Hamburg’s David Bates has hit back at ex-Rangers manager Graeme Murty for the allegation he made after the defender quit Ibrox at the end of last season.
Murty, who has now returned to his role as the Gers’ Under-20s manager, claimed that Bates had signed a pre-contract with Hamburg because the German club was offering more money than the Glaswegians could.
However the 21-year-old has now blasted Murty for lying about the reasoning behind his way away from Ibrox as he breaks his silence on the whole matter.
“It was a hard decision to leave Rangers,” said Bates, as quoted by the Daily Record.
“When I was there I asked for a contract for a long time and never got one.
“Eventually they got talking but I had options to go to places like Hamburg.
“I don’t want to say too much about how I left. But in my opinion what was said was complete lies. It was never about the money or stuff like that.
“It was about feeling appreciation from a club. Like the way Hamburg went about it.”
OPINION
A lot of Rangers fans were gutted when Bates decided against signing a new deal at Ibrox and penned a pre-contract with Hamburg before the 2017/18 season had even ended. He had been a key part of the first team under Murty last term, appearing 20 times across all competitions, and the former Gers manager’s comments were probably made out of frustration more than anything. It would not be a shock if Bates is earning more money at Hamburg, but it would be simplistic to say that is the sole reason for him leaving Govan. Hamburg would have been offering him Bundesliga football before they were suffered a shock relegation to the second-tier. Bates has since become a key part of their side and with Steven Gerrard overhauling the defence since he was hired, it’s likely that Bates would have been moved on anyway in the summer transfer window.