‘Only guys at 33 or 34 would swap England for Celtic or Rangers’ - Crazy wages leaving Scots out in cold, claims Harry Redknapp

Harry Redknapp has painted a stark picture of Scottish football’s pulling power by claiming that only players in the final stages of their career would swap the top flight in England for a club north of the border.

Harry Redknapp, former manager of Birmingham, reckons Scottish football doesn't have the money to tempt the big stars. Picture: Getty Images

Rangers have this season managed to lure Jermain Defoe and Steven Davis to Ibrox but both men are bordering on superannuated in footballing terms.

Defoe is 36 and Davis 34 and Redknapp believes such an age profile is consistent with the type of big-name player Scottish football is now able to attract.

The former Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United manager states that the inflated salaries paid by clubs in England’s Premier League makes it very difficult for Celtic and Rangers to compete, despite the platforms offered by both clubs through their huge fanbases and the intensity and global renown of their rivalry.

Harry Redknapp at Trump Turnberry to promote the John Hartson Foundation Golf Day. Picture:

“It sounds nice, but players are not going to take a massive wage cut to come up here for a trophy,” said Redknapp, who was at Trump Turnberry Golf Course to promote the John Hartson Foundation annual golf day.

“Players today don’t do wage cuts. Whatever way you box it up, if you get £100,000 in England and you’re offered £50,000 a week here but you might win a trophy – you ain’t coming! It’s just not going to happen.

“People are earning crazy money now [in England]. Even average players are earning £100,000 a week. I spoke to a boy the other week who is playing at a bottom half club and he wanted to move. He was on £80,000 a week, it is crazy.

“If you’re going to get names up in Scotland it’s going to be guys at 33 or 34 at the moment. You might get some players from the Premier League up to Rangers or Celtic but you’re not going to get the top players [because of] the money.”

Redknapp added: “You can talk about the challenge, but, without being disrespectful, the challenge is of being in Glasgow playing for Rangers or Celtic. But what about the rest of the games, if you are honest about it?

“Whereas in the Premier League, every week is a proper game. I watch all the games, if it is a midweek game in Scottish football I watch it. 
“But apart from Rangers and Celtic … Aberdeen are a good side but they are nowhere near Premier League if we are honest.”