Rangers' £750,000 bid for McCulloch is 'insulting' says Wigan manager
PAUL Jewell, the Wigan Athletic manager, has warned Rangers that their £750,000 offer for Lee McCulloch comes nowhere near the Premiership club's valuation.Walter Smith had been looking to make McCulloch the latest addition to the Ibrox squad, following the capture of his Scotland team-mate David Weir, who joined from Everton on Tuesday.
However, Wigan have dismissed the bid from Rangers as "insulting", indicating only a substantially increased sum could tempt them to sell the 28-year-old.
Jewell said: "Rangers have made an approach for Lee McCulloch, but the offer they made can only be described as derisory. In fact, it's insulting.
"They offered us £750,000.
He is a player we paid £700,000 for when we were in the old Third Division. Since then he has gone on and become a Championship player, a Premiership player and a full international."
Jewell stressed that the Scotland forward, who is contracted to Wigan until summer 2009, would stay at the JJB Stadium unless a large seven-figure offer came in.
He added: "If Rangers or any other club think we would sell an established player and international for such a paltry sum then they are sorely mistaken. It's not a very good way to conduct business.
"Lee has been an integral part of the success we have achieved and continues to be a key figure for us.
That's why we gave him an improved three-year deal in the summer."
McCulloch joined Wigan from Motherwell in February 2001 and has been a key part of the team's rise up the league. He has made more than 280 appearances since signing, playing either up front or on the left side of midfield.
He has scored four goals this season, recently returning to the side after serving a three-match suspension after video evidence showed him punching Sheffield United captain Chris Morgan in a match in December.
Wigan are in the midst of a desperate run of results, losing their last seven league and cup matches. They are in no mood to lose McCulloch, but Rangers are also in determined mood, and the clubs have already done business once this month with Andy Webster moving to Ibrox until the end of the season.
Rangers are aiming to progress in the UEFA Cup and secure second place in the Bank of Scotland Premierleague, and they began well under Smith with a 5-0 humbling of Dundee United last Saturday.
But the new manager said: "We know we're a little bit thin on the ground, so it's an obvious thing to try to make sure we're covered from now until the end of the season - especially with the importance of the European games coming up and also the fact that we desperately want to finish second in the league."
Rangers will be able to field Weir in Europe and McCulloch, too, would be free to play.
However, Smith is not restricting himself to looking at players who can join the club's UEFA Cup campaign.
He told Rangers World: "It is an awkward circumstance, but if there is somebody out there we can get who we feel can improve our performance and give us a bit more consistency in the league we'll go for that. It wouldn't put me off.
"
Smith is also determined to eradicate an "attitude" problem at Rangers - if he can prove it exists.
The former Scotland manager has been mystified by Rangers' poor performances against lowly teams in the SPL this season, which have contrasted strikingly to their results against the top-six sides. "It's maybe a little bit of an attitude thing, but it's very early to say that is the cause," he said.
"But if it is, I have to look to get rid of that."
Meanwhile, Alan Stubbs has described the departure of Weir to Rangers as a body blow for Everton.
The Scotland captain, Weir, played 269 games for Everton over an eight-year spell, but only six this season with his contract running out in the summer.
Weir and Stubbs formed a hugely reliable central defensive pairing and now Stubbs has expressed his sorrow at the 36-year-old's departure.
Stubbs said: "We're all gutted to see him go to be honest, but we're all chuffed to bits for him as well. Rangers are getting a top man.
He's really well respected here. Since he signed here he has done a fantastic job.
"He's had a great career at Everton.
David, as club captain, was always there for people to talk to - he was the intellectual one really. So it is really sad to see him go."
Stubbs added: "He is going to work with Walter again, someone he gets on really well with and respects.
So it's a fresh challenge for him. He's a Rangers man. It's a fresh start for him because he hasn't been playing here that much and he'll want to play more matches.
"
but Rangers not need Lee McCulloch..I hope Another member Capture or not Sign New Player
Isnt it time someone in the media called a biscuit tin a biscuit tin?
