Philippe Clement said some amount of stupid things during his ill-fated spell as Rangers manager.
One notable outpouring came last summer when, on the same day he argued there was ‘no gap’ between the Ibrox club and champions Celtic, the Belgian waffler stated that Jack Butland would not be allowed to leave ‘for any price’.
How unfortunate that all seems now. Nottingham Forest, of course, had seen a £5million offer rejected for the former England international during the previous winter window.
There was surely scope to drum up some kind of auction for the goalkeeper’s services, coerce someone into paying that little bit more, but no. No deal.
As has been Rangers wont, despite rambling on ad infinitum about player-trading models, they prefer to pull down the shutters and hold on to their wares until they are past their sell-by date. Quite often, going by the case studies of Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent, Borna Barisic, John Lundstram and others, until there is no possibility of getting any transfer fee for them at all.
On current form, with another horrific blooper on his record after the weekend, you would struggle to give Butland away right now. Rangers look stuck with a guy on hefty wages who is looking like he cannot be trusted for next term. Same goes for pretty much the entire defence that performed so atrociously in a completely insane, disorderly, chaotic 4-3 win at Dundee on Saturday evening.
Nico Raskin challenges SImon Murray during Rangers’ 4-3 victory over Dundee on Saturday
Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland concedes a second after making a huge blunder at Dens Park
Striker Cyriel Dessers grabs a last-gasp winner after another of his exasperating displays
There’s a lesson to be learned from all this, though, with Nico Raskin having more eyes on him than ever thanks to receiving a standing ovation during Belgium’s Nations League win over Ukraine last midweek and producing an outstanding display in Rangers’ first-leg triumph over Fenerbahce in the last 16 of the Europa League.
There can be no silliness about Rangers players having ‘No Sale’ signs slapped on them any longer. As exemplified by a display at Dens Park that lacked any kind of discipline or order or dominance, there isn’t one single player in this team that could be termed indispensable. Not one.
Raskin did make one or two contributions. He played a pass that set up substitute Tom Lawrence to make it 3-3. Over the piece, though, he wasn’t in it. The visiting midfield didn’t get a grip on the encounter at all.
In truth, there wasn’t one period in the entire 90 minutes where either side could have argued they had things under control.
It was just frantic, end to end, basketball-game mayhem from start to finish. And for the likes of Gretar Steinsson of 49ers Enterprises, part of the American consortium preparing to take over at Rangers, it should convince him that nothing can be off the table when it comes to giving this squad the serious restructuring it requires.
There’s talk of interest in Raskin. If it can be magicked into a good, concrete offer, it should be taken. With the Belgian aged 24 and with two years left on his contract, Rangers should be in an advantageous position to negotiate and get as much as they can.
Yes, Raskin can run the show against Celtic and in Europe on his day. However, in recent weeks, he has also been part of a Rangers midfield stomped all over at home in losing to Motherwell and unable to exert any serious influence on a game against relegation-threatened Dundee. Not so long ago, he couldn’t even get in the team.
Playing for Belgium and getting ready to face Athletic Bilbao in a European quarter-final puts him right in the shop window, though. And Rangers should embrace that. When you’re a selling club, you need to strike while the iron is hot and cash in when a player’s stock is high.
Butland is proof. As are so many others. Just look at that dreadful rearguard. James Tavernier should be long gone. His time was up last summer. There was talk of interest in him from Qatar and Turkey, but it either didn’t materialise or it wasn’t encouraged.
On the other flank at Dens Park was Ridvan Yilmaz. He had looked a solid signing when arriving from Besiktas as a 21-year-old in 2022 for £3.4m. He’d been in Turkey’s Euro 2020 squad. Since then, his international career has fizzled out and he looks like a guy treading water these days. It is such a disappointment.
Yet, it was said that Besiktas were prepared to pretty much give Rangers their money back last summer through a loan fee and then an obligation-to-buy clause. Clement poo-pooed that as well, however.
That Leon Balogun is back in the team approaching 37, having been freed by the club in 2022, and part of a back three with Dujon Sterling, who is never a centre-back in a month of Sundays, says so much about how awful recruitment has been.
Success in UEFA competition, where the ability to play as a counter-attacking side is complemented by lower expectation levels, has suited many of the players and their attitude problems.
But that’s not what the club needs. They require consistent performers who can churn out wins week after week, handle the unvarnished uniqueness of the Scottish Premiership and put pressure on Celtic at the top of the table. This collection of characters is many things, but it isn’t made up of that.
The utter chaos of the game at Dens, in spite of it ending with three points, showed up so many of their frailties in technicolour. Two down after 19 minutes to efforts from Simon Murray and Joe Shaughnessy and absolutely all over the shop, they got back into it just before the break through a Shaughnessy own goal.
And even when Scott Tiffoney made it 3-1, Tavernier and substitute Lawrence set up a thrilling finale by restoring parity. That’s when a lunatic encounter went totally tonto.
Murray smashed the inside of Butland’s left-hand post when sent through in time added-on and, moments later, Cyriel Dessers grabbed a last-gasp winner with his 12th attempt on goal in what had hitherto been another exasperating display.
Dessers could have been sold last summer or in winter too. There was talk of a £5m offer from MLS side Atlanta United in August and links with Serie A in January. He’ll surely be on his way when the new broom sweeps in.
Quite what Rangers might be able to get for him at the age of 30 is anyone’s guess. However, Raskin is a guy at a good age who, in the right circumstances and with the right bidder, could command a handsome fee.
This summer should certainly be nothing like last summer at Ibrox, though. Every single player must have his price. And in the case of many of them, even if that premium fee cannot be agreed, deals of meaningful value still ought to be done rather than punting five first-team squad members for £810,000 all-in just to get shot of them.
Barry Ferguson’s time as interim manager has been a riot of absurdly entertaining games and there’s plenty more adventure on the horizon. However, come the middle of May, when it’s all over, the years and years of endless daftness on and off the park have to stop.
DUNDEE (4-3-3): Carson 7; McGhee 5, Shaughnessy 5, Donnelly 4, Larkeche 5; MULLIGAN 8, Sylla 6, Robertson 8 (Garza 65); Adewumi 7, Murray 8 (Reilly 92), Tiffoney 7.
Booked: Sylla.
Manager: Tony Docherty 5.
RANGERS (3-5-2): Butland 4; Sterling 5, Balogun 5 (Hagi 46), Souttar 5; Tavernier 5, Barron 5 (Rice 46), Diomande 4 (Lawrence 74), Raskin 6, Yilmaz 5 (Jefte 61); Igamane 6 (Danilo 64), Dessers 7.
Booked: Raskin, Lawrence.
Manager: Barry Ferguson 5.
Referee: David Dickinson.
Attendance: 8,710.
