Whyte set to offer new deals to players

Chief football writer

Monday 9 May 2011

ONE of Craig Whyte's first acts as the owner of Rangers will be to make renewed efforts to secure goalkeeper Allan McGregor and Madjid Bougherra on new deals.

Custom byline text:

michael grant chief football writer michael.grant@heraldandtimes.co.uk

Whyte does not want to distract the club’s management this week given that victories over Dundee United tomorrow and Kilmarnock on Sunday will guarantee that Rangers retain their title of league champions for the third year running.

But the new owner was convinced that McGregor would have had to be sold if his takeover had not gone through – in order to raise £6 million or so to pay for several new signings – and that will not now need to happen.McGregor, 29, is under contract for two more years but a longer deal would secure a larger transfer fee if he moved to the English Premier League. Tottenham were reported to be interested in him yesterday and he has been previously linked with Arsenal, Aston Villa and Bursaspor. Martin Bain, the Rangers chief executive , had spoken with McGregor’s agent in recent weeks about a four-year extension and the Scotland internationalist has indicated his wishes to stay.Bougherra, 28, has only a year left on his current deal and is free to negotiate with other clubs in only eight months. He has said he will leave next summer although Whyte will allow manager-in-waiting Ally McCoist to make another attempt to persuade him to stay longer. Improved wage deals for the pair of them will come out of the initial funds handed to McCoist for squad rebuilding this summer.Whyte’s determination to not interfere in the club during the run-in to the Clydesdale Bank Premier League means there will be no changes to the existing board of directors before the end of the season, despite his displeasure about a statement released by some of them questioning and criticising the substance of his takeover.The existing board will no longer have executive powers, though, meaning that effectively only Whyte himself and his newly-appointed director, Phil Betts, have the authority to make decisions in the meantime.

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

Whyte set to offer new deals to players

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED