Rangers get their man but Robinson blames Mercer for departure

JAMES TRAYNOR,RAY HEPBURN

26 Oct 1994

HEARTS' most valuable asset, Alan McLaren, was delivered to Ibrox yesterday with the Tynecastle club's chairman, Chris Robinson, making it clear that his predecessor, Wallace Mercer, was the man to blame for the international defender's departure.

As McLaren, who will make his debut for Rangers in the Old Firm match at Hampden on Sunday, was struggling through the rush-hour Edinburgh to Glasgow traffic, Robinson was back in the capital doing his best to make sure everyone understood why the 23-year-old central defender had to move.

"We are disappointed he is leaving Tynecastle, but the sale is a direct result of the previous board's undertaking to the Bank of Scotland," said Robinson, after having welcomed Dave McPherson back to Tynecastle as part of the £2m deal.

"The facilities provided in April of this year to construct the Wheatfield Stand were conditional on those borrowings being reduced by the sale of players."

Mercer, whose influence, it seems, continues to linger around Tynecastle, responded from his home in the south of France, stressing that the new board knew and agreed that selling was the only option.

"We had no choice but to comply with the Taylor Report once the supporters made it clear they wanted to stay at Tynecastle," Mercer insisted.

"We had to raise £3m and launched a subscription scheme to add to a £1m grant from the Football Trust.

Supporters contributed more than £500,000 and, in addition to my personal £1m guarantee, that gave the bank a degree of comfort."

Mercer added that the new board and the other groups who had shown an interest in acquiring Hearts all understood that selling a player was a fixed position and agreed that was the only solution.

"I congratulate the board and manager Tommy McLean for concluding the deal and this part of our business plan," Mercer said.

Robinson's final word was to point out that the aim of his board is to ensure that in future the club will not be put in a position of having to sell its best players.

"A successful outcome of our Club Share issue should help to ensure that this ambition is fulfilled," he said.

Despite what Hearts' bankers may have been demanding it seemed the fates were conspiring against a Rangers-McLaren union right to the end.

A deal which was agreed three weeks ago was only concluded in the dark of night after McLaren had been delayed en route to Glasgow.

His new manager, Walter Smith, paced up and down the corridor outside the Blue Room at Ibrox.

Inside, everything was ready and waiting.

Cameras were trained and pencils were poised.

Smith continued to pace, shooting anxious glances at his watch, but eventually McLaren appeared and spoke, staccato style, for he is a young man of few words, briefly of his relief at having made it to Ibrox.

"It's been on and off for a while, but the deal is done now and I'm looking forward to the Old Firm game," he said.

"I've heard about these matches and now I'm about to get first-hand experience of them."

It should be to Rangers' benefit that McLaren, who has 14 Scottish caps, is one of those players who seem incapable of panic.

Big games, small games, they are all the same to him.

He generally takes them in his stride and it was no surprise to hear him say that it was not too difficult to continue playing amid the transfer speculation.

Neither will it be a problem for him to compete against Celtic, who offered £1m for him a few weeks ago.

"It makes no difference that they tried to sign me.

That's in the past.

"I was not involved in any of that but I was told an offer had been faxed and that Hearts had rejected it immediately," he said.

Even though reluctant to offer lengthy responses to questions, he still managed to say the right things so far as Rangers and their fans are concerned.

"I've joined a big club and I hope my ambition can match," .

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"I've waited a long time to win a medal and I've come here to win honours," .

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"There's high quality here at Ibrox and I'll have to fight for my place now."

It certainly sounded to Smith as though his own wait had been worthwhile and he will be looking for instant proof on the field of play.

McLaren will go straight into the side for the Hampden match and Smith added: "It's been a difficult deal to do and I'm very pleased to have him with us.

We can look forward to seeing him play.

"He is a player who, through the years and on various platforms, has shown he can handle anything asked of him.

To my mind, he's been a consistent performer whose never been stretched."

Part of McLaren's appeal is that he can perform in a variety of roles and already has looked good in the centre of a defence or just in front of the back line as well as in midfield.

He has also been used by Scotland to good effect as a marker.

However, Smith believes McLaren's best position is as a central defender.

The reason the deal was concluded in a rush last night was because of a delay in conducting a medical check on McPherson, who accounted for £750,000 of the transfer package.

McPherson was sold to Hearts for £350,000 in 1987 and returned in a £1.3m deal in 1992.

"I've moved back to a club where I've already had five happy years and still have a lot of good friends," he said.

"Now, I look forward to the challenge of helping Hearts become a successful force in Scotland."

Taken from the Herald