[Larry-AV]

Barring a footballing disaster, Crooks will miss the Championship, Worthing !  

[TheWorthinGer]

Gotta laugh at this guy:

http://talkingbaws.com/2016/01/accringto...nto-place/

Not a hint of any rule breaking.

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And I'll bet he has signed bosmans before:

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/1...-as-a-joke

[Larry-AV]

Since when has Scotland been 'overseas' from England ?!

[supercooper]

Bit of a meltdown there. The club must be mortified, not a peep from an official source.

[TheWorthinGer]

Since when has Scotland been 'overseas' from England ?!

Since we had our own football association.

[St Charles Owl]

Got to say I hate the way these sort of transfers are conducted. I understand the need for the Bosman ruling but I cannot imagine this was the intention of what they wanted. Without official negotiations between the clubs then any player under contract should be off limits. Correct me if I am wrong but a club cannot do this in his own league, so why should there be a mechanism to do it between leagues??? Not Rangers fault, they are just using the system, it just feels sneaky and wrong.

[TheWorthinGer]

I'm not sure I follow your logic "SCO" the ruling is about affording footballlers the same working rights as everyone else.

So "intention of what they wanted"? Who? EU employment law is universal and it's quite right that football shouldn't be exempt from it. The abuse of the old system by clubs was awful. It wasn't about wants it was about rights. Sometimes it pisses me off but players are human too.

One classic example is Alex McLeish - he wanted to play for Rangers but Aberdeen wouldn't sell him. Even when his contract was expired they told him they would hold onto his registration, meaning he wouldn't be able to play, but they wouldn't have to pay him. He did a very good interview with the BBC in which he describes his situation there. And it's just one of thousands no doubt.

[St Charles Owl]

The Bosman ruling was all about the free trade of players who were out of contact, and it achieved this aim. These two players are not out of contract until the summer, my point is a player under contract should not be approached by another club without the permission of their existing club. I am not convinced that this is what the Bosman case was about.

Your McLeish example is exactly what Bosman fought to change and that has been achieved with out of contract players being free to go anywhere. As I said, this transfer is different to that.

[Larry-AV]

My understanding is that players can negotiate transfers in the last 3 (6 ?) months of their contract.
In any event, apart from free agents, all players are under contract to their current club until a transfer to another club takes effect.

[TheWorthinGer]

The Bosman ruling was all about the free trade of players who were out of contact, and it achieved this aim.  These two players are not out of contract until the summer, my point is a player under contract should not be approached by another club without the permission of their existing club.  I am not convinced that this is what the Bosman case was about.

Your McLeish example is exactly what Bosman fought to change and that has been achieved with out of contract players being free to go anywhere.  As I said, this transfer is different to that.

It's not different at all - their contracts are coming to an end and they have the right to secure their future without having to wait until the last minute or the club they are currently contracted to being able to block negotiations.

Which many would.

Their contract at Rangers begins when their current one ends. "Freedom" is the key word.

On a personal note, a phone call to the manager expressing our intent might have been "nice" but certainly not necessary.

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For anyone that hasn't heard these:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football...721514.stm

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Rejected bid for Brentford midfielder:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35...um=twitter