Rangers Aren’t Out of Trouble Yet

Last week’s refusal by Rangers players to accept a wage cut of 15% shows that they are still a club in turmoil. Their demotion to the fourth tier of Scottish football was supposed to serve as a fresh start for a future of prosperity and success, both financially and on the pitch. So far it’s only happened on the pitch. They could have easily recruited players who have been successful in the lower leagues and Rangers would still have had similar success. However, they instead chose to bring in SPL players on SPL wages and while they have completely dominated this season, it wouldn’t have made a difference if they were 5 points clear rather than 20, as long as they get promoted. Their main focus should be the financial figures.

Ally McCoist has agreed to take a 50% pay cut in his £825,000 wages, which would have made him one of the highest paid managers in the SPL, and along with the executive who gave back his £200,000 bonus, shows that at least some people at Rangers are trying to do something about their current financial plight; even though they really shouldn’t have been given anywhere near that amount of money in the first place. Along with the huge bonuses and wages there are little things that show some people at Rangers haven’t quite realised the seriousness of the situation, evidenced by the decision to book into a four star hotel before their game away at Forfar, which is only around two hours away.

However the decision by the players to not accept a 15% pay cut possibly tops them all and shows that the players also don’t have the club’s best interests in their thoughts. If I were a Rangers fan I would be offended by such a refusal. Of course, they aren’t obligated to take a pay cut and they probably view it as the club’s issue and not theirs, but sometimes tough decisions need to be made. It isn’t as if most of the players rely on all of their wages to survive, such as David Templeton who gave up a promising Scotland career to join Rangers when they were in what is now Scottish League Two. Either he wanted to be part of the ‘project’ or they were paying him a lot of money for a player at that level, possibly more than what he was getting at Hearts, I believe the latter. They may have come through the worst at Rangers but it is far from over yet.