‘So far no official proposal has been sent' – Inside Rangers link-up with SPFL Championship side as hold-up revealed
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RAITH ROVERS have confirmed that Rangers have made an approach over a partnership involving loan players.
It is after the Scottish FA passed more flexible rules for under-21 Scottish players to move between clubs under the new 'cooperation system'.
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Rangers look set to link-up with Raith Rovers under the new cooperation system
Credit: Andrew Barr
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Ex-Rangers man Nils Koppen was leading the talks
Credit: Willie Vass
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But talks have stalled now that Rangers are under new ownership,and Koppen finds himself out of a job
Credit: PA
And under the initiative Rangers proposed a tie-up with the Championship club.
But that was before Rangers technical director Nils Koppen left Ibrox and the club's takeover.
And Raith director Ruaridh Kilgour admits Raith are waiting to find out if Rangers will get back in touch.
He said: 'It's not kind of one of [technical director] John Potter's priorities right now.
'There's a lot of other things going on, like just basically building a squad through the transfer window.
'But completely out of the blue, Rangers contacted John and asked him to go for a meeting at Murray Park with Nils Koppen, the then technical director.
'They said that they'd pinpointed Raith Rovers as someone they would like to have a partnership with to develop their young players.
'They then came to Stark's Park the week after to have a look around and see what the facilities are like, which again they were really impressed with.
'The way it was left was that we asked them to come up with a proposal of what this could look like.
'They saw this as something where they could potentially send us other players.
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"So players who are maybe a bit older than 21 and also players who weren't Scottish.
'It was left with Rangers to draw up a proposal.
"As an overall update, no official proposal has been sent, Rangers have gone through a takeover and Nils is no longer there and nothing has happened in the last three or four weeks.'
And Kilgour insists Raith will only enter into a partnership if it is right for them and their fans.
He added: "The way we will then approach this is decided on three factors.
'Number one will be a football factor where Barry [Robson] and John would make a decision based purely on the playing side of it.
'We as a board would make a financial decision on it about how this can help us with our budget, in terms of what the cost would be to bring in these players – or maybe they would be free, who knows.
'And then finally – and most importantly – there'd be a kind of brand perspective where we would put it to supporters.
'Because this is one of those decisions where we feel supporters should be consulted. And the reason for that is we know that some supporters will not like the potential to be partnered with other clubs."
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