Kieran Maguire reveals reason Rangers refuse to spend big amid ‘strange’ Steven Gerrard claim
Rangers did not spend big last summer because they did not sanction a major player sale to offset the cost.
So says finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about recent remarks made by former Gers boss Steven Gerrard.
Gerrard led Rangers to their first league title in a decade in 2020-21 but left for Aston Villa in November last year.
As quoted by The Sun on Thursday (21 April), the 41-year-old admitted that a lack of desire to “go again” was one of the reasons he left Ibrox.
The ex-Liverpool man explained that there was a reluctance to push the boat in the transfer market because of the economic shock of Covid.
Juninho Bacuna, who cost the Glasgow giants around £2million, was the only player to arrive on a fee-paying deal last summer.
And Rangers now have a circa £10m positive net spend for the season after Nathan Patterson’s mid-season departure to Everton.
But Maguire claims that Gerrard’s comments are “strange” in light of his old club’s success in Europe this season.
“You can understand the caution,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“They did back the manager for the ’55 title challenge. Were they in a position to repeat that? Realistically, there would have had to have been a player sale.
“Perhaps if Patterson had been sold in the summer rather than in January, there would have been more significant investment.
“But it looks as though they had gone as far as they could with regards to transfers.
“But we have to remember that Rangers are now in the semi-finals of the Europa League, which makes Gerrard’s comments look a bit strange.”
Rangers face RB Leipzig in the Europa League semi-final next Thursday (28 April).
But they trail Celtic in the Scottish Premiership with just five games to go.
In other news, expert brands SPFL a “laughing stock” as Celtic and Rangers hit by new “farce”.