Green pledges to give McCoist a 10m war chest from Rangers' flotation on LSE
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UPDATED:
00:01 GMT, 20 December 2012
Charles Green pledged 10million from the club’s share issue for Ally McCoist to spend on new recruits — with the promise of more to follow.
The Rangers manager cannot add to his squad in the coming transfer window due to a one-year embargo but can bring in free agents as of September 1 next year.
McCoist this week sought clarity from Green over transfer budgets after the chief executive failed to deliver the five players he had been hoping for before the August deadline.
And Green responded by insisting that 10m will be ring-fenced from the 22.2m raised ahead of the club being floated on the London Stock Exchange, with unspecified further funds on the horizon if season-ticket sales are again healthy.
Cash injection: Charles Green has vowed to boost Rangers' coffers to the tune of 10m
Green said: ‘We’ve allocated 10m for Ally to spend on players as soon as he’s able to do that. But we’re not saying it’s 10m and only 10m — if Rangers fans buy season tickets next year, there’s another 20m there.
‘We have a transfer ban for another year but Ally and his team are looking at who is out of contract when we can sign pre-contract agreements in January then, on September 1, we can sign them.’
If Rangers do sign players on pre-contracts next month, no money can change hands until the end of the transfer ban in September, but Green still expects top players to jump at the chance.
‘Why wouldn’t you sit on your hands and wait if you had the chance to play for Rangers’ he asked.
‘In Europe, clubs are in meltdown and can’t pay players’ wages.
‘We know that (former Rangers keeper) Allan McGregor was having difficulty getting paid (at Besiktas), although I understand that has now been resolved.
‘But other players have gone into Europe on a gravy train and soon found out there’s no gravy.
‘So there’s a chance for them to sit on their hands or to leave their contracts and sign a contract for Rangers — who can pay salaries when we are allowed to do so. That is quite attractive.’
Ahead of the stock exchange flotation yesterday, Green had vowed that Rangers ‘will rise again’.
And the chief executive, who cannot cash in his shares for two years, believes success on and off the park over that period will result in Rangers amassing financial muscle that will ‘scare’ opponents.
Money to spend: Ally McCoist will have the chance to strengthen his squad
‘We’ve sold 37,500 season tickets this season and we didn’t put them on sale until August.
‘Remember, no one was going to buy a ticket off me in July, because I was “a snake-oil salesman”.
‘With added goodwill, I’d assume if we’ve won the Third Division we’ll see no less season tickets next year.
‘We reduced the price to 315 this year but, if they went to 400 next year, then that’s another 18m in the bank.
‘That must be the scary thing about Rangers, looking from the outside.
‘In the past we might have needed 100m to get a squad together, but those days are long gone.
‘Last year, Theo Walcott would have cost up to 50m but now he may end up leaving Arsenal on a free.
‘That’s happening everywhere and we have to be aware of the options available to our Theo Walcotts, like Barrie McKay and Fraser Aird.
‘Football is changing. We don’t need to be paying 12m for Tore Andre Flo. When was that ever good business
‘What we have done is set a structure in place where Rangers are no longer a boom-or-bust club. This is the springboard for the rebirth of Rangers.’
Rangers shares sold for 70p and were worth 76p by close of trade, with Green hailing a successful flotation.
‘It’s an enviable position,’ he said, ‘and if Rangers was in any other league in the world, this club would be worth 400m, bigger than Aston Villa, Tottenham, Everton and others.’
