Rangers takeover: Playing in Third Division would not faze Steven Naismith

THE prospect of a Scotland international player, wanted by an English Premier League club, choosing instead to ply his trade in the Scottish Third Division next season appears more than a little implausible.

Yet in the ever more bewildering saga that is the Rangers crisis, it seems no scenario can be completely ruled out. So it is that Steven Naismith, one of the Ibrox club’s most valuable and highly regarded players, is unwilling to dismiss the possibility of playing in the bottom tier of SFL football.

It is an option for which many Rangers fans have expressed their support, with manager Ally McCoist conceding it would “morally” be the right outcome post-administration. Naismith, one of the players who accepted a 75 per cent wage cut in February as part of attempts to find a solution for the financially stricken club, says the first-team squad are prepared to face up to that choice.

“We are going to find out over the summer where Rangers are going to be playing,” said Naismith.

“Any obstacle that has been put in front of the players so far, they have dealt with. They had to take pay cuts, they took pay cuts. They had to perform under difficult circumstances and, maybe at the start of the administration they didn’t have a few good performances, but since then I don’t think you can argue with any of the boys’ commitment to the club.

“So as players we’ve dealt with everything that’s come our way and when there is a decision made, if there’s going to be a Rangers or whatever, then the players will make decisions. Everyone has their contracts. I’ve three years left at the club and I’ll be there for the next three years unless circumstances change.”

Naismith and his team-mates are approaching the time when their contracts are scheduled to revert to their original terms, amid conflicting views from PFA Scotland and administrators Duff & Phelps over whether they would automatically be transferred to any Rangers Newco created by new owners.

“We have been told by the administrators that if that was a route taken, their understanding was all the players would move over to the new company,” added Naismith.

“The PFA have flagged up information they believe is true for the players, in terms of becoming free agents. But nobody has really spoken and said ‘Right, that’s it, I’m off if there is a new company’ because it’s not happened.

“Even when the preferred bidder was announced, he was only the preferred bidder. He’d not bought the club. So it’s not gone that far as anyone trying to make decisions. I don’t think any of the players know enough to predict what is going to happen.

“It’s frustrating. The players thought by taking the pay cuts, come the end of the season we would see more movement in terms of how the club will go forward. It’s not panned out that way, so it is frustrating.

“I don’t think taking the pay cuts was in vain, because it gave everybody that extra bit of time to look a bit deeper into all the aspects of the club. That was all we could have done, apart from trying to perform on the park and for the last few months the boys have definitely done that.”

Naismith, almost fully recovered from the knee injury which has sidelined him since October, joined the rest of the Rangers squad as they saluted the fans after the club’s final home game of the season last Saturday.

But as he walked around Ibrox, he insists he did not contemplate the possibility he may never play for Rangers again as West Bromwich Albion, who had a bid for him rejected a few months ago, wait in the wings.

“I didn’t really think of it like that because, personally, I think there always needs to be a Rangers somewhere,” he said. “You get 50,000 fans turning up every two weeks at Ibrox, or 100,000 going down to Manchester for a Uefa Cup final. So there is a support there that needs to be supporting something. So no matter what, there will be a Rangers.

“As a fan, I just want it to get better as soon as possible. I think a lot of the squad are of that mindset. There are maybe players who turn up thinking ‘it’s just another job, I’ll get good wages and play in Europe’, but the more you are at the club, the more you fall in love with it.

“So it is more than just a football club to the majority of the squad. They have been here for a long period of time and they have enjoyed a lot of success and that’s definitely what everyone wants, a good outcome and for Rangers to be challenging again.

“I’m still hopeful, both as a fan of the club and an employee. There are great people around the club and great people who support it. I still like to think I will play for Rangers again and enjoy good times. But it’s now definitely come to a critical point. There needs to be a solution, and pretty quickly.”