PLAYER power usually wins the day in football so it will be interesting to see if Scott Allan does finally get his move to Rangers. I went through a similar experience when I was on the brink of leaving Dundee United for Ibrox in 1999. They were always going to let me go but late on they decided they would try to eke out a little bit more money from David Murray.
I wasn’t going to let the whole thing fall through for something like £50,000 so I phoned the manager, Paul Sturrock, and let him know in no uncertain terms he would have a very unhappy player on his hands.
I didn’t want to give United an ultimatum but I felt that if that was what it was going to take, then that was what I would do. United backed down and I got my move.
So players normally get what they want in that situation but Hibernian seem determined that won’t be the case this time. They are standing firm and hoping that Allan accepts he isn’t going to get his move and decides he will work hard for the last year of his contract.
What could happen, though, is the player just decides he isn’t happy and downs tools. That would be bad professionalism but Allan seems quite a determined character as we saw when he wanted to leave United a few years ago. He is used to getting what he wants but Hibs look as if they are in this struggle for the long haul. Nobody wins out of that, though. The player either rots, doesn’t play or doesn’t give his best and so Hibs don’t get anything either as they have lost out on the transfer money and have someone who is playing poorly that they are stuck with.
Sometimes you are better just cutting ties and letting the transfer happen, even though it isn’t good business for Hibs. What Rangers are offering isn’t great money in this day and age.
I could understand if it was big money and they thought, “fair enough,we took a chance on him and made £1million out of it”, but £250,000 isn’t a lot in return for a player such as Allan. He could make a real difference to Hibs. If he stays for another season, they might win the Championship. If he goes, they won’t. And that’s something they have to weigh up as well.
Probably the best solution from Hibs’ point of view would be to move him on to another club but there doesn’t seem to be many other suitors. It’s a bit like Nadir Ciftci’s transfer to Celtic. Wigan were interested but once a player has his head turned, then nothing else really matters. It was Celtic he was going to.
It’s the same for Allan. As soon as it became clear he was on Rangers’ radar, there was nowhere else he wanted to go. It is understandable that Hibs are playing hardball but I don’t think it will turn out well for them if they try to hold on. They could end up with no money and an unhappy player on their hands.
Hibs want the whole thing to settle down and just go away but history suggests it won’t. You only have to look at Allan’s time at United when he wouldn’t sign a contract. His manager Peter Houston wasn’t happy with his behaviour, and it wasn’t a nice episode.
It’s already looking messy this time and I just hope he is doing the right thing as when he went to West Brom his career stalled. He hit a brick wall so he has to watch he doesn’t go to another big club and stall again.
I hope he has matured from that time and that if he leaves Easter Road he does so in the most amicable terms possible. But I can see Hibs trying to stand their ground right until the end of the window.
At that point they might think if they have a player who isn’t doing the business for them then they might be better just cutting their losses and letting him go. But the money has to be right for them, too.
The Scott Allan sideshow has almost overshadowed the start of the Champion- ship season. I think, whether Rangers sign him or not, they will win the title at the second time of asking. There’s a freshness there with Mark Warburton in charge, different ideas, and I don’t think Hibs or anyone else in the division will be able to stop them.
We thought it would be Rangers last year but soon realised they were all over the place on and off the pitch; the structure of the club wasn’t right, Ally McCoist was having problems, Kenny McDowall came in and then latterly Stuart McCall, and they couldn’t get it right.
This time, Rangers seem better prepared. The new players appear to have bedded in well and they got off to a great start with the 6-2 win over Hibs last weekend in the Challenge Cup. That set a marker for the rest of the campaign. It will take them a year longer than they would have liked but I think they will win the league this time around.
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