Rangers are skint. Trying to get Alan Gow for £100k and Mcculloch for £750k. It's embarassing.
And Celtic had their bid for Kyle Lafferty knocked back.
Christina Aguilera - no, you are right. Lets go back to the days of paying £12m for a player worth a third of that.
.. shut up fool!
Start low and then increase the bid as necessary. Prudent; a word that has been foreign to Rangers in recent years, but something SDM is taking on board now. Hell, having endured the bisuit tin mentality (presuming you are a Tic boy) for the best part of a decade, I would presume you understand the meaning of caution.
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Seems Walter is trying to make Rangers Scottish !
All internationals are welcome...
for a pittance.No1 king kenny..
.what are you on?Are you Lithuanian?
well said LondonBear, gone are the days of spending 12mill on Scandinavian Beanpole faux forwards.
Nice to see scottish players coming to rangers, need a couple of forwards. I hear Robbie Winters is available.
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So the biscuit tin mentality has now been renamed prudence .
Did the Daily Record coin that phrase for you or is that an official Murrayism ? I agree, 12m was far too much for Flo but you were all swept away with Murray's promises at the time. For ever 5 pounds Celtic spend etc etc .
The Old Firm's turn towards more Scottish players is a good thing for the future of Scottish football but do you really expect us to believe that you would rather be watching a 36 year old David Weir, or Lee McCulloch, rather than Laudrup or Albertz? You are fooling no one but yourselves.
A question for willie (the s/bag) mckay, the daily retard, and uncle watty, using the previous theory promoted by the first two;
if S Brown is worth 1.
5M when he gets paid 2000 per week, then what would a player who gets paid 15000 per week be worth?
Answer - 750,000 mmm!!
!!!
celtic's bid £500 bid for young lafferty was just turned down, maybe gers should offer £250 now
#4 You are correct in that prudence is important, but so too is credibility. A bid of that amount for an established Premiership player is nonsense and everyone knows it. The press are on to everything these days and even allowing for starting with a low bid, that first bid must at least be serious.
The alternative is that no-one takes you seriously
How many offers for the Thomson twins have come in yet?
The Old Infirm are trying everything on the cheap.
#6 - when did Robbie Winters become Scottish?
I'll bet they were surprised in the Rangers boardroom when the offer was rejected out of hand.
Probably struggling to understand it right now.
I think Rangers will increase the bid, and I think McCulloch will be a Rangers player by the end of next week.
Why not try your luck with a low starting bid? sounds like common sense to me.
Maybe they could add Sebo into the package!
!!!
!!!
I think this is typical of Rangers mentality.
Conducting your buisness in the back pages of newspapers to try and unsettle a player so that you can get him on the cheap. Target anyone that supports Rangers regardless of his present contract situation, regardless of the relationship you have with his employers. Sun reader Souness has been doing it this way for years.
This is what you do when your skinty pooh´s. Rangers learned a lot from the transfer of Paul Ritchie from Bolton. Ask Hearts fans?
Not forgetting Dundee FC, who had Gavin Rae 'pinched' and also Zurab Kishanvillhi 'stolen' when the SPL cravenly allowed Rangers to change the rules on the day of the transfer tribunal.
Is this the day late Scotsman?
That's twice in the last fortnight I've been reading these headlines thinking I'm looking at the previous day's newspaper.
Sort it Out!
Interesting to see just how out of touch the OF are with the rest of the world isn't it? Both Rangers and Celtic coming in with offers for players that are a factor of 10 below what the club values them at.
You can talk of prudence all you want, when an offer's that far off the mark chances are you're out of the bidding for good.
There's a lot of money floating around in English football these days, smaller clubs won't be offloading players for peanuts when there's a chance one of the big spenders will come in with a silly money offer.
#16 Celtic target Lafferty?
it's always been the OF's policy of unsettling players through the Glasgow based media, they have a cheek calling it a scottish paper, weegie paper's more like
I am surprised to hear that Rangers are interested in McCulloch. I did not know he was injured.
