uneasydaz
Well-Known Member
WITH the bulk of transfer business done and chequebooks being tucked away until next summer, Steven Gerrard must be pinching himself.
Having turned up the heat on Celtic this season, the Rangers boss probably expected his club’s cash-rich rivals to bury him this month.
Instead, he’s being let off the hook.
If anything, you could even argue his signing of old stagers Jermain Defoe and Steven Davis is better business than Celtic have done across town.
Only time will tell, but in terms of winning the title, Rangers now look in better nick than when this window opened.
For a club that went bust recently, Gers’ spending this season looks criminal.
If Dave King is picking up even half of Defoe’s £130,000-a-week Bournemouth wages, he should be sectioned.
But common sense put its jacket on from the moment ten-in-a-row reared its ugly head again.
As a result of Celtic’s complacency, Rangers are contenders again — and they’re throwing the kitchen sink at it.
That £14million black hole in the accounts?
You get the impression Gers would take another liquidation if it meant stopping the Hoops reaching the big ten.
Only a fortnight ago, I wrote that how Celtic reacted in this window would decide the title.
If they were to get a few big hitters in, then Rangers could not match them.
Instead, they are leaving the door wide open for their bitter rivals.
With 11 days left of this window, there’s still time for Celtic to buy this season’s title.
With Rangers right on their case, Hoops supporters expected Peter Lawwell to put the championship beyond the Ibrox side.
They can do without light shows and a new stadium hotel. They just want the best players the club can afford.
Either way, if Lawwell knows anything about the game, he will recognise the seven-in-a-row champs are in a bit of bother.
A season that should have seen Rodgers’ squad defend their crown without breaking sweat has now distilled into a four-month dogfight.
Lawwell and head of recruitment Lee Congerton should have read the signs during the first half of the campaign.
They should have been ready to bury Rangers the moment the winter window opened.
Instead, they have taken a major punt on three youngsters who are still learning their trade.
Listen, for all I know, Timothy Weah might have the DNA to shoot the lights out in Scotland.
But if you’re looking for consistency, you don’t turn to an 18-year-old. You pay what it takes for the tried and trusted.
Oli Burke’s another gamble. At 21, he’s not the finished article and will only improve under Rodgers.
But with West Brom in the thick of a promotion battle, why would Baggies boss Darren Moore allow Burke to leave The Hawthorns?
At 22, Vakoun Issouf Bayo looks a safer bet on the evidence of his numbers in the Slovakian league.
Already an Ivory Coast cap, the striker shouldn’t find our Premiership beyond him.
But if these youngsters are the only business Celtic are doing, they are taking one hell of a risk.
And yet, bizarrely, the obvious need for a proper centre-half has been ignored.
In the meantime, Gerrard must be looking at Rodgers’ signings and heaving a huge sigh of relief.
Gerrard is the product of an English Premier League where the chequebook is used like a baseball bat to bludgeon opposition.
But where Rodgers has the resources to shaft his old Liverpool captain this month, he’s not gone for the jugular.
Unless Celtic have a couple of marquee signings up their sleeve, Rangers will make this an unlikely title race.
Be in no doubt, Gerrard would never have expected to be challenging for the title when he pitched up in Glasgow last summer.
Inheriting many of Pedro Caixinha’s shoddy signings put him behind the eight ball right away.
It took a lot of hard cash to get them off the wage bill at a time when Rangers were relying on donations to keep the Ibrox floodlights on.
Yet here he is, right on Rodgers’ shoulder going into the business end of the season.
On the other side of the river, Celtic directors will tell you Rangers are employing the economics of the madhouse to compete and you won’t find an accountant anywhere who’d disagree.
But should Gerrard win the title in his first season in Scotland, try finding a Rangers punter who’ll care.
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