Scottish journalist, Alison McConnell, has come out and cut through the myth surrounding the newest Ibrox club in light of their financial results’ being released. The entity which was formed in 2012 by Charles Green after Rangers of 1872 failed to pay its huge debts and was thus, liquidated after a long drama and administration, is heading down the same road.
Analysis of Rangers’ 2022/23 financial results, when pre-tax loss slightly increased to £3m, as revenue fell 4% to £84m and operating expenses rose £11m, partly offset by profit on player sales more than doubling to club record £24m #RangersFC https://t.co/D1HolkpecM pic.twitter.com/BGCdrV5dZr
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) November 17, 2023
Since 2012, countless amounts of money have been spent once again trying to break the hegemony of Celtic FC over Scottish football, with very little success to date. Apart from one Scottish Cup and a freakish Scottish League Title – which came during the Covid season with no fans in attendance at the games – theRangers have spent hand over fist for very little in return it has to be said.
Nobody is willing to address this issue in Scotland, surrounding the fallacy that the current club which plays out of Ibrox and calls itself Rangers is once again spending recklessly in the pursuit of catching and bettering Celtic. Aligned with this nonsense that they are somehow in rude financial health, is the one that suggests that the Hoops are only in front because of their vastly superior resources and nothing to do with how well run they are.
Now though, McConnell has dispelled the veracity of such assertions, by pointing to the failed business model as well as the poor returns on the field, in light of the recent accounts which show them to have the highest wage-bill in the land – even higher than the Scottish Premiership Champions’. Using her column on PLZ Soccer, McConnell argues:
“The news last week that Rangers are operating a £64m wage bill – £3m more than Celtic and a record amount – should ring pretty serious alarm bells. At the very least it should scorch the theory that the Ibrox side are somehow operating as Glasgow’s poor relations when they are held up to the light with Celtic. A £4m loss on the back of a campaign that delivered Champions League football and the sale of a player for just shy of £20m should not slip under the radar for anyone.
“Little wonder then that chairman John Bennett felt it incumbent to remind everyone of the need for ‘clear and tangible results.’ It is surely not just a reference to those who are in charge of the club’s accounts. As the light was shone upon all those with a significant role to play at the club last week, the most notable aspect at any team is that it is the players and what they do on the pitch that puts everything else in the shade.
“TheRangers have claimed just two top flight trophies – the league and the Scottish Cup – since their 2012 liquidation. A player trading model has had limited success outwith the sporadic returns on the likes of Nathan Patterson and Calvin Bassey with recruitment failing to hit the mark repeatedly for the club.
“The jury remains out on a number of this summer’s arrivals. Rangers are unlikely to find the door being banged down in January for the likes of Cyriel Dessers, Jose Cifuentes and Sam Lemmers given the inauspicious start they have had to their Ibrox careers while there has to be more from the likes of Todd Cantwell, who is in danger of doing his talking on social media platforms rather than on the pitch.
“Ultimately, with a wage bill this size the only mark of it being money well spent is by putting silverware in the trophy cabinet.”
The truth shall set you free…
Paul Gillespie
I am most definitely not a philosopher by any manner of means ! But ,even I with my untrained brain can work out very quickly that a clumpany which generates between £60 and £80 odd million pounds every year since it’s inception in 2012 and has won a trifling 2 trophies in that time ,is extremely BAD at its job . In other words ,at the very least since 2012 it has squandered at least £600 million pounds in the pursuit of glory and achieved nothing but abject failure as a complete entity …. It’s not a great or healthy situation , is it ?