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Is The Ibrox Boss Working On An Austerity Budget? The Signs Suggest That He Is.

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Two things surprise me about John Souttar’s decision to go to Ibrox.

The first is that they’ve clearly overbid for him if they’ve given him more money than he’d have got in England. The second is that they are supposed to be balking at Hearts paltry £500,000 demand to let him go in the current window.

I think Hearts are mad for allowing him to go as cheaply as that; I think it will be telling if Ibrox is unable to do the deal at such a desperately small number.

There is a third thing, which is an amalgam of the first two.

They have pushed the boat out in wages. Is that why they are struggling to find such a modest sum to buy him now? Their other signing of the window thus far is a loanee from the MLS. The Patterson money is banked.

How much of it is their manager getting to spend? On this evidence, none.

Now this might change. Of course it might.

They may shock us and go on a spending spree before this window closes in a little over two weeks.

But we’re not the only ones who’d be shocked. I daresay those “investors” who Robertson was banging on about having sunk £100 million into the club with zero return would be equally stunned.

Souttar is being brought in to replace Goldson; that much is obvious. I’m betting he’s signing on for less money than Goldson though, who had several renegotiations during his time at Ibrox and would have done rather well out of the last one, the one that’s running down as this campaign rolls on. On the surface of it, they’ve done reasonably well.

But this is the thing; Van Bronckhorst wasn’t plucked out of thin air. This guy’s time in Holland marked him out as an austerity manager. He works under budget. He works on a small scale. There were few big signings when he was over there.

That club is long overdue a course correction.

If Robertson had any sense he’d have gotten in front of the cameras the other day and said that the money spent until now had stabilised them, got them back on the front foot but that there would be no more of it.

There are signs that other departures are likely. For one, their fan media are now talking up letting Lundstram go back to England.

They are bringing back Ittern from on loan whilst cutting Defoe out, and terminating his double salary, and there are rumours about Morelos, all day and every day.

Clearly someone is out there trying to generate interest in him. They are approaching the window where he has to be sold or walks away on a free like Goldson … but there’s more than that here.

Van Bronckhorst looks like he’s going to have to do more with less. The wage bill over there is being cut. The transfer money from Patterson is banked and he’ll be lucky to see any of it.

As players near the end of their deals the free transfer market is the way the club will choose to go … and if we take back our title, that’s their summer spending plan.

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  • D skiggs says:

    Smoke and mirrors with the Patterson transfer fee, they won’t have banked anywhere near 12 million, it’s 4 million plus add ons , one of which is over 50 appearances for Everton, good chance they would have a new manager as Benitez has not set the heather alight, if the new Manager does not fancy the boy , then the add ons begins to slide

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