Rangers fundraising is second to none

4 points clear in the SPL, after two seasons in which their bitter, bitter rivals have taken the title with ease, domestic treble still on, and the latter stages of the UEFA Cup to look forward to... Rangers have a lot still to play for this season. So what do they do? Why, try and sell some players of course.

Daniel Cousin may still move to Fulham before the transfer window shuts, although it will take dispensation from UEFA as he has already played for 2 clubs this season. If he does, the reputed £3m fee will be a healthy profit on the £1m or so paid for him in August - good business you might say.

But that deal is dwarfed by the one that got Alan Hutton to Tottenham yesterday. Rangers are getting £9m for a player from their youth system, who little over a year ago might have been going out on loan elsewhere in Scotland rather than down to the bright lights of the English Premiership.

Why are they selling now? It's simple - Rangers need the money. The debt is hard to measure, but generally estimated at around £50m. Hence the panic when Hutton initially turned the Spurs move down... he was called into the chairman's offices in Edinburgh for a friendly chat, the end result of which was a £1m sweetener from Rangers to add to the fairly compelling £30k + weekly wages he'll be picking up in England.

Of course, it's also an astonishing lump of cash. Hibs sold a full back to the Premiership this month, too, when David Murphy went to Birmingham for £2m. He was widely recognised as the best full back in Scotland (although left rather than right), so why the massive discrepancy in price. Well, Hutton has (some) European experience - so double the fee. And he's a full international - so double the fee again? It seems crazy, but Spurs were happy to pay even more than that.

So there you have it - Scotland's record transfer is a full back. Crazy stuff.