On a serious note, methinks that your problems are at the other end of the pitch.
Typical Gers if they cant steal players they want them cheap!
How can you unsettle a player in Wigan with headlines in Scottish newspapers?
#No 2 - Christina - you always seem to be second or third making comments on Rangers based articles.
...
. how far does your obsession with us stretch..
???
Do you wait at your PC for the site to be updated, vigorously hitting refresh in order to give us all your tuppence worth...
. There is no doubt you are a fan of the mhanky mob so why not concern yourself with your own team..
...
However, to be fair to you it appears that your manager also shares your obsession, bit by bit he is trying to recreate the 90's Rangers reserves side as the 2007 celtic first team...
.
Go on the Gers.
Steal them, get them cheaply, tap them up, undermine their agents, lie to their chairmen, upset their fans, make up new rules to suit Rangers, use the SFA to work for us, con anyone that you can.
...
..Because I don't care as long as ultimately we regain number 1 spot over those morons in green and white.
That includes the East Coast imbeciles as well.
Rule Brittania
LMc will be a rangers player. i predicted it last year around october time, jonny jambo etc will remember that.
he is the steel we need up front to hold the ball up for boyd. perfect foil i reckon and wattie will have seen them train together at international level and will know, as anyone who knows anything about football, that these 2 are made for each other up front.
go get him wattie!
This case just shows up the difference in the way that the English Premiership rates players.
McCulloch is not worth any more than £750k. I am sure he could do a decent job in the SPL, but he is definately not a £1m plus player.
One only has to look back at his dismal performances when he played for Scotland to see that.
Rangers could always try tapping the player up, that way he will be unsettled and his value will crash.
Don't think they have tried that before.
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The 'tics offer 500k for Lafferty valued at 6 Mil. !
Who are the skint dragasses here ?
Get your sums right doll,you're embarrassing.
it is like anything else, a scottish player in the SPL goes to the premiership and all of a sudden his value doubles. henrik couldn't cut it in england remember and look at him now at Man Utd.
the english league is a good one, but it is over inflated with media hype and the problem is they all believe it. sure there is a better standard than up here but thats because of the population and where the teams are located. more local fans watching the local team.
it is not going to stop any player involved at international level for scotland wanting to play for wattie and ally. thats what they are there for, to coax talent of a scottish nationality to rangers.
#21, this is an Edinburgh-based newspaper.
#26 You're forgetting the laptop loyal and their role in all things Rangers. According to the tabloids this summer Sebo, Sionko, Svennson, Clement etc were all proof that PLG was going all out for the title. Six months later they are all duds, worthless, not cut out for the Scottish game.
Now that Uncle Walter is in charge the laptop loyal are proclaiming that Clement, bought for £1.1m is now worth £2m+ after 6 months in Scotland - yet McCulloch who has been playing in England for 6 YEARS is only worth £50k more than Wigan bought him for!!
!!!
!!
Mind you it's the same with Celtic.
Buy Pearson for £350k, never play him, yet sell him for £750k - go figure that one out...
What have Rangers done wrong here? They have made an exploratory offer that has been refused. they wuill now return with another offer and if Wigan dont like it they can refuse.
Its a called business. Gone are the days when Rangers will be robbed a la torre Andre Flo. Smart money is on Mcculloch being at Ibrox soon but only if Wigan agree.
# 34 the difference in value of Clement is due to the contract. At Lyon he had 10 months left therefore the price was 1.2 million.
Now his contract has 3 yeras to run so the price is higher as there is no pressure on Rangers. As Hearts dont pay for the players they have this has probably eluded you.
Don't bother the paranoid with facts, Madrileno.
What are you guys smoking? Any business will try to get people and resources as cheap as possible. Scots clubs outwith the OF do not have a god given right to get top dollar.
Its up to them to negotiate as Collins and Hughes are doing. It ain't stealing, its business.
As to the players being unsettled .
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if you had the chance to move to a new job where you were likely to earn 50k-100k a year more and yor employer tried to stop you then you too might be unsettled.
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