Will North East Giants Be ‘Boyd’ By January Move For Kris?

THE club insist he is staying, the press insist he is leaving, and the player himself is being “kept in the dark” over his next career move. So, just what is the next move for Rangers striker Kris Boyd?

Speculation continues to intensify suggesting a summer move to Coca-Cola Championship North East giants Middlesbrough or Newcastle United, when Boyd’s contract at Ibrox expires in June.

Will Boyd be celebrating a move south of the border next year?

Boyd, who was on the verge of a move to Birmingham City before failing to agree personal terms earlier this year, will be free to speak with any prospective new employers on New Year’s Day. The striker, who is currently sidelined with a thigh strain, is just seven goals short of Henrik Larsson’s Scottish Premier League record of 158 goals and Alex McLeish, the current Birmingham manager and the man who bought Boyd to Glasgow three years ago, is also thought to be monitoring his situation.

The likelihood of Boyd’s exit from the Scottish giants has been accelerated after the magnitude of their financial problems became clear. The club are currently up for sale, carry a debt of £31m, and management team Walter Smith and Ally McCoist have offered to work without contracts in the new year. Extraordinarily, a club the size of Rangers can no longer match the wages on offer from clubs in the second tier of English football.

For Gers fans, this situation will be nothing new. They experienced a similar scenario when Alan Hutton’s protracted transfer to England hit numerous snags – with the player twice rejected the chance to join Tottenham Hotspur, instead holding out for a move to Manchester United. He eventually changed his mind, and arrived at White Hart Lane for a fee in the region of £9million.

Hutton: £9m move to Tottenham

The latest transfer farce to engulf Ibrox has been exaggerated by conflicting claims from the club, who insist that Boyd has been offered a new deal, and the player, who knows nothing of any contract discussions.

Martin Bain, Rangers’ chief executive, said: “It has been a difficult time for the club in the last few months and there wasn’t the time to sit down with players’ representatives and have properly-informed discussions.

“However, I am now in the position to negotiate and discuss players’ contracts.

“In particular with Kris Boyd, I spoke to his representative and I am aware of what Kris sees as acceptable as a contract. I have digested that and I’m in the process of continuing with discussions, but it has only happened recently.”

When asked how advanced the negotiations were, Boyd replied: “It’s the first I heard about it, so I don’t know.”

At 26 years of age, Boyd is approaching the peak of his career with an envious goalscoring record behind him – 63 goals in 153 games for Kilmarnock, and 88 in 125 to date for Rangers – he undoubtedly knows how to find the back of the net. However, will he find the Championship – or the English Premier League – as easy as he does the SPL?

Only time will tell.