Hot off the Press

As the transfer window draws torturously to a close, speculation has spread like wildfire as to who Rangers will have officially captured by 12am on February 1st.

Having already obtained former Hibernian captain Kevin Thomson for £2M the previous day, attention turned to other hard targets linked to the Ibrox club. The main name on everyone’s lips was Paul Hartley, and it had looked like the transfer saga involving Hearts’ vice-captain and a potential move to Rangers was going to go right to the wire, only for Old Firm rivals Celtic to step in and hijack the move right from under their rivals’ noses.

Having started their bid at £600,000, steady increases to £750,000 then £800,000 had failed to persuade Hearts to let him go, leaving the door ajar for Celtic to add their muscle with a straight £1.1M bid. This had been deemed satisfactory, and having agreed all the details, only a medical and paperwork stands between Celtic signing the midfielder.

The motivation for Celtic’s involvement could be construed as payback in light of Rangers thieving Thomson from them the previous day, as it is clear the Parkhead club’s midfield is really rather strong. Nevertheless, Rangers’ penny-pinching has pretty much been the cause of this loss, and they cannot blame anyone but themselves.

Other players on the radar include Gow, and McCulloch, with a new entrant in Motherwell’s McDonald.

Starting with the Falkirk forward Gow, Rangers have, again, been unsuccessful in multiple optimistic bids, and stand at a bid of something around £200,000 for the young Scot. Having stated they would not let him go for less than £500,000, Falkirk were unlikely to be seduced by less than half that sum.

The McCulloch situation is curious; one minute it is practically a done deal, the next he is off Rangers’ radar, before suddenly reappearing on it. A bid of £750,000 was deemed derisory by Wigan, and speculation has simmered on whether or not that signature will be pursued.

Lastly is McDonald, a late link. Motherwell reportedly received a £350,000 bid for the Australian, a well-regarded and useful player who is perhaps not quite the killer name the Ibrox legions were hoping for. It was rejected, with only an ‘astonishing’ bid being acceptable.

In the other direction, Buffel’s proposed move to Hannover collapsed when personal arrangements could not be finalised. Having been given permission to talk to the Budesliga side, it would stand to reason Smith was letting Buffel go as he did not consider him a long term player for the club. So with the move breaking down, the question is raised of Buffel’s role at Ibrox.

Letizi has also definitely gone, the contract with the Frenchman cancelled by mutual consent. Furthermore are stories linking Rae with a move elsewhere as well.

The next few hours could be very interesting…

Points Dropped

The first big test of Walter Smith’s second spell in charge at Ibrox was the visit of Hearts to Govan.

Fellow challengers for second place, the Gorgie men have fallen away a little from the runner’s up spot thanks to constant reshuffles of their squad and general strain in their dressing room as a result of Romanov’s alleged meddling.

Nevertheless, their trip to Glasgow was a chance to close the gap to two points behind Rangers, even if upheaval is par for the course at Tynecastle these days. True to form as well was the pre-match news that their two best players, Gordon and Hartley, were not going to feature in this game. Naturally this inspired rampant speculation that they were heading out of Edinburgh, and manager Ivanauskas did little to quell the rumours, asserting that Hartley had been left out for football reasons and Gordon had an injury.

Observers pointed out that he still featured in the previous day’s press conference, and it is fairly unusual for an injured player who will not play to face the press.

Of course, this all fuelled yet more stories, particularly in Hartley’s case, that he was heading for Ibrox, and that Gordon might be looking at a move to Fulham.

Rangers had team news of their own, with the information that Svensson and Burke would have to make do with a place on the bench, to make way for Sionko and new signing Ehiogu.

The match itself was pretty mediocre in the first half, and came to life in the second, with Rangers taking the game to their opponents but being crucially unable to break them down. 0-0 it finished, and Rangers cursed their inability to take a massive step towards securing that CL spot.

On the positive side was the improvement of Burke when he arrived as a substitute for the ineffective Sionko; looked like a vastly improved player compared to the rotten displays recently.

On further transfer speculation though is a link with Australian midfielder Culina. Apparently he would be available for as little as £1M, but there is interest from Premiership sides too. Along with Hartley (and Gow) he would be a marvellous acquisition, however, and no derogatory bids should be made for him – they just insult the selling club. The reported bid of a £15,000 increase for Gow at the second attempt was really not the way a modern football club of Rangers’ stature should do business.

Three days till the transfer window shuts, and the fans hope a few major signings transpire.