Rangers have to bring in a better standard of player now

SAYS RICHARD GOUGH

THE modern equivalent of Richard Gough is not going to be pitching up at Rangers any time soon. Thirty years on from his arrival at Ibrox, the iconic captain of the club’s nine-in-a-row era recognises how finances have changed beyond recognition.

‘Everyone says to me that I was a Rangers man — and that’s true,’ reflected Gough.

‘But Rangers also doubled my money when I came up from Tottenham. Maybe people didn’t know that. There was a financial consideration, as well.

‘Imagine that happening now? Rangers signing the Spurs captain, aged 24, and doubling his money. What would that be these days? Maybe £200,000 per week or something, I don’t know.’

Such a figure would be around ten times the maximum wage at Ibrox in 2017. But while the market in which Rangers now operate may be completely different to Gough’s heyday, that does not in any way diminish the importance of the work undertaken this summer.

After the mess that was Mark Warburton’s final year of recruitment, the 55-yearold knows Pedro Caixinha simply has to get it right ahead of Rangers’ entry to the Europa League qualifiers.

A third-place Premiership finish — nine points behind Aberdeen and 39 adrift of unbeaten Celtic — underlines the gulf that has to be bridged on the domestic front.

‘For everyone connected with Rangers, it hasn’t been a great season,’ admitted Gough. ‘If you look back at the recruitment last summer, it wasn’t the best.

‘The club have managed to qualify for Europe again, so that’s a good thing. But no one is daft, there has to be a better standard of player coming to the club this summer.

‘Rangers’ aim is to win the title, that’s always going to be the aim for this club. To do that, it will need a better standard of player.

‘Getting close to Celtic won’t be easy and the Rangers supporters know that. It’s a challenge. Football clubs are about one thing — good players. It’s about trying to get better players than the ones you’ve already got.

‘There’s no doubt Rangers need better players to compete at the highest level.’

Caixinha is thought to have a list of targets that enters double digits, with Aberdeen’s Ryan Jack and experienced Portuguese international Bruno Alves among those expected to arrive.

Another full-scale overhaul will obviously require money. And therefore the support of Ibrox chairman Dave King and his fellow investors.

Gough has been a firm backer of the South Africanbased businessman, who has pledged to invest seasonticket income in the squad. But will there be enough funding forthcoming to complete the necessary scale of the changes?

‘That’s not on my pay scale, to say that,’ replied Gough. ‘We hope there will be investment. How much? Who knows?

‘The one good thing about the new manager coming in two months before the end of this season is that he has been able to have a good look at all the players. He will now have an idea of what he needs. It’s going to be an interesting summer.

‘It is a short close season, so it’s very hard for the manager. It’s a difficult window for him. There is talk of players leaving, as well as players coming in.

‘It’s changed days to when I played here and we had a very stable organisation. We brought maybe just two or three players in every year to strengthen us.

‘Now it seems as if there may be wholesale changes this summer. Again, that comes down to the standard of recruitment last year.

‘I feel a bit for the new manager. He has been put into a situation where it was: “Here are your players, get on with it”. He couldn’t really change anything immediately.

‘We will know a little bit more about him — and the investment which is going to be put in — come August.’

Gough insists that should be investment for a future return. He feels Rangers must be focused on buying or producing players who can be sold on to England for a profit. Pining for a return of old days would be pointless.

‘I look at Ajax and this is their first European final in many years,’ said Gough ahead of tonight’s Europa League final with Manchester United. ‘I would never have believed that, given the powerhouse they were.

‘Their system has also been decimated by the English Premier League.

‘In Scotland, we have to get back to how it was before, bringing the young players through and selling them on to the bigger English clubs.

‘That anomaly we had between 1986 and maybe 2000 was a blip in the way British football runs.’

“Getting close to Celtic will not be easy”