The Mysterious Case of Madjid Bougherra
Imagine it was you.
Say you were away from work, perhaps on holiday or on a business trip and you arrived back late at your place of work.
Not once, not twice but three times. How would your boss react?
Well, if your boss is Walter Smith, he appears to be quite calm and relaxed about it. Algerian international Madjid Bougherra has returned back late from international duty three times in his short Ibrox career and the media and Rangers appear to be viewing it as a bit of a laugh.
Okay, the club are sitting at the top of the table, Danny Wilson has settled in well to the first team and lets face it, there are bigger issues taking place in Ibrox at the moment.
All of which means that the Bougherra disappearing act can be downplayed but would there actually be another reason for Bougherra’s absence from the team?
Shazaam
The thing is, Rangers have previous for this behaviour.
Who can forget the case of Michael Ball, who was frozen out at Ibrox due to a clause in his contract. Everton were to receive an additional £500,000 when Ball had made 60 appearances for the Govan club.
In total, Ball made 57 league appearances for the club where injury and then contractual problems stalled his career.
This came at the start of the Rangers downsizing campaign, with the desire to get high earners off the wage bill seeing Ball off-loaded to PSV Eindhoven for a £500,000 fee. Quite a drop from the £6.5m fee Rangers paid to secure the player.
So…if Rangers have played this game before, is it possible they are doing so again?
Rangers financial problems are well documented and it wouldn’t be surprising if they were looking to cut costs.
No one knows if Lloyds are in charge in the boardroom but if they were, would they advocate the playing of a player which will necessitate a further payout soon?
With almost a season and a half behind him, Bougherra is quickly approaching 50 appearances for the Glasgow club.
Could Charlton Athletic be due for some money if this landmark figure is reached. Charlton are suffering financial problems at the moment as well so they won’t be happy to let any money due to them pass by.
This is just one reason why the Algerian may be missing out on first team action but the media silence around the Ibrox disappearing act has been deafening, if not surprising.
There are a number of reasons why Bougherra may be missing out on Rangers action:
Further appearances will cost Rangers a further fee
Rangers have no desire to risk an injury to a key asset who will be sold in January
The player himself is “working his ticket”
The club are keen to see the player viewed as “the bad guy”, soothing the blow for fans when he is sold off
Just as in the aftermath of Rangers home defeat to Romanians Unirea, the Scottish media have let a potential story slide by without any comment or remark.
The story of Madjid Bougherra’s time at Rangers is not expected to be continued far into 2010 but maybe the true story of his absence is being hidden behind bigger smoke and mirrors.
Rangers fans, what do you think of Madjid’s disappearing act?
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It really doesnt matter when he came back. He was available for 2 vital games where he was left on the bench and Rangers lost both. A clear case of Smith cutting off his nose etc. It would have been clearly a better option to fine Boogie and let him play in the last 2 game against Stuttgart and Aberdeen, but the only one who didnt agree was the man who picks the team. And can anyone explain why he chooses to play half the team out of position? And Whittaker of course!
Good point Bill, if Bougherra was able to play in two highly charged games where a World Cup place was at stake, he would have been available for the 2 Rangers games.
You’d have to think that Bougherra would have handled Lee Miller yeterday.
You sometimes wonder if football managers try players in certain positions out of a perverse hope of being proven right or to let fans know who is in charge.