Hearts hero shares how deadline day transfer to Rangers collapsed after Ally McCoist talks and power nap panic
A favourite of the Hearts support has revealed a move to Rangers that fell apart.
A Hearts favourite has revealed why he said no to a deadline day move to Rangers.
The final day of the transfer window is ongoing for clubs like the Jambos and Ryan McGowan has relived his tale from 14 years ago. Rangers had just signed David Templeton from Hearts after their Europa League clash at Liverpool and they were keen on Aussie international defender McGowan as the club sought cash.
Having just been demoted to the lower leagues, however, the Scottish Cup winner from earlier that year was not sure. Talks with Rangers icon Ally McCoist could not convince the 2012 legend on moving to Glasgow despite his club in Gorgie being keen on the deal. He’d sign for Shandong Luneng Taishan in the January window.
What Hearts hero almost signed for Rangers?
McGowan said on the Scottish Football Podcast: “The Rangers one I was taken totally by surprise. I didn’t have an incline they’d be interested until midday on deadline day that they were looking to sign me and Hearts were open to offer. We had played Liverpool the night before. We had travelled back in the morning. I think I was maybe, what, 22-year-old, I had a bit of a late night the night before after the Liverpool game and had gone for a little power nap, as they say, in the afternoon. I just remember waking up to like probably about 10-15 calls from my agent.
“So, I was like, that's a bit weird. Then five or six calls from John McGlynn. That's even weirder. David Sutherland, who was the kind of CEO or high up at Hearts at that moment, had a couple of missed calls from him. And I just remember thinking, oh my God, I'm in so much trouble. Something has come out. I called John McGlynn first and he had said that Rangers were interested, that Hearts had accepted a bid for David Templeton, and that Rangers had enquired about me, and that Hearts, if it was the right number, would be keen for me to go there as well.
“So that was the kind of first I'd ever heard of it. It was probably one where I wasn't expecting it at all. It was a real tricky one at the time. Everyone knows how big a club Rangers are, but at the same time, at that point in my career, I wanted to try and play at the highest level and try to get a good move in terms of progressing my career or being involved in the national team. So at that time I felt like it wasn't the right time for me to go there. Then it was probably my first sort of eye-opener into how crazy the football world is.
Why did Ryan McGowan not sign for Hearts
“Hearts then called me to basically say, we’ve accepted the bid, we would in a roundabout way like you to go. That's up to you now to speak to Rangers and come to an agreement and basically thanks for what you've done for the club. I just remember even saying to David Sutherland, I'm not really interested, I'm not interested in going. Then spoke to Ally McCoist and had to go down to Murray Park.
“I said to Ally McCoist on the phone that it wasn't something that I was interested in, but I was very flattered and grateful for their offer and that a club of that stature that wanted me. But I think he thought once he got me down there and got in my ear, he could get me to go there. But yeah, just, it wasn't the right time for me. But then again, on reflection, when I then kind of went back to Hearts, the fans obviously appreciated it and loved it, but there was probably a lot of people in the club that were a little bit like, ‘we could have done with that money.’ And then I was basically told in January that I would be going to the highest bidder. I wouldn't really have a chance of whichever bid came in first and was the highest would be where I went and U ended up going to China on the 1st of January at about 1 am.”
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