RANGERS REFUSE TO PAY OVER THE ODDS
MARK WARBURTON has warned clubs holding out for a premium price in the transfer market that Rangers will not be held to ransom — and will walk away rather than having to pay over the odds. In a statement clearly intended for the ears of St Johnstone chairman Steve Brown, who has knocked back a £200,000 Ibrox bid for winger Michael O’Halloran, Warburton said he had firm views on the ‘market value’ of players. And while he believes there is definite value in Scotland, the Englishman is clearly intent on trying to strike the best possible bargain for his club. ‘If it doesn’t represent value on and off the pitch, then why enter in to it?’ said Warburton. ‘It’s like buying a house and knowing you’ve paid too much money for it. If you are not comfortable, then don’t do it. ‘There’s a big difference between being comfortable and being brave. But right now, if it doesn’t represent value or the player doesn’t want to be here, then we won’t pursue it. ‘We know what the market is and what we have to pay for a player. I sit with the coaches
and scouts, everyone who is part of it, and we decide what is good value. ‘We might say X, but someone else might say Y. We base it on what we think is the value and how it will benefit the club. ‘We are getting there. We are getting close with a couple of targets, so fingers crossed we’ll get them done. We have to make sure it suits all parties but we are making progress.’ Asked if he was concerned about a repeat of the summer stand-off involving Scott Allan, with Hibs eventually selling the midfielder to Celtic, Warburton insisted: ‘No, I’m not worried. The club will go about its business and, hopefully, do it in the right way. At the end of the day, we want players who want to be here.’ St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright is certainly pleased with the determined stance shown by his chairman and said: ‘He informed me that Rangers had come in with one bid and then another. Both have been rejected. ‘We think we know what Michael is worth and that is the same with any of our players. We can’t stop bids coming in from clubs but we aren’t encouraging offers for Michael. We still want to hold on to him. Nothing has changed.’ Warburton, meanwhile, continued to stress his desire to get transfer work done long before deadline day and admitted that January is always a tougher market. ‘Teams who are doing well don’t want to lose their best players, while teams that are struggling don’t want to lose their best players either,’ he said. ‘That won’t change, it’s the same north or south. January’s more difficult than the summer window. You just hope you can get the right pieces to fit at the right time. ‘We like to do our business early. I was the same at my old club as well. We showed that in the summer. It was a case of get it done early, get the permanent ones done and then maybe look at loans. Last minute causes poor decision making. ‘There’s nothing that has come from Rangers about any individual player. Nothing has been said about offers from Rangers, nothing in the Press has been filtered through this club. We will never talk about another club’s player.’ While reluctant to speak about any targets, Warburton did deny that Aberdeen had been in touch about goalkeeper Cammy Bell. ‘Have I spoken directly to Aberdeen? Absolutely not,’ he declared.