For those under a rock, Rangers defender Ben Davies has completed his loan move to Birmingham City, but there is a huge caveat:
It is termed purely as a loan and nothing else, which we find very odd.
Davies has no future at Ibrox, he is done at Rangers – he’s had his time with two clubs well above his station (Rangers and Liverpool), and now finds himself much more at his level in League One.
And it is therefore puzzling why Rangers did not secure an obligation or even option on Birmingham’s part to keep Davies permanently.
This is not necessarily for the want of trying – we did the same ourselves with Abdallah Sima, just a loan and nothing else, and likewise Oscar Cortes was, in January, just a loan with a mere option.
But in this case Davies desperately needs to sever his ties with Rangers, and we can only suspect that he himself did not yet want a permanent move to Birmingham City.
A key question some are also asking is how can Birmingham afford his reported £30,000 salary per week?
Well the simple reason is the Championship and below do not follow any FFP rules at all – they do not compete in Europe and billionaires are free to own these clubs and throw their own money in, as long as the leagues approve.
And Birmingham have a big American company as its owner in Shelby Companies Ltd, a subsidiary of US-based Knighthead Capital Management. AKA big cash.
They can afford this salary.
The chance of getting Haaland down to League One is zero, so it’s not like they can just promise footballers a fortune and the best players in the world will go to St Andrews.
But a guy like Davies is within their scope, and they got him fairly easily.
We wish him well, but we equally never wish to see him in our shirt ever again.
