Rangers fans were reminded of an increasingly uncomfortable truth in the transfer market this week.
As the club reportedly closed in on Levski Sofia centre-back Jose Cordoba, news that the Gers had pulled the plug caught many fans off-guard.
Almost overnight, Rangers had gone from a bright start to a monumental transfer window to a very public and disappointing pursuit ending in tears.
It’s not the first time that Rangers have missed out on a player – and it won’t be the last – but the situation with Cordoba comes at a nervous juncture at Ibrox.
And perhaps it hurts more than normal because English Championship side Norwich City have reportedly gazumped us in the transfer hunt for the Panamanian defender.
Cordoba set for Norwich switch?
Whilst the inner details of the transfer deal’s collapse will likely remain private, Rangers’ decision to pull out of the hunt came against the backdrop of links to the Canaries.
This was a player who was shown around Ibrox, who came to watch the team against Kilmarnock, and who was clearly one of our biggest early targets in the window.
Reports coming out France pointed Jose Cordoba towards Norwich City just hours before news of Rangers pulling out of the race had broken.
Not that we’re too cut up about it of course.
Fans have quickly turned their attentions, and their discussions, to another transfer target in Chilean defender Thomas Galdames.
It’s also clear that if someone has doubts about Rangers manager Philippe Clement’s vision for Ibrox next season, then it’s best they move elsewhere.
But despite all this, there’s a lingering feeling that Norwich’s superior financial potential is a stark reminder of our place in the footballing world’s increasingly imbalanced pyramid.
Rangers victim of Premier League transfer reality
Norwich are THE definitive Premier League to Championship yo-yo club and Jose Cordoba – at some stage of his contract at Carrow Road – is very likely to get a pop at the Premier League.
Widely regarded as the ‘best league in the world’, the television money which has flooded into the English game has set it apart from anywhere else in the globe.
As a result of English football’s dominance, football legacy means little, football currency means everything.
It’s why the most successful clubs in Spanish and Italian football want a European Super League and it’s why the rest of Europe’s biggest sides continue to feel a little stiffed by global football’s men in suits.
As a result of the Premier League’s financial power, the game feels increasingly like a slightly titled snooker table slowly accumulating all the balls into one pocket whenever English clubs come up to shoot.
The money, prestige, talent and standard of the Premier League makes it the most attractive proposition in football.
And Rangers – given the type of level we’re operating on – better get used to Championship promotion hopefuls stealing in front of us as they look to mount an assault on the country’s top league.
The finances involved with a Premier League promotion are so monumental that there is scant resistance Rangers can offer against the finances of teams fighting at the top of the Championship.
Not that it isn’t a risk for Cordoba.
The Panamanian wouldn’t be the first player to make a move to a middling English football club and disappear into obscurity quicker than he began to make headlines.
Don’t get it mistaken either; Rangers can offer good money but within a defined wage structure.
Rangers can also offer European football, the chance to compete for silverware, and the opportunity to write yourself into the legacy of one of the globe’s oldest football institutions.
The pressure is huge, the demands are monumental; it’s not for everyone.
But it’s also true that whilst for us those kind of bumper contracts represent big risks, south of the border they can afford to take greater financial gambles knowing that the cash is going to be recycled back into the club quicker down the line.
As the Premier League’s lopsidedness tilts us all towards a world where Bournemouth can comfortably outbid Barcelona, we can safely say it’s only going to get harder and harder to convince top players to move to Ibrox.
