Beyond economics: How Much Will Selling Alan Hutton Cost Us?

[Frankie 8,151]

By bmck:

 

The Alan Hutton affair has resulted in a fury of figures for the average fan to digest. How much will be bid for him? How much would it cost to replace him? How much will Murray free up for Walter from the how much will be bid for him? How much will it cost to replace him be greater or lesser than how much Murray will free up, and by how much? How much would we value Hutton at, and would this much allow us to free up enough to replace him based on how much we think Murray will free up? Is this repeated refrain of ââ?¬Ë?How muchââ?¬â?¢ not better understood in term of the other important figure ââ?¬â?? our overall debt?

 

Yes, increasingly complex speculations with plenty of hypothesising, and plenty of scope to get completely lost in a few pints into the discussion. But I think the danger in all this brutish number crunching is that we get caught in the cynicââ?¬â?¢s dilemma ââ?¬â?? plenty of speculations about costs, debts, transfer fees, percentages, budgets and the like, but none of the significantly more important issue of value. People have wrongly applied Wildeââ?¬â?¢s quote to economists, but the power in his aphorism is that it is cynicism that tends purely towards economics, and I think that itââ?¬â?¢s an overwhelming cynicism that is the real danger of our current situation. I think it is a Rangers fan disproportionately low expectations that knows the figures of Alan Huttonââ?¬â?¢s transfer, but not how much it would cost us in the less easily delimited world of reputation, ambition and vision.

 

In pure economic terms, getting 8 million quid for a good, but ultimately promising, player is not bad going most probably. We have a ready made replacement in Whittaker, who, though not as good, would presumably be good enough for the SPL and could himself progress into a better player. So, it may not cost that much to replace him. Perhaps Murray would free up a portion of the money for a position we more severely needed, and the rest would go to the not ignoble more general cause: the reduction of our debt. I mean, you can�t keep a player when a lot of money is bid for him, and he wants to go, surely.

 

But while all these things are to some extent true, they are the absolutely most pessimistic view of the situation. Tonight Alan Hutton is strongly rumoured to have turned down Spurs ââ?¬â?? perhaps this is because heââ?¬â?¢s waiting for Man United, but perhaps he thinks that he has plenty of scope to develop at Rangers. I think as a matter of general principle we as a club and a support should be reasoning about the departure of the most successful product of our youth system, a Rangers supporting Rangers player who is a first pick at club and country level in his early twenties, and who has played a starring role in our recent European adventures and minor successes, as a strictly worst case scenario.

 

It shows the extent of our fall in our collective imagination: a club and support confident in their own stature, as a matter of principle, do not sell these sorts of players as a matter of course, though they can go if they really want. I canââ?¬â?¢t help but think that our expectations have been lowered disproportionately by the spin of recent years. We are far too quick to follow the clubââ?¬â?¢s, albeit to some extent necessary, obsession with figures ââ?¬â?? we are starting to live out Murrayââ?¬â?¢s, pragmatically understandable but to a fan convinced of our greatness unacceptable, cost cutting for a potential suitor. Just because we understand our financial situation, and understand Murrayââ?¬â?¢s cost cutting in terms of his own self motivation, it doesnââ?¬â?¢t mean that our expectations should be indistinguishable from his. It is our job to provide the demand for greatness, a continuing catalyst for Murray to put all his energies into making this so. It means fundamentally being disgusted at the cost, a cost beyond economics, of selling a player like Alan Hutton ââ?¬â?? it is the act of being disgusted in situations like this, even if economics prevails, that will maintain our all important tendency towards greatness in these more precarious and visionless days of supporting the club.

 

If Alan Hutton does stay, I expect David Murray at least then to portray it as a sign of our continuing vision and ambition, and hopefully then it will start to filter out into our wider expectations again.

[Frankie 8,151]

Really is an excellent piece by Barry.

 

While it may be difficult to turn down �£8million for any player in the current SPL financial climate, what does it say about us that we are considering it while we still remain in Europe and genuine contention for the league?

 

Quite simply if he does go we must invest the money received into ensuring this kind of transfer is not required again.

[Guest TheWorthyEd]

The Man-Ure link (offer) has been a longstanding one (August I'm told) and the Spurs offer, declined or otherwise, is not to be scoffed at.

 

We are a selling club under this Custodian - that is as clear as the snow outside my window - and the only question remaining is, will Hutton go in January or hang on until the summer?

 

I sincerely doubt that him remaining longer than the summer is an option for him or Murray.

[Frankie 8,151]

Seems the summer is the likely time now mate...

 

A mate of mine was speaking to Ray Houghton the other week and he suggested the Hutton/Man Utd link was the strongest one by far.

[Guest TheWorthyEd]

Time (and Chick Dung) will tell.

 

Anyway.....welcome back.

[ascender 352]

But given we are in the SPL with such little revenue from TV and having been through a period of down-sizing, is this not the future for us? Develop young players and then sell them on giving us actual money to reinvest in youth and signing more players?

 

I just don't see how we can be anything but a selling club in today's climate unless we get fresh investment.

[gisabeer 409]

Hutton hasnt knocked back Spurs because he wants to play for rangers, hes waiting on a call from ferguson . And if i was to a have a wild stab in the dark i would go on to say that a deal to move to manure in the foreseable future has probably been done behind everyones backs.

 

The fact that we were very willing to sell him in the first place is a testament to the clubs lack of ambition on the park. But it also highlights the fact that we are still living in the shaddows of the advocaat era and his gross over spending. and until we free ourselves from the grissly past we will continue to sell our best players if the right offer/club comes in.

 

Why? because our chairman believes we have to. I personally dont though. I believe the clubs future lies in keeping quality players like hutton and building a team for the long term. Its the only way forward in my opinion. Selling the family silver isnt the answer. But we will probably see a few huttons go through the doors at Ibrox before we can balance the bank books and start to plan for the long term again.

[pete 2,499]

Even if Hutton did knock back Spurs waiting for a better offer, it still shows he has a level head in not jumping into the first offer. Only about 4 teams in Britain can hold on to or buy top class players and we are unfortunately not one of them. He has no Guarantee that a better club will come for him so that means in the short he wants to be a teddy bear.

[bmck 117]

But given we are in the SPL with such little revenue from TV and having been through a period of down-sizing, is this not the future for us? Develop young players and then sell them on giving us actual money to reinvest in youth and signing more players?

 

I just don't see how we can be anything but a selling club in today's climate unless we get fresh investment.

 

i am quite confused by this man. in the last statement we are a selling club, and in the statement before it we are signing new players. clearly the choices are a) keep alan hutton and dont buy a,nyone extra or b) sell hutton and reinvest in other players. thats not quite a selling club, its just a choice. while we cant afford to spend 8 mill on an Alan Hutton, there is absolutely nothing that says we have to sell him. i think just blindly deferring to this idea that we have to sell is just cynicism masking itself as realism. the implication is that if we didnt have Alan Hutton to sell we would be going under, which doesnt seem to be the case.

[bmck 117]

I believe the clubs future lies in keeping quality players like hutton and building a team for the long term.

 

agreed - everyone seems to think this is just out of the question, but its not. it may be that with the right offer it makes sense to sell him, but our most basic assumption should always be that we have enough to offer talented young players here, or else what is the point?