Today’s Rangers AGM was certainly interesting. There were not much fireworks but there were some very good questions asked, that’s for sure.
Full credit for the conversation goes to Colin of Heart and Hand (@atcolin) for compiling the information.
One of the most important questions for me was the one on injuries and why at Rangers it seems abnormally high? Especially for certain players?
Here is the answer from Clement: ”Injuries are case by case, we look at the causes, human body, training, other things.
”Getting a good director of performance has been important. I see players working hard, including injured players.
”Tom Taylor comes from a club with a great reputation for improving players. GIve us a few months and you will see less injuries.”
When asked about the lack of quality and sellable assets in the Rangers squad, especially given the money spent in this window, Bennett had this to say: “The board is not going to make a pronouncement of the squad, that is down to the manager and his staff, the manager has been very clear to us on this and other matters and he will continue to assess the squad.
“What I can say is that the board will be ready, whether that is for January or next summer, the board will be ready. I don’t think the last window’s business infringes on our ability to strengthen the squad, I think we need to strengthen the squad almost every window if not every window.
“We have to keep aspiring to strengthen, so I don’t see any limitations, also bear in mind that there will be contract expiries, and that’s quite significant depending on what we do with that at the end of the season.
“So it’s not just about transfer fees, it’s about recycling wages that roll off, we will need to re-sign certain players, or all of those players, let’s wait and see, so it’s not just about a transfer kitty, it’s also about being clever and being more clever than we have been frankly.”
Regarding the club’s plan to fight back and defend the club in the media (very important question!), Bennett had this to say, ”Please don’t think because the club is quiet they are not working on this. We don’t want to become Statement FC, if you spoke to the authorities they would never describe us as quiet.”
The balance sheet was also discussed. Bennett talked about sustainability, “This club lost £10.5m last year pre-player trading, that’s a number that needs to go away and you should keep an eye on that number. That £10.5m needs to become zero. I’ve been kicking tyres and finding cost savings and it will come down. Rangers will go to a place where they break even before player trading so don’t be concerned about that.
“It will not cause us any problems like we suffered ten years ago. That’s over. I wouldn’t worry about our summer spend and what Philippe wants to do. I want our fans to know it’s a process. It’s not about backing an individual anymore. Please rest assured the summer spend will have no bearing on where we want to take this club.”
