What a difference a day makes

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Rev. Stuart Campbell

Friday 13th July, 00.18am:

“Dorin Goian has personally assured Ally McCoist and Charles Green that he will stick it out with Rangers, according to his agent. The Romanian defender, who has been paid his full wages for June, is on his way back to Glasgow today to start pre-season training. Goian has continually pledged over the summer that he wants to stay with Rangers.

Even this week, the former Palermo stopper has had offers to move, says his agent Florin Manea. But he has revealed that Goian has communicated directly with manager McCoist and owner Green that he wants to remain at Ibrox — no matter what division they end up in. He said: “We have given Rangers our word that Dorin will remain and he will honour his contract.”“

Friday 13th July, 10.30pm:

“Dorin Goian has become the first Rangers player to walk away from the Third Division — just 24 hours after insisting he would stay no matter what. The Romanian defender had claimed he wanted to stay at Ibrox and even revealed he’d given a verbal assurance to both owner Charles Green and manager Ally McCoist.

But Goian, who is due to arrive back in Scotland on Saturday after an extended summer break, performed a spectacular U-turn as news broke of Rangers’ tumble into the Third Division broke. Goian said: ‘I am not playing in the fourth division of Scottish football — there’s no question of that.”“

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Peninsula

12 years ago

What a comic farce this whole episode is turning out to be.

Having said that, it would not surprise me in the least if Green walks away very soon, liquidising assets as he goes.

I wonder what the odds are on for no ‘Rangers’ presence at all in Scottish football in 18 months time?

Rev. Stuart Campbell

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Reply to Peninsula

12 years ago

“I wonder what the odds are on for no ‘Rangers’ presence at all in Scottish football in 18 months time?”

Frankly I think there are serious questions over their presence in 18 days‘ time. How many players do they have? They’re not even SFA members yet, and when are we going to have the Appellate Tribunal reconvene? This isn’t nearly over yet.

Appleby

12 years ago

I don’t blame him. Hardly the best career move, especially if you’ve already managed to work your way up to that level and you’ve only so many years to play at your peak.

Eoin

12 years ago

I think the real story here isn’t Goian’s U-turn, or the fact that Zombie Rangers have just lost a player (who they were never going to feasibly keep for very long anyway given his wages and the fact that they really shouldn’t need international-class players in the third division).

The real story is that both Goian and his agent were – somehow – “95% certain” of Rangers being in the first division rather than the third division. It’s been obvious for quite some time that so much certainty in Rangers playing in the first division simply wasn’t possible.

The question, then, is….why did he and his agent believe that? Who led them to believe that? Has anyone else been led to believe the same thing? Are there other Rangers players (and their agents) out there who’ve pledged their time to the club on the basis that they would almost certainly be in the first division?

Mike Landers

12 years ago

I rather suspect that the first quote is like most of the stuff that has come out of Sevco – completely made up. (TBH, I bet the second is, too – if the agent is as smart as many of them are, the player will be long gone by now.)

As for how many players they have, Charles Green is (publicly at least) holding at least five of them to his reading of the TUPE regulations, despite them signing elsewhere, and refusing to sign their international clearance. Lafferty to Sion and Naismith to Everton are two that I can recall. Sorting that out won’t be quick or easy.

Wings Over Scotland