Todd Cantwell denies Rangers accusations amid fan fury on exit to Blackburn Rovers
Todd Cantwell has denied ever refusing to play for Rangers after completing a permanent exit to Blackburn.
He made a £500,000 transfer to Ewood Park on Transfer Deadline Day [The Athletic, 30 August] after Philippe Clement revealed during preseason he had asked to leave the club [Sky Sports, 25 July], after which he was left to train with the B Team but did not feature in any games.
In his first post late on Deadline Day he wrote: "It was an absolute honour to play for this special football club! Please do not believe all you read in the press! I wish everyone well for the future! Mon the gers!"
He then wrote in his second post: "It’s been a honour to play for this incredible football club, some of the staff behind the scenes are the hardest of workers but also incredible people. I have enjoyed every moment of playing in the famous blue and 100% every time I did.
"I never and would never say I didn’t want to play for the club and that was never my decision. Me and my family are rangers for life. I signed for a different rangers than the one that I leave. Mon the gers".
Philippe Clement revealed Todd Cantwell wanted to leave Rangers
Only those inside the club will know for sure what happened ahead of the 26-year-old's exit and now that he's gone it is a moot point.
The fact that Ianis Hagi was also frozen out into the B Team yet was putting in eye-catching performances seemingly undercuts Cantwell's case though.
Ibrox News pundit Derek Ferguson indicated how angry the fans had become over the Englishman's complete lack of involvement, suggesting it amounted to disrespect of his teammates.
Clearly Cantwell sees it differently, as he often has when it comes to criticism during his time at the club, but he wouldn't be the first public figure in history to have a narrative built up around that wasn't entirely accurate.
For some it was enough of a slight for him to want to leave in the first place, just a year and a half after joining from the English Championship.
And while the club may deserve some criticism for their own handling of the situation Cantwell would surely have not been leaving for such a low fee without his own actions.
The club he joined was indeed different to the one he has left, and it is an issue that there has been so much turnover in important positions in a short space of time, but to an extent that is simply a fact of life at a club.
And it is no surprise that his comments are very similar to those of former manager Michael Beale [Mindset for Sport Podcast, 19 August] when his exit seemed to change a great deal for Cantwell, although the former assistant to Steven Gerrard's popularity is pretty low among the fans these days as well.
In other Rangers news, the Light Blues failed to seal a deal at the 11th hour despite a player being keen to join.
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