Are we still talking about Rankin being a direct replacement for Vaulks? He was never a direct replacement as they are 2 very different players. You could argue that if we only had Vaulks wages to use then the sensible option would have been to buy a similar player. Houstie obviously realised that would be impossible for £500 a week and signed Rankin believing he would add something to the squad. We have a big squad this season, you only need to look at the bench and also those left out the squad of 18.