Source: Team_Talk
Debt at clubs can be okay - Smith
Walter Smith has refuted Falkirk boss Steven Pressley's comments that clubs who run up a level of debt are effectively cheating to get ahead.[LNB] Pressley believes his own club - who sit bottom of the SPL - are not operating on a level playing field because they work within their financial constraints.[LNB]The Bairns boss likened debt-ridden clubs to athletes using performance-enhancing drugs and claimed spending money they do not have is a legal form of cheating for clubs who go down that route.[LNB]Rangers' own debt stands at around £31million and boss Smith says such practices are a normal way of life, never mind in football.[LNB]"That's life, that's what happens," he said.[LNB]"It happens in every business and in every walk of life. It even happens on a personal basis. I took on a level of debt when I took my first mortgage and so does everybody else.[LNB]"As long as you can handle it, it's fine. Rangers' debt, at the present moment, can be handled by the club.[LNB]"If clubs have a level of debt that can be handled, they are no different from anybody else.[LNB]"The problems come when it can't. When Steven made the statement, I don't know whether he used the words or if it was just the headlines that said 'cheats'.[LNB]"But I don't see it that way. As long as it's handled sensibly, then it's normal business protocol to have a level of debt."[LNB]Rangers play host to Aberdeen in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League tonight hoping to make amends for previous meetings with the Dons this season, having been held to a goalless draw at Ibrox before losing 1-0 at Pittodrie.[LNB]Smith said: "We've had two games and no wins so we have to try and make up for that.[LNB]"We have been a little bit below par recently from our own point of view and hopefully we can get up for Wednesday's game and have a good performance and a good win.[LNB]"It's been a long season for us, especially having a small group of players and quite a number of fixtures crammed together.[LNB]"Normally at this stage of the season, if you're not in Europe, you have a few midweek breaks. But we have managed to fill them with cup replays, which didn't suit us a great deal.[LNB]"We've had a lot of midweek games and a lot of games to play with that smaller group so hopefully now that we can see the finishing line, we can go ahead and grasp it."[LNB]While Rangers count down the games until they can win the title for the second year in succession, Aberdeen boss Mark McGhee paid tribute to Smith who, due to financial restrictions, has not signed a player in the last three transfer windows.[LNB]"Nothing surprises me about Walter Smith," he told the club's official website.[LNB]"He is the top man in Scotland by a stretch.[LNB]"His experience and record is way above everyone else's and he understands the job he is in better than we do from the outside, if you know what I mean.[LNB]"I think Walter was the man to take on the challenge this season."[LNB]The ongoing search for a new owner at Ibrox has cast doubt on Smith's future at the club but McGhee believes that if the conditions are right then he he will stay on to have another go at the Champions League next season.[LNB]"You would imagine that if people there made Walter feel wanted then he will find it difficult to leave," he said.[LNB]"He loves the job, the Champions League looks like coming next season and he will want backed in that.[LNB]"He will need a decent team for the qualifying stages of the Champions League but if he gets all of that then I don't see any reason why he won't be there."
