IF Rangers received a pound every time that someone, a former player, an ex-manager, a television pundit, a radio shock jock, a newspaper columnist, popped up and wailed “Dave King needs to splash more cash” they would have enough money to table a bid for Cristiano Ronaldo.
Just this month, two prominent figures from the Ibrox club’s past, Ally McCoist and his old strike partner Maurice Johnston, have made the back page headlines in national newspapers by urging King, the chairman and major shareholder, to plough in more of his millions.
The same views have been aired frequently since Rangers took their place in the Ladbrokes Premiership at the start of the season. The difficulties they have experienced coping with life in the top flight have increased the regularity with which the opinion is expressed.
Seeing the Govan club struggle and drop points against Hamilton, Ross County, St. Johnstone, Dundee and Inverness Caledonian Thistle has been unusual for both their own followers and fans of other clubs.
Without being disrespectful to the members of the first team squad at Rangers - who are all, to a man, honest and hard-working professionals – the current players lack the ability and star quality of their predecessors.
Watching the likes of Jason Holt, Rob Kiernan and Josh Windass scrap to overcome lesser opponents who the likes of Paul Gascoigne, Brian Laudrup and Giovanni van Bronckhorst used to demolish has been too much for many to bear. It is little wonder that attention has turned to, and in some cases anger directed at, the man at the top.
But the appeals for more money to be forthcoming so Rangers can challenge Celtic for the Scottish title are as misguided now as they have always been.
What Rangers need is the exact opposite of what so many are crying out for. Namely, sensible stewardship which, in time, enables Rangers to live within their means. Only when that is achieved should they contemplate vying for the league.
Have no lessons been learned from the past? Has everybody forgotten where spending money they didn't have got them before? Was the scandalous mismanagement of recent years and the serious repercussions of it all just a bad dream?
King declared when he and his associates seized control at Ibrox two years ago that, initially, they would have to “over-invest” as they rebuilt. That is exactly what they have done. The club continues to make a loss and is only kept afloat due to the ongoing benevolence of wealthy fans like King, Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor.
Now, you could argue about the levels to which the custodians of the club “over-invest”. Cries of “where is the £30 million” have abounded. That is how much King estimated would require to return them to their previous position at the forefront of Scottish football.
However, spending recklessly and plunging tens of millions of pounds into debt - even if that is to supporters like King, Letham, Park and Taylor - in order to enjoy short-term success on the football field is not the route for Rangers to go back down.
It is worth asking this pertinent question. Who exactly is “splashing the cash” across the city at Celtic? The answer is nobody. Yes, their bitter rivals spend more, considerably more, on both signing players and paying their wages than they do at Rangers.
But that isn’t because Dermot Desmond, the billionaire Irish businessman and financier who is their major shareholder, is reaching into his very deep pockets and lavishing extravagant sums on Brendan Rodgers’s targets.
No, they are simply using what comes in. Indeed, they even made a slight profit in the last financial year. “Mr Micawber economics,” is how Desmond once described the business plan. The fact they can afford to lavish more on better footballers and perform at a significantly higher level as a result is simply because they have operated wisely and prudently for the last decade.
There was certainly a time when the Parkhead club spent big. Martin O’Neill was given a far greater budget than Rodgers during his five seasons at the helm. He brought in Chris Sutton (£6 million), John Hartson (£6 million), Neil Lennon (£5.75 million) and Joos Valgaeren (£3.8 million) in the space of little over a year.
That enabled them to reach the UEFA Cup final in 2003 in what was one of the greatest achievements in Celtic’s history. But there was a downside to that European run. They made a massive and unsustainable loss as a result.
Gordon Strachan’s remit when he succeeded O’Neill was to substantially reduce the wage bill at the same time as achieving on-field glory. He managed both.
The so-called “Big Tax Case” is being considered by the Supreme Court this week. BDO, the liquidators of oldco Rangers, have appealed against a Court of Session ruling on the use of now-outlawed employee benefit trusts.
That should serve as a reminder of, however difficult their current travails are for many to take, just where being rash with money can land a club.
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