised if Ally (after having been in talks with the admins about it) would agree to let Aluko and Kerkar go right now. Sending Whittaker off would be saving much more money!

 

On a sidenote, you do wonder whether some of the would stay on regardless of being paid or not, at least for the time being. (It's not that they desperately need the money, I would assume.)

[BlueMazza 0]

This is just horrible. Every time I think we have taken a step up, we get a story to bring us back down. Poor McCulloch et al. And poor Ally, no manager should have to do this in his first season.

[Bears 0]

Not saying that any axes won't occur, but essentially all of the above is conjecture by the media folk.

 

I for one would e.g. be very surprised if Ally (after having been in talks with the admins about it) would agree to let Aluko and Kerkar go right now. Sending Whittaker off would be saving much more money!

 

On a sidenote, you do wonder whether some of the would stay on regardless of being paid or not, at least for the time being. (It's not that they desperately need the money, I would assume.)

 

and if they did and played well they'd cement themselves in the Rangers history books as legends that "took one for the team" during this awful time