That isn’t a typo, as undoubtedly the loan deal for Aaron Ramsey is the main splash.
Trying to soothe a self-pitying lynch mob is probably a Sisyphean task.
Indeed, after the Dingwall debacle, there had to be some feel-good distraction for the folks who trashed George Square last May.
Lest we forget.
As ever with Sevco, we have to Follow Follow the money.
“Ramsey’s move is viewed as a major coup for the Scottish Premiership leaders, with Juventus cooperating on wages to ensure he fits into the Ibrox side’s wage structure.”
“Juventus cooperating on wages” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.
If these reports on Juve picking up the vast majority of his eye-watering salary is true, then this is a low-risk, high reward move by the Sevco High Command.
Should Mr Ramsey become acquainted with the medical team at Auchenhowie, then it isn’t a financial hit for the ten-year-old club.
His abilities as a top-class footballer are not in doubt.
There was a reason that Juventus gave him such a massive contract in 2019.
A fully fit and focused Ramsey could be the difference between winning and losing the SPFL.
However, only the most incurably perspicacious would predict how his gifted limbs will cope with the dense gravity of Planet Fitba.
It must be pointed out that supporters of the Italian club were coping relatively well with the news.
This conversation on a Juve message board indicates that they are not exactly heartbroken to be without his services for the rest of the season.
Sevco has been here before, and they were ably assisted by the usual succulent suspects in the Stenography Corps.
For example, Niko Kranjčar was also a huge name, but he had an unfortunate injury profile.
In the end, the skilful Croatian only played 16 games for Sevco.
You can also add Barton and Senderos into the category of major reputations who arrived at Ibrox to great fanfare but contributed little.
I have consistently reported that this transfer window for Sevco would be one where players would be sold (or attempted to be shifted), and the squad would be augmented with loan deals.
The acquisition of Mateusz Żukowski for probably a nominal fee doesn’t alter that narrative.
Of course, the young Welshman will have to quickly acclimatise himself to the cultural ordinances at Everyone Anyone FC.
Any footballer has to quickly adjust to their new surroundings when they move clubs.
Sadly, there are special considerations at Ibrox.
Consequently, this expressed affection for any aspect of Irishness will be verboten for the duration of his stay in Glasgow.
Aaron Ramsey is now playing for supporters who came up with The Famine Song and revere the memory of a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Some things will remain the same, though.
He has switched one footballing brand associated with financial malfeasance and cheating for another.
Lest we forget.
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All the talk in town was of the succulent buffet and the signing of Ramsey at Rangers but alas Ross County’s Cook turned up to spoil the broth.
The world class breakfast at Auchinbowfin will taste like whoopsed Sushi from the ASDA fridges as failure to straighten their defence is now looking like a recipe for disaster.
They were after all floundering for 45 minutes as Celtic put them in their plaice.
They must be gutted.
A no Star disaster that even Ramsey couldn’t rescue.
It’s been said Ramsay knocked back a “ host” of English premiership clubs,do we have any details of these bids
Every player they sign, “chose Rangers over a host of big teams in England and Europe.”
The reality of Ramsey is, in two and a half years at Juve, he’s appeared in 49 league games, made only 25 starts and played a full 90 minutes only ONCE. In 70 appearances across all competitions, he’s never played 90 minutes in back to back games.
Scottish defenders, knowing his fitness record, will obviously be gentle with him.
I think such transfers rarely work. We signed Dion Dublin, Ian Wright and Freddie Lundberg and all were useless for us. But if he is fit and plays he is quality. But we continue to sneer at Rangers* all the while they are champions, top of the league and we have not beaten them in over two years. Let’s see that change tomorrow, let us win the league then we have a right to have bragging rights over them where it really counts…..on the pitch.
Dion Dublin certainly wasn’t.
“Juventus cooperating on wages” is totally contradictory to reports I read which stated that Juventus were desperate to get him off their wage bill. This is Ramsey’s third season in Italy, playing 24 out of 38 matches in the first, 22 out of 38 in the second and just 3 out of 22 this season so he clearly has a problem. It seems likely that Sevco have him on a ‘pay as you play’ deal and despite media reports to the contrary there weren’t many other clubs lining up for his signature. So maybe not the scoop that the Ibrox PR machine is claiming.
