Swansea boss Russell Martin has revealed Rangers fans messaged him on LinkedIn telling him to let striker Morgan Whittaker leave. But the Swans boss simply apologised to them for being “crap” during his short stint at Ibrox.
Rangers had more than one bid for Whittaker rejected by the English Championship club as Michael Beale tried to bolster his attacking options during the January transfer window. A move looked to be on the cards when Whittaker was left out of the Swansea squad that played. Martin confirmed that Whittaker had told him he wasn't in the right frame of mind to play amid speculation linking him to the Gers.
It also meant Whittaker wouldn’t have played for two clubs already this season, having spent time on loan at Plymouth Argyle as well as turning out for the Welsh side. FIFA rules dictate that a player cannot play for three different clubs in the same campaign.
But an agreement couldn't be reached over a fee before Tuesday night’s deadline and Whittaker stayed put. Beale added Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin to his squad, but didn’t land a striker, and plans to recruit a new number nine in the summer.
Martin held an extraordinary pre-match press conference on Friday, where he was joined by his entire coaching staff. He shared his frustrations at how the window panned out for the Swans, explaining that a lot of work had gone into trying to sign fresh faces, but that the final decision lay with co-owner Jason Levien, and deals weren’t done. On Light Blues fans getting in touch regarding Morgan, Martin admitted that he told them it wasn’t his call and said sorry for how he performed during a six-month loan in 2018.
“Morgan's back,” he said of Whitaker. “The whole thing about Morgan, I've got a brilliant relationship with him. I hope that’ll show in the next three months. He understood why I wanted him to go out on loan and play football. The amount of work Josh did to stay in contact with him.
“He’s come back and not been frustrated with me, I didn't make the decision to call him back. Again, it’s not in my control. He’ll be in the squad tomorrow. I’ve had Rangers fans message me on Linkedin saying let him go. I apologised to them saying sorry I was crap at your club but it’s not my decision.”
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