The Rangers board didn’t exactly go out of their way to mask a dig at Michael Beale for some bad decisions that have set the club back.
That’s the view of our man Andy Newport who attended the fateful AGM on Thursday – and reckons they only need to look across the city at Celtic to see where they’ve gone wrong over the last few years. It wasn’t quite the pantomime it often is, with fan fury placated by improved recent performances and the appointment, at last, of a new CEO in Patrick Stewart.
But when finance officer James Taylor confirmed that the club did, in fact, receive just £800,000 for the sales of five players in the summer – Sam Lammers, Connor Goldson, Todd Cantwell, Scott Wright and Robby McCrorie – there was understandable bemusement among shareholders.
Andy attended the event and told Keith Jackson on Thursday night’s Hotline LIVE: “I think a lot of people assumed that £800,000 was a mistake, they’d missed a digit somewhere. So to have it confirmed by James Taylor that it was indeed the case was met with astonishment.
“Todd Cantwell was being talked up for a £40m move to Chelsea at one point. Here is is being thrown down the road to Blackburn for a bag of balls and a couple of quid along with five other players.
“James Taylor basically confirmed the club are paying the price for mistakes made by Michael Beale when he was in charge. It’s a hefty price. Robin Propper, who hasn’t exactly set the world alight, cost double that £800,000.
“Mikey Johnston, who was so far out the picture at Celtic he could barely even get into the team photo, he goes for three or four times that amount. That underlines just how bad some of the decisions that have been made at this club have been.”
Host Keith responded: “It’s a difficult one for them to try and pin the blame on Michael Beale for the deals that they did and didn’t sanction. I understand that player recruitment hasn’t been great, but it still looks like a paltry number to me. It’s astonishing.”
And Andy said: “Yeah, well they never mentioned Michael Beale by name, but when they start talking about decisions that were made 18 months or so ago, you know exactly who they’re talking about.”
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