Various media reports are suggesting that Rangers have made moves for Greg Docherty and Jordan Jones from fellow Scottish Premiership sides Hamilton Accies and Kilmarnock.

Supposedly the bids were between £300k and £350k each for the duo and both bids were knocked back.

The offers have been called low and derisory by some, with former Gers and current Killie hitman Kris Boyd being publicly critical of the bids:

“There’s one club unsettling everybody; if they want players then pay the money and come and take them.”

“There’s calls been made and nothing has been backed up to do something about it. Pay the money and take the players if you want them. It’s easy to unsettle players now. Everyone knows everyone and we know how it works.”

“This club is not in the position where it needs to sell and it certainly won’t give away one of its assets for next to nothing. If Rangers want Jordan they’ll need to pay the money.”

I find it laughable that Boyd of all people decided to come out say that just one club is out there unsettling everyone.

This is coming from a footballer who is also a TV pundit for SKY. His Chris Sutton-eseque opinions have caused plenty of upset in Scottish football this term. He has slated various current Scottish internationals in Scotland’s top flight and he also upset Hibs boss Neil Lennon by suggesting John McGinn had played his last game for the Easter Road side in August (McGinn stayed).

Boyd also stated his shock that Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes had the right to turned down a Gers approach late last year:

“Derek has decided to stay at Aberdeen and that’s a surprise to everybody because the majority in Scotland thought he would have gone to Rangers, myself included.”

It seems that Rangers upsetting personnel and him jumping on the bandwagon is fine, until it comes to Kilmarnock.

I always find it funny when Scottish sides reject bids and saying they were too low or derisory. It must make the agents of those players interested rub their hands with glee because you are saying that they are worth a lot of money and they’ll want you to prove that with bumper wages.

Now Boyd is quick to called Jones an asset and an international player, he’s backed up ny Killie boss Steve Clarke but let me ask them this ‘Are you paying him what he’s worth?‘.

Clarke was quick to say that if he were Jordan that he’d be miffed that Rangers offered such a sum for his services, so again will Kilmarnock offer him a better wage? Plus when was the last time Kilmarnock offered that sum for a player?

Then we have to remember the market we are dealing with, the Scottish Premiership isn’t regarded as a top league and fees reflect that.

When Virgil van Dijk left Celtic he went for just £13m (with the seal-on clause that raised to around £20m this month). That’s a significant sum but nothing compared to the £75m Liverpool paid Southampton for him. Is he much better now than he was at Celtic? Not really, he just has Premier League experience now.

You’ll not get premium prices for players in Scotland’s top flight, it’s a sad reality. Although I think it could be changing, albeit slowly. The key in selling any top talent is by putting in a sell-on clause!

When it comes to putting bids in for players, Rangers will only offer what they can afford and what they value the target at. The player’s current club can look at it and decide on if it’s acceptable or not.

By all means protect yourself and your asset but let’s not go on about unsettling players as you talking publicly only intensifies the situation. Plus watch the agents come to your door and ask for wages that reflect your valuation.

As Kris Boyd said, we know how it works when it comes to football.

If a club really wants a player then they will go all out to get him. If they think they can get them on the cheap, then they’ll try and do a deal. If the current employer doesn’t want to sell then they reject the offer, if they are willing to sell at a certain price then they’ll name that price. If they really want to keep the player then they will offer him a new deal.

Posted on January 16th, 2018 by scott
Filed under: Article