Chairman blasts Rangers’ tactics
ACCRINGTON Stanley chairman Andy Holt has once again hit out at Rangers over their dealings to sign Josh Windass and Matt Crooks two years ago.
The Stanley chairman admitted to being ‘ wet behind the ears’ and insists the club have tackled the issue of players running down contracts.
But he remains unhappy over the manner of the transfers that saw the duo move to Ibrox for a compensation fee of around £200,000 in the 2016 January window.
Windass and Crooks agreed pre-contract deals with Rangers in January 2016 as they entered the final six months of their contracts.
But Holt has accused Rangers of showing a lack of courtesy by failing to inform Accrington until the players had almost agreed the switch.
Crooks lasted only 18 months before moving on to Northampton, but Windass remains a key player at Ibrox and is a tar- get for Championship sides Leeds United and Preston.
The news prompted one supporter to ask Accrington chairman Holt on Twitter if they had a sell-on clause inserted in the deal.
In response, Holt tweeted: “No, got ripped off. I didn’t expect them to stay.
“The lads did what anyone would do.
“What I am saying is that it was all over the Scottish press and I was being contacted by agents telling me that they were going to Rangers long before the window opened as we were trying to secure contracts.
“Rangers sent me a letter on Jan 3rd stating they wanted to talk to players, when I knew all that was left to do was the medical.
“In fairness I learnt a lot from it as I was ‘wet behind the ears,’ if our contracts had been better in the first place the issue may never have arisen. We’re getting there at Stanley now.”
Stanley head to Crawley Town on Saturday.