Gersnet's Rangers Budget Day

[Frankie 8,951]

As Alistair Darling prepares to delight us all with more stealth taxes and minimal financial comfort for British citizens, Gersnet thought it would be good fun to find out how Rangers could go about such an initiative.

 

With the debt we have and the various spending cuts we've seen during the last decade, the country's situation does mirror that of Rangers to a degree. As such, some medium term planning to secure our club's recovery and invest in its future would not go amiss and as the season ticket 'tax' payers, how would we like to benefit as a result?

 

In addition to the club's offerings, there are various people linked with buying the club, so as proven committed investors, what kind of changes/initiatives would you like to see for you to 'vote' for your 'party' of choice this summer during the Rangers General Election? Where do supporters organisations fit in - what should be in their manifesto?

 

So, could Martin Bain deliver 'a budget to secure the recovery, tackle borrowing and invest in our club's future'.

 

At its heart could there be 'a growth package' to help individual areas of the club, 'promote innovation, invest in infrastructure and key skills'. And could this package be partially paid for by going to the supporters and invite them to become real members of the club?

 

I look forward to your replies!

 

Edited March 24, 2010 by Frankie

[Frankie 8,951]

First things first; would you accept a rise in season ticket tax to pay for more 'services' or - as we've seen at council level - should it be frozen to save us money but find the condition of the stadium getting even worse?

 

What would be an acceptable rise? 2%, 5%, 10%?

[Frankie 8,951]

Obviously not many fans would be pleased with any rise in fees. So how about giving them something for their money and keeping this new 'tax' separate?

 

Would a stealth 'Members' group - say �£20-50 a year for certain privileges be workable? Could this have separate levels for different 'classes' of fan?

[Frankie 8,951]

What kind of quango could be set up to organise such a Members Group? After all say 20,000 members at �£50 a pop would mean a working fund of �£1million per year.

 

Who should sit on a such a quango and how are they elected? Could they employ lobbyists? How much would they be paid and what fields would they work in?

[Frankie 8,951]

Next, could parts of the club be 'publicly owned' in the same way we're funding some banks?

 

Instead of the converse being true where the bank 'own' our assets, could fans be asked to buy into specific projects or parts of the club to underwrite their activities each year?

 

Could we take a more active part in Rangers Youth Development? Could we buy/lease part of the stadium (or its locality) to create a museum and/or hospitality venues?

[Frankie 8,951]

Did I take the metaphor too far...? :robbo:

[maineflyer 0]

Never mind Rangers, if that muppet raises capital gains tax then I'm going to be extremely unhappy.

[calscot 0]

The thing about percentage tax is that it goes up automatically with inflation, I think it would not be unreasonable to normally increase season tickets by the same rate as inflation for the year.

 

This also protects against large hikes after a few years of the fee being frozen.

 

I think the membership is a difficult one in that what could be given that would be perceived value 10 years down the line? And what would fans be prepared to pay for whatever is offered.

 

I think a good idea to give a service and raise money would be to reinstate the Rangers TV channel. This could be similar to the Setanta Rangers channel but with the killer programme that was missing before. A half hour extended highlights program a day after every game. The huge problem I had with Setanta was that if I didn't see the game live, I had the choice of 5 minutes of highlights or the full 90 minutes. The former doesn't let you see how the game went or how players played, and the latter is boring and takes up far too much time when you already know the score.

 

They could also put all the Rangers world stuff on too.

 

It's all very well offering this on the internet but the quality is hardly watchable, can have pauses if your download isn't always fast enough, and it eats up all your download allowance if you don't have unlimited.

 

In fact I think the whole SPL should collaborate on this to cut costs on hiring the channel, and each team could have slot in the schedule.

 

At say �£4 per month it could raise a million pounds a year or more for Rangers while giving the fans something that is missing.

[Frankie 8,951]

Thanks for the input Cal...