Exclusive: Sir David Murray last night accepted full responsibility for sanctioning the £3.75m sale of Kris Boyd to Birmingham City but vehemently rejected claims of increasing pressure, or even direct intervention, from the bank.
Sir David Murray last night accepted full responsibility for sanctioning the £3.75m sale of Kris Boyd to Birmingham City but vehemently rejected claims of increasing pressure, or even direct intervention, from the bank.
In a further twist, it emerged last night that the personal terms offered to Boyd by Birmingham have been deemed unacceptable by his agent and a vast improvement will be necessary before the striker signs.
It is understood Rangers remain confident the deal will go ahead.
In an exclusive interview with The Herald, the Rangers chairman also stated categorically that he will not promote transfers of Barry Ferguson, Madjid Bougherra or Allan McGregor during the January window, despite suggestions of a fire sale to ease the club's debts, estimated at £25m.
Ferguson's agent, John Viola, is expected to arrive in Glasgow today to establish the captain's future at Rangers and Murray revealed he will negotiate a new contract designed to keep Ferguson at the club for the remainder of his career.
Murray stressed it was entirely his call to sell Boyd. He admitted the combination of failure to qualify for the Champions League group stages, which would have raised £10m, and the economic downturn forced him to part with the club's leading goal- scorer. It has been claimed that Rangers have come under pressure from HBOS, with Lloyds TSB believed to have expressed concern over football debt as they plan their merger.
Murray sympathised with the anxiety among a support, who have watched the club cash in on their form player in the past three transfer windows, but claimed keeping Boyd would have placed the club in greater financial jeopardy and would not have guaranteed a title win.
"I am not prepared to risk the health of the club by running up big debts and losses without putting the handbrake on," he said. "If we had won against Kaunas, this would not have happened.
"I want to square the books and it was my decision to do so, with the approval of the manager, whether it involved Kris Boyd or anybody else. There has been no pressure from the bank, none whatsoever; how can there be if we do not know who is taking over HBOS? Kris Boyd has been a debate for years but you are not always able to dispose of a player you want to when you want to. We need to get the costs down and with the greatest respect, even if we kept Kris Boyd I do not think there would be any guarantees this season."
Boyd's impending departure has been compounded by persistent reports that the spine of the team are available at the right price. Pressed on the distinction between not promoting the sale of another player, and not selling another player in January, Murray was emphatic that it would require "astronomical" figures to tempt the club.
"We have no intention of selling Allan McGregor, Barry Ferguson, Madjid Bougherra or anybody else," he said. "There is no pressure to do so from me or the banks.
"People are asking how bad is it at Rangers? If we did not take this action, it could have been bad, but there are far worse situations developing aroundus and I will not allow it to spiral again. Rangers have to be run on a sound fiscal basis.
"We did not budget for losing to FBK Kaunas, we have a squad of 28 players and we simply cannot sustain the level of outgoings compared to what is coming in.
"We are paying between £5m and £7m in wages per year for players who are not required. You cannot choose who you may wish to put out the door because it is dependent on offers coming in. We received an offer for Kris Boyd and we felt he was a saleable item."
Rangers' resolve is expected to be tested in the remaining days of the transfer window. Indications are that Middlesbrough and Sunderland have joined Newcastle United in expressing interest in Ferguson. The player is also believed to be warming to the idea of one final crack at the Barclays Premier League, since previous attempts to negotiate a new deal have fallen on deaf ears.
It seems there is an element of brinkmanship attached to Ferguson's situation and while Walter Smith may have legitimate football reasons for selling him, as well as Rangers' disinclination to pay £25,000 per week to a waning influence, Murray insists a new deal will be offered.
"We will sit down when it is appropriate and negotiate a new contract," he said. "I stress we are not promoting the sale of Barry Ferguson and to say we are a selling club is ridiculous. I repeat: I have no intention of promoting the sale of anyone else.
I accept a majority of the fans will be disappointed by Boyd's departure but I hope they look around and see what is happening in society. If people do not accept that, then they are not living in the real world."
Murray did not sugarcoat the depressing reality to Rangers for as long as they play second fiddle to their arch-rivals, and is resigned to several squad players continuing to drain fortunes from the club's accounts without any aspirations of playing. Brahim Hemdani is intent on sitting tight for the final five months of his contract. If Rangers thought it possible that they could trim the fat from their squad, Boyd may have been retained.
"People ask why we are doing it. The answer is simple. We have an overdraft of around £25m. My businesses are turning that over every 10 days: it is big for a football club but not for me to handle," he said. "The Murray Group remains strong, despite what I am reading on websites and in newspapers, but we are not immune to what is happening across the country. It has good assets but what I am not going to do is undermine its health with football players.
"I would get rid of 10 players who are not featuring if I genuinely thought it was possible. If I could have, we might have been able to veto the Boyd deal. I find it amazing that football scribes question my financial management. Maybe they should look closer to home. I am not prepared to run Rangers the way I did but even then I was criticised for overspending.
"The bottom line is we do not have enough pegs in the dressing room for the players we have in the first team. We received an offer for Kris Boyd we felt was acceptable. People are not getting to grips with the situation: a lot of people are losing jobs throughout the country, nobody is immune to it. It is a simple question of balancing the books but people are now moaning as if I lost to Kaunas. They have also asked if I have fallen out with the manager over it: people who say that do not know the relationship I have with Walter.
I have 11,000 shareholders and I have to protect their investment as well as my own."
There remains the suspicion that Boyd's sale is merely the tip of the iceberg. Murray refuted such claims as scaremongering. He defended selling Alan Hutton for £9m last January, Carlos Cuellar for £7.8m in the summer and now Boyd by pointing to the money Smith has had to reinvest.
"We are not a selling club," he said. "In the last five years, we have spent £52.4m in transfers and brought in £30.5m. That does not include signing-on fees, agents' fees etcetera. There is not one year we have not been net spenders and that will be the same this season, even if we sell Kris Boyd.
"If we do not have as much coming in, we cannot pay as much out. I do not want Rangers to run up a loss."
Murray ended with a warning that things could get worse before they get better, with the club bracing themselves for a downturn in revenue in the summer. "It is a major concern for every football club," he said. "No matter who wins the league, there will be difficulties in sponsorship, advertising and season tickets."
