It's all in the timing. This sentiment applies to the goalscoring prowess of Kris Boyd, who has been in the right place at the right time to score 20 goals this season. He is now heading for the wrong place at the wrong time for the Rangers support.

The striker's proposed £3.75m move to Birmingham City will cause a loud, sustained outburst of anger from fans. It will also, perhaps more pertinently, increase the whispers about the financial position of Rangers.

The timing is crucial.

Boyd was touted to leave in the summer. Indeed, in a post-match press conference after the Scottish Cup final victory over Queen of the South, the player admitted he might have to consider a future away from Ibrox. But he stayed. And he has prospered.

If Boyd had left in the summer, most fans would have accepted his departure as inevitable. The story would have been one of a striker failing to meet the manager's demands for improvement. Not now.

Many Rangers fans are convinced they are not just waving goodbye to Boyd but to any hopes of reclaiming the title. This may be an over-reaction but it is unarguable that Rangers have had to sacrifice ambition on the pitch for reality on the balance sheet.

However, much more importantly, the significance of the Boyd sale stretches beyond playing matters into the very fabric of Rangers Football Club.

A year ago, Alan Hutton was persuaded to leave for Tottenham Hotspur for £9m. The offer for the full-back was one a cash-strapped Rangers could not refuse. The acceptance of the fee was a reasonable reaction to a generous offer. Boyd's departure looks like the start of a fire sale. The Hutton departure was excellent business; the Boyd sale looks like an act of desperation.

There will be an attempt from management at Rangers to downplay the importance of losing their leading goalscorer while trailing in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League by five points. This is whistling in the dark. It will not fool anyone. There will be an agreed line for the press. Rangers may say they received a decent price. But Birmingham's offer values Boyd at about a quarter of a Defoe. Jermain travelled from Portsmouth to Spurs yesterday for £15m.

There will be spin and there will be statements, but Rangers' action shouts loudly: "We need money.

And we need it now."

The immediate reaction in the football world beyond Murray Park will be that Rangers are a selling club and no-one is out of bounds. Pedro Mendes for Spurs? Bazza for Newcastle? Allan McGregor for somewhere, anywhere?

As the prize assets are stalked, Brahim Hemdani, Christian Dailly, Lee McCulloch and others continue to pick up their wages while failing to contribute to the first team. This, of course, is not their fault. But it is also the financial bottom line.

Rangers have lost a player whose goals were crucial to a title challenge. So far, they have retained staff who have been judged as not of sufficient quality.

This stark reality will scare Rangers fans. If Celtic win the title this season, they will qualify for an automatic Champions League spot and the £10m-£15m that this place provides. Rangers would face a perilous qualifying process that includes clubs from Spain, Italy and England.

The gap in the title race was reduced to five points at the weekend. Celtic, uncertain in defence and riven by the Aiden McGeady controversy, seemed to have lost the momentum after their victory at Ibrox by stumbling at home to Dundee United on Saturday.

But now the pressure is all on Rangers. And it is about more than points.

This impending sale smacks of a club in deep financial trouble. Sir David Murray now faces a barrage of questions.

But, in truth, there is only one issue: Just how bad is it, Sir David?

http://comments.theherald.co.uk/heraldtalk/2009/01/money-shouts-louder-than-fans-at-ibrox.php