For me Sevco’s young Man U loanee, Amad Diallo will be the one to watch as he seemed to glide past defenders in the little I saw of him against Ross County. I fear Starfeld is going to be in for a rough ride and hoping Ange has a plan to deal with him.
As I said, Diallo will be lost in this occasion and Starfeld will play his part and Ang has no need to bother himself about the youngster.
Aaron Ramsey: “I am really pleased to be joining a club like Rangers. ”
He is spot on, Sevco are just like Rangers.
Just a pity we don’t have broony in the middle of the park tomorrow to give him the same welcome Joey Barton got. Let’s see how him and the step over whizz kid perform in a full
paradise. Bring it on!
Anyone know why sevco have moved their 5 stars away from above the badge and onto the back of their shirt now? Seems an unusual thing to have done. We all know they misappropriated the stars above a badge which everyone else in European football use to represent the number of Big Cup wins. Pathetically trying to detract from Celtic’s single and correctly used star. Is it possible they have been advised to do so? Is there a story there to be investigated by or intrepid SMSM?
Fair play to them regarding Ramsay but it’s a bit strange that no other clubs were in for him. Particularly when, as is much quoted in the media, Juve are still paying the vast majority of the obscene wages they agreed to contract him to.
JS.
Well according to reports, sevco paid a loan fee of €2.5m for 4 months
That works out at around €150,000 a week for a player who gets injured playing fifa on his xbox.
Hope he stays fit though, so they have no excuses when we win the league in May
In financial terms the numbers are eye-watering. Rangers may be just paying £40,000 a week towards his wages, but they’re also reported to be paying Juventus a loan fee of £2.5 million. Spread that out over the next 16 weeks, and that equates to another £156,00 a week, making the total cost to the club just shy of £200,000 a week. Tax and NI might add even more. If he manages to play every single minute of every single game remaining, that’s around £2k per minute. And they’ll get none of that back if he moves on. Is htis a Scottish record.
In other words he’s not a standard that juventus were looking for but they see his level at sevco as OK. How long before we get the the rangers managed to keep their star players while knocking back massive bids for the whole team and we don’t need the money as we can increase the wage bill and it leaves us with trillions still in the directors pockets so Ross Wilson has done another great job in this transfer window.
I’m not sure why Juve are happy – it looks like he is still on their payroll even if he has left the building.
He’s not kicked a ball since October and had very little game time at Juve since his move.
As you point out Juve have said that they will foot the bulk of his £400k per week wage packet.
Just how much is that ‘bulk’ with Rangers claiming that they have not broken their own salary structure in bringing him in.£35k per week max with Juve paying the £365k per week difference? It smacks of desperation on Juve’s part to get him off the books with not a single EPL club interested in bringing him back even if Juve’s offer of picking up the bulk of Ramsay’s weekly wage was still on offer.
It’s a very strange move considering that a few hundred thousand pounds wasn’t found to fund the Souttar transfer before the window closes.
I believe the deal comes with an option to buy, really?
Will he be drafted in tomorrow night for his debut or will his lack of game time in Italy delay his debut?
Kranjcar and Barton were the two names I had in mind too, Phil. How long do you think Sevco will be in demanding referees give special protection to skilful players? Cue a rash of red and yellows when a breeze blows Ramsey off his feet.
Not forgetting Tore André Flo(p) in November 2000
Is this sevco’s equivalent of Rangers FC buying Tore Andre Flo for £12M in 2020 before a crucial Old Firm game?
Of course, sevco can only get a loan, but fair play, it will steal the headlines before tomorrow’s game.
Ramsey might make the bench tomorrow.
Yes, he is a quality player but, at 31 and injury prone, Ramsey isn’t likely to be a regular starter to make a major impact – on the pitch.
But he’ll shift some shirts and the English media will show some interest…
It’s like the footballing equivalent of a dishonourable discharge. Meanwhile, any truth in the rumour Aston Villa’s recruitment team blundered? Gerry Steven’s demand: “get Kento now!” somehow translated into the Midlands club getting Coutinho.