Balde, Gravesen, Killen, Riordan, Gow and Cousin - Celtic and Rangers struggle to rid themselves of dead wood

And rightly so, given that the Scottish Cup remains without a sponsor along the corridor at Hampden.

But it is highly doubtful whether Old Firm chief executives Peter Lawwell at Celtic and Martin Bain at Rangers felt an extra £1m per season made a significant impact on their budgets.

Unloved and unwanted: stars Rangers and Celtic would love to head to the exit

There are just too many big contracts requiring to be fulfilled on a weekly basis for such an increase to be a real boost to the Glasgow giants.

Guestimates of a player's wages are always precisely that but, give or take a margin for error, the deadwood at Lennoxtown and Murray Park continues to drain Celtic and Rangers of a combined bill of more than £5m per season.

Celtic fans could recite the names and so can Lawwell: Bobo Balde, Thomas Gravesen, Chris Killen and Derek Riordan are all surplus to Gordon Strachan's current requirements.

Their contributions to Three-in-a-Row could probably be squeezed on to a postage stamp.

And yet they continue to drain Parkhead resources via weekly wages of varying sizes - as is their right under the terms of their contracts.

Unwanted: Rangers' Daniel Cousin

Sportsmail revealed yesterday that Balde, who reputedly 'earns' £27,000 every seven days, had rejected another chance to move to English football.

The Guinea international will be 33 in the autumn and he has developed a stubborn streak in Glasgow over two years of almost complete inactivity from Celtic's first team.

It is Balde's right to pick and choose when he may leave, with his contract running to next summer - as does that of Gravesen.

The problem for Celtic is that they could utilise their wages to employ two players of decent quality to augment the squad for domestic and European commitments.

Gravesen is believed to pick up even more than Balde and his return from Everton after a dismal season on loan at Goodison will also dent the wage bill.

Likewise, Riordan remains in limbo despite renewed interest from Burnley manager Owen Coyle.

Killen might qualify as the ultimate squad man after starting only two SPL matches for Strachan since his arrival from Hibernian on a Bosman deal a year ago.

The big striker will take himself off to the Olympics in August with New Zealand as one of their three overage players and it is understood there is a tacit understanding that Killen can leave Celtic if he finds himself a suitable club and Strachan feels he has enough forward cover.

'Chris is under contract to Celtic so it is their decision,' said the player's agent, Frank Trimboli. 'If a club came in, then it might be something everyone would look at. He didn't play much football last season but for the moment he is simply looking ahead to China.

'You don't get too many chances to play at the Olympics, so that is something he is happy to do.'

Over at Ibrox, Bain has been content to release Filip Sebo to Valenciennes in France and Thomas Buffel to Cercle Bruges in Belgium, but the process of clearing away those not required by Walter Smith looks far from over.

Alan Gow remains at Murray Park with two years left on his contract despite having held talks with Burnley and Norwich City.

Gow is believed to earn around £5,000 per week at Ibrox and that is putting him out of the reach of admirers like Motherwell manager Mark McGhee.

The former Falkirk player is digging his heels in for a pay- off from Rangers because he has never asked to leave.

Norwich have takeover concerns this week but Gow could yet end up at Carrow Road. Daniel Cousin is the big earner that Rangers would be delighted to sell, with Cardiff City now weighing up a bid for the 31-year-old striker.

Smith can afford to do without Cousin after signing three forwards and any bid of around £2m would be accepted by the Ibrox hierarchy.

It remains to be seen if Cousin will fancy a move to the Championship to join Ross McCormack, Steven Thompson, Gavin Rae and Kevin McNaughton at Ninian Park.

Rangers, though, could certainly use the Gabon international's wages elsewhere, just as Celtic would love to redirect the money they pay to Balde and Gravesen.

But, until someone takes a match to the deadwood, there's not a lot they can do as long as player power rules the roost.