Graeme Souness wants to see Rangers spend more money in the transfer market.
Rangers manager Mark Warburton
Rangers legend Graeme Souness has called on the club to spend more money, as quoted by The Scottish Sun – but manager Mark Warburton has responded by telling the Daily Mail that the Gers can’t afford to go splashing the cash.
Warburton took on Celtic for the second time this season on Sunday, and was looking for a much better performance having seen his side lose 5-1 to the Bhoys in September.
This time in the Scottish League Cup semi-final, Rangers still came up short as Moussa Dembele bagged a late winner for Celtic at Hampden Park to send them into the final.
Rangers manager Mark Warburton
The scoreline was much closer this time which will please Warburton, but it’s clear that there is still a gulf between Celtic and Rangers, which is to be expected considering that this is Rangers’ first season back in the top flight since 2012.
Rangers will have to be smart in the transfer market to bridge that gap, and Graeme Souness – an Ibrox hero having both played for and managed Rangers – has had his say on the club.
As quoted by The Scottish Sun, Souness stated that he thinks manager Warburton is working ‘with one hand tied behind his back’ due to a lack of funding from owner Dave King, calling on Rangers to invest more in new signings.
Graeme Souness
“Celtic are five years ahead, they’ve had a five-year period where they could grow themselves,” said Souness. “The gap is there, we have to accept the gap is there and hopefully we close that very quickly and that will be done by investment. There’s no magic wand you can wave to make the players you’ve got into far better players. You can improve them slowly.”
“But can you make the players there that much better they can catch Celtic up this season? I don’t think so. I think it will need investment and that is down to the owner finding the money for the manager. At the moment the manager is operating with one hand tied behind his back,” he added.
Rangers manager Mark Warburton
At a press conference this afternoon, Warburton was asked about the comments made by Souness, and he told the Daily Mail that whilst he respects Souness’ opinion, Rangers must spend wisely rather than run themselves into financial ruin, as they did in 2012.
“Football is a game of opinions and Graeme is a very knowledgeable football man, steeped in experience who knows all about Glasgow too. You have to respect his opinion,” said Warburton. “There is a financial gap that exists at this moment in time. That’s clear for everybody to see.”
“They (Celtic) have a squad packed with international players. They are in the Champions League this year and are getting all the benefit of that in terms of playing experience and financial income. We recognise and respect that. We then have to sit down and decide how do we close it? How do we improve our squad? Can we invest astutely and wisely? We have to set aggressive targets to try and close the gap. If our supporters can see that we will be in a good place,” he added.
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