Walter Smith is a stoical man, one of life’s pragmatists. So if the Rangers manager has finally felt compelled to reveal the full extent of the club’s financial problems, one can safely assume that matters are genuinely dire at Ibrox. His confirmation, in the aftermath of the 1-1 draw with Hibernian, that Sir David Murray is no longer in control and an organisation with a one-time “Spend, Spend, Spend” philosophy is now being run by HBoS, might not have unduly surprised those of us who have queried Murray’s stewardship of Rangers during the past decade. But the fall-out from the former chairman’s tenure now leaves a once-mighty institution in the grip of accountants.
As for Smith, he must have known what he was letting himself in for when he quit the Scotland job and returned to his old haunts at the beginning of 2007. It always promised to be a poisoned chalice, yet, to his credit, he has performed minor miracles with a squad which is nowhere near the quality of the players he worked with in the 1990s. Sadly, though, every success, every trophy, has merely accentuated how Rangers, under Murray, have gone from being High Rollers to dwelling on Skid Row through their own profligacy.
The writing was on the wall when Smith steered his charges to the brink of winning an unprecedented quadruple less than 18 months ago, and yet there was no significant investment to strengthen a squad, which reached the UEFA Cup final, won both domestic trophies, and only lost out to Celtic in the final round of SPL matches. As the fixture list grew increasingly congested, their supporters shelled out huge amounts of money to follow their side’s progress past Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen, Sporting Lisbon and Fiorentina and henceforth to Manchester for the denouement, but even when Rangers regrouped from these climactic disappointments to secure the double last season, the “For Sale” signs hung over their best players, without many signs of interest.
That is one reason why Rangers should be fearful of what might transpire in the months ahead. Alan Hutton has gone to Spurs, Barry Ferguson to Birmingham City and Kris Boyd might have joined the latter if he could have agreed personal terms with the English Premiership club. But, as Ibrox officials, under instructions from HBoS and their representative on the board, Donald Muir, to reduce the existing debts of around £30m, strive to find new revenue streams, their options are seriously limited.
There is no move to England in the offing, no dalliance with an Atlantic League to offer sanctuary, but worse still, Smith will be aware that anybody who has watched Rangers this season will recognise they have, at best, four or five players – Madjid Bougherra, Steven Davis, Pedro Mendes, Boyd and, possibly, Allan McGregor – who could command transfer fees of between £3m and £5m. As for the rest, it is simply absurd to imagine anybody in the Premiership or across Europe being enticed by the likes of Kirk Broadfoot, Steven Naismith, Kenny Miller, Nacho Novo and their colleagues. The best Rangers can hope for, under their present administration, is to lose Bougherra and Davis, rake in possibly £10m for the pair, and give youth its chance in an attempt, both to please the financiers and cling on to Celtic’s coat-tails. But it is all a desperately deflating fall to earth for a club which considers itself a global brand with a vast expatriate outreach.
There remains the possibility – even though Rangers denied reports yesterday that a consortium led by non-executive director, Dave King, who is based in South Africa, was poised to take over at Ibrox – that a foreign investor will come to Rangers’ rescue. But, just consider this: any such saviour would have to assure the bank they could pay off the debt, dismantle the current squad, and raise the necessary cash to buy between seven and 10 new players. Presumably, since Rangers supporters are an impatient bunch, they would not be willing to allow any new owners time to consolidate, but would instead demand an immediate injection of quality personnel.
In short, we could be talking here about an initial investment of £100m just to bring the team up to scratch. That’s an awful lot of money in anybody’s language, where we are in the midst of a recession. But especially considering that rumours proliferate that Rangers’ actual debt level is much worse than has thus far been revealed, with further details expected this week.
Ultimately, I can’t envisage Smith hanging around, once his contract expires in January. He has done a terrific job in the circumstances and with the modest talent at his disposal, but there comes a time when even the most faithful retainer decides enough is enough. As the news emerged on Saturday of HBoS’s control, a few of their aficionados said to me: “Ah well, at least things can only get better.” Perhaps they’re correct, but the suspicion is that, for the foreseeable future, blue is Rangers’ colour and blue is Rangers’ mood.
