The lure of big-time soccer drew three American players to famed Glasgow Rangers in recent years. Now, all three face uncertain futures as their club enters a scary time.
Carlos Bocanegra, Maurice Edu and Alejandro Bedoya are among the many Rangers players left to wonder what will come next after the club filed for bankruptcy, triggering a 10-point deduction and questions about how the team would recover, and if they ever will.
We could go on about how Rangers mismanaged their finances and failed to leverage their lofty standing in the Scottish Premier League, but with so much left to find out about just what went wrong, what we can focus on now is what lies ahead for the three Americans. Will they will stick around much longer at a club that counts fellow Americans Claudio Reyna and DaMarcus Beasley as former players?
Offers for Maurice Edu were rejected because Rangers hoped to maximize their return on the midfielder. (Photo credit: Getty Images)
Take Maurice Edu, who has long been the subject of transfer talk and most recently was the subject of a transfer bid from French club Sochaux. He could have made a move to England or France by now, but Rangers sought more money than was offered and held on to one of their most prized assets. With just one year remaining on his contract heading into the summer, Edu seems destined to be sold, especially if the club’s finances are handled by bottom-line focused administrators.
Where could Edu go? England and France are still safe bets, and with Edu just 25 years old, he remains a premium target for teams looking to solidify their central midfield. Just where Edu lands will be vital to his hopes of climbing Jurgen Klinsmann’s US national team depth chart.
Carlos Bocanegra is in the first of a three-year deal after moving to Scotland from France. (Photo credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Carlos Bocanegra seems the most likely of the three to stick around through the nightmare. He is in the first year of a three-year contract, but at 32, he wouldn’t likely fetch enough on the transfer market to make it worth unloading him. He has enjoyed a strong first season at Rangers, and his recent comments about the club’s problems suggest he isn’t planning to go anywhere.
“There might be finger pointing and apportioning of blame, but in the end we are all in it together." Bocanegra said of the team’s financial woes. "We need to stick together and we’ll pull through it. This club has been around for a long time and has a lot of history so it’ll be okay. This club has a lot of support around the world.”
If Rangers were forced to dissolve (a worst-case scenario that doesn’t seem on the cards at the moment), Bocanegra would certainly attract interest from both Europe and MLS, where Bocanegra played with the Chicago Fire from 2000 to 2004. He will be 33 in May but would still merit a big contract from an MLS team eager to solidify their back-line.
Alejandro Bedoya has seen playing time hard to come by since moving from Orebro. (Photo credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Bedoya’s future is the most difficult to forecast. Another player who only recently joined Rangers in the summer, Bedoya has seen limited playing time since joining from Swedish club Orebro, due in some part to a variety of injuries. He has yet to establish himself with the team, and has likely seen his transfer value take a hit after having boosted it in 2011 with a strong season in Sweden and a solid Gold Cup.
That may actually work in Bedoya’s favor if Rangers are forced to sell off a big chunk of their roster. He could find himself with a better chance to become a regular next season, and if he could help Rangers climb out of the current mess, it would only boost his value.
The 24-year-old midfielder doesn’t seem to have many other options unless Rangers actually went into liquidation, but barring that, it looks like he will be with the Glasgow club for the foreseeable future.
For now, all three Americans should be sticking around Rangers through the summer, and their relatively modest price tags could ultimately lead all three to play key roles in helping the club emerge from its current financial mess.
Murphy on impact of bankruptcy
When it comes to having experience with the impact of bankruptcy on a soccer team, few people in the United States are as familiar with the process as Clemson University assistant and former New England Revolution assistant John Murphy.
Murphy was head coach of Scottish club Livingston when it endured bankruptcy proceedings that eventually led to the Scottish Premier League team being relegated all the way to the third division.
“When people think of administration, they think of the technical side of the club being affected such as the players and coaches,” Murphy said. “I know (manager) Ally McCoist and several of the coaches at Rangers personally and I wish them all well. But my thoughts are also with the people behind the scenes like the grounds crew, kitchen staff and receptionists.
“When I was at Livingston and we went into administration, these were the first people to suffer. Those were difficult days when you didn't know who was going to be called upstairs to be let go by the administrator - many of them were at the club for years. People like this are the heart and soul of football clubs.
"I also feel that this is a serious warning signal for clubs worldwide. Rangers are an iconic club in the UK, Europe and worldwide. If they can fall victim to administration, it can happen at any club."
Davies reaches another milestone
The remarkable comeback of Charlie Davies from the fatal car accident that nearly took his life has had its share of emotional milestones. Another was added to the list last weekend after he made his first appearance for Sochaux since October 2009, coming on as a second-half substitute.
Davies only played 12 minutes, but showed off some of the speed and elusiveness that made him such a successful striker early in his career, before the fatal car accident that left one passenger dead and Davies with life-threatening injuries.
The step was a much-needed one for Davies, who saw his 2011 stint at D.C. United end in disappointing fashion as a falling out with head coach Ben Olsen led to his benching for the tail end of the season.
With his MLS experience behind him, Davies looks very much ready to take the next step in returning to the form that made him such a promising player for the U.S. national team.
"I think for me it was a very good first time getting in there," Davies told the Sochaux team website of his first appearance for more than two years. "This was a huge confidence booster for me simply due to the fact that once I got on the pitch, and after the game ended, I felt that in the amount I played, just 12 minutes, I felt I could really be successful in this league. I felt my speed, I felt strong and I feel I made a difference in the short amount of time I was on the field."
Should we start talking about Davies and the national team just yet? Probably not, at least not for the immediate future. Davies must still work his way into the regular rotation with Sochaux and show that he’s ready to regain his place with the United States. That could very well still be a possibility in the coming months, but for the moment, there is no sense in rushing Davies back.
