RANGERS have sold their Dutch winger, Pieter Huistra, to 'J' League
side Hiroshima San Frecce for #500,000, which means they have earned
almost #5m in sales over the last three weeks.
Everton's willingness to pay #4.3m for Duncan Ferguson and now the
transfer of Huistra, who was at Ibrox for four and a half years, leaves
Rangers manager Walter Smith in an extremely healthy position as he
looks around for fresh talent.
Also, the chances are he will have even more to spend because he is
still anxious to off-load a few more players to make space in the
dressing room for the players he believes can help make Rangers a force
in Europe.
Huistra, a player of some subtlety but whose final delivery was often
wayward, was never quite able to command a regular first-team place,
although he had been performing well in recent months. The arrival of
Brian Laudrup seemed to bring more out of Huistra, but he always
suspected he was surplus to requirements.
UEFA's non-nationals' rule also conspired against him often, but the
27-year-old did well not to become too disillusioned, and he is
relishing the chance to begin again, even if it is in a set-up which is
still trying to gain world-wide recognition. ''It is very much a step
into the unknown,'' Huistra said, ''but I hope it will work out.''
Huistra has signed a two-year contract with the club which is managed
by a fellow countryman, Vim Jansen, who played for Holland in the World
Cup finals in 1974.
Jansen's team were runners up in the 'J' League last season and he
hopes Huistra can provide the spark which can take them to the title.
Basile Boli could be another player Rangers might wish to sell off,
even though he arrived only at the start of this season from Olympique
de Marseille.
Boli has not impressed and it has been alleged in the past that he has
spoken in less than glowing terms about the Ibrox set-up to a French
publication. He was given the benefit of the doubt by Rangers, but
apparently he has spoken again to a French newspaper, Liberation,
allegedly pointing out that he would like to win championship medals in
four different countries.
He has a dream, and it is to win the premier division championship
with Rangers and also the titles in England, Germany, and either Spain
or Italy. He is ''driven by a desire to win,'' but he will do well to
hold on to his place in Rangers' first team when all of their players
are fit and available.
Although they paid Marseille #2.7m for him, I suspect Rangers would
not be too unhappy to take the money from some club in England, Italy,
Spain, Germany or wherever and help him on his way to fulfilling his
dream of winning in four countries.
Hearts appoint Scottish football's first female chief executive, Sally
Robinson, on Monday, and one of her first duties could involve clearing
the way for Maurice Johnston to leave Tynecastle, which will be no
straightforward matter. It is believed Johnston is seeking a #175,000
pay-off.
Robinson's remit will cover the financial, commercial and
administrative side of the club while manager Tommy McLean will continue
to have complete control over the playing side, but she will have to
become involved if Johnston is to be taken off the pay roll.
The former Partick Thistle, Watford, Celtic, Rangers, and Everton
striker has had talks with McLean and the chairman, and made it clear he
will leave the club if they smooth the way with a decent offer to buy
out the remainder of his contract. Johnston was signed originally on a
short-term basis and in October '93, Mercer awarded him a two-year deal
thought to be worth #400,000 plus bonuses.
Johnston fell out of favour soon after McLean left Motherwell to
become Hearts' manager in the close season, and he has been banished to
the reserves. Mo's exile there could be costing him around #1000 a week,
but his conditions remain lucrative enough, although he would much
prefer first-team football.
Hearts may be willing to pay him off at around #100,000, but Johnston
will want to go at his price, and it will be up to the new chief
executive to decide whether or not the club has the money to pay. She
may find, however, that Hearts can't afford to keep him.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article