The Summer Transfer Rumour Round-up Thread

[Bluedell 5,354]

You disagree with what? What "approach" are you reading from my post?

 

I'm saying [that my guess is] we are spending what we can afford. I'm also suggesting that insinuations that we are spending above our means are unfounded unless there is proof to suggest otherwise.

 

I disagree with the fact that we are spending what we can afford (which I took to mean that it would not result in us making a loss) and also that insinuations that we are spending above our means are unfounded (again with the same proviso).

 

Again it depends on what you term "proof" but given what I know of the Rangers finances, I reckon we will be making a loss in the current financial year if things stay as they are.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

Yes we were told that. And that is why I believe that's what they are doing. So what is your point exactly - that they are not??

 

You are jumping to conclusions, all I did was ask the question.

 

I haven't analysed the accounts but BD has, and he takes the view that we will be running at a loss, so it's a legitimate question to ask if there has been a change in strategy, is it not?

[craig 5,199]

No need for anyone to get paranoid; it was a question not an insinuation.

 

The point being we appear to have gone very quickly from a position when we were offloading £5,6.7000/ week players to taking on at last four who would appear to be in the million pound a year or so bracket, which is great if we can afford it but not sure if it will be justified by the increase in prices and ST sales.

 

I am absolutely delighted at the prospect of watching a match fit Krancjar et al in Rangers colours, I just want to be sure that we are being prudent at the same time.

 

So, I am Rangers hater, do me a favour, Ian.

 

People, people, lets take it easy. We are supposed to all be supporting the same team. I don't think Ian is calling you a Rangers hater BH - likewise I don't think that you are making an insinuation - internet context is difficult.

 

ST season ticket prices went up by 20% did they not ? So we should be looking at, possibly, an increase of say 2 million per year because of that (hopefully that is a conservative number). If Barton is on 18k a week and we lost someone on 8k a week then the increase is 10k a week, or 500k a year. This would equate to there being enough cash from increased ST sales to have 4 players earning 10k a week more than their predecessor - so I don't think we are that far away from that.

 

The above "fag packet" math also doesn't take into account increases in TV revenue now that we are back in the top flight (which will probably pay for the electricity bill for a day ) or the increased corporate sponsorship and hospitality - one would have to assume that these numbers would see a fairly marked increase given our return to the top flight too.

 

All in all I am "comfortable" with what we are spending - lets not forget that even if Barton et al are on 18k a week we also no longer have a bloated squad like the old days.

 

FWIW, I know that the Academy, for example, have more staff now than they probably ever have had - but guess what ??? Collectively they are costing the club less than the Academy was costing the old regime. In other words, they had a proper financial analysis, overhaul and proper strategic think about what they needed, how many staff were needed to achieve it and how they got value for money for that. This also extends to the players that are considered Academy players which, I think, extends to the U20's. Their wages are now much more "reasonable" than they were under the previous regime rather than bloated as they were back then.

 

Again, knowing what has been undertaken and how they seem to have taken a more methodical approach to it leaves me comfortable with what we are doing financially. However, us Rangers fans should know better than most to not just willingly accept that all is rosy and toe the party line. We should always have healthy skepticism - though lets not get OTT about it.

[limeburner 0]

I dont see the problem here,DK is only doing what he said he would do.

Ive seen him accused of many things(we all know what they are), but ive never seen him accused of being financially stupid.(not even by fans of other clubs)

[craig 5,199]

You are jumping to conclusions, all I did was ask the question.

 

I haven't analysed the accounts but BD has, and he takes the view that we will be running at a loss, so it's a legitimate question to ask if there has been a change in strategy, is it not?

 

No disrespect but BD analysed LAST YEAR's accounts - in fact it was probably the half year financials through December 31st, 2015 as the year end financials haven't been filed yet, to the best of my knowledge.

 

So even BD wouldn't know for sure whether we will be running at a loss. Everything would indicate that to be the case but we have little basis for comparison until we see the June 2016 financial position - and even then we simply don't know what the revenues will be like given the move to the top tier.

 

I'm merely playing devils advocate as I do believe that we will be running at a loss this year again - sadly the retail contracts are really hampering us from operating closer to breakeven. That said, Dave King and co knew that this would be a longer term game and that they would have to provide soft loans over a period of time - Rome wasn't built in a day and the complete carnage that they inherited means that getting ourselves back to an even footing financially is a medium term goal. So long as they are putting in soft loans when needed and aren't looking at pulling them anytime soon then we should be OK. One thing we know is that they have the clubs best interests at heart, something we couldn't say about predecessors, which also gives comfort.

 

They really are stuck between a rock and a hard place though because fans expect us to compete with Celtic immediately and as we have seen you cant always get the required quality from freebies and cheap signings from League 2. Sometimes you need to speculate to accumulate (poor analogy) - and then we have the more financially astute amongst us who want us run within our means, but still expect us to compete - right now we are like a boxer with one hand tied behind his back but still expected to get his hand raised at the end of the fight.

 

Personally I find it a little unreasonable - from both sides

[ian1964 10,447]

No need for anyone to get paranoid; it was a question not an insinuation.

 

The point being we appear to have gone very quickly from a position when we were offloading £5,6.7000/ week players to taking on at last four who would appear to be in the million pound a year or so bracket, which is great if we can afford it but not sure if it will be justified by the increase in prices and ST sales.

 

I am absolutely delighted at the prospect of watching a match fit Krancjar et al in Rangers colours, I just want to be sure that we are being prudent at the same time.

 

So, I am Rangers hater, do me a favour, Ian.

 

I am not calling you a Rangers hater BH ,I know you are not,but then you knew that!,all I meant was leave all that to the Rangers haters. Seems to me the board is dammed if they do and dammed if they don't!,this board will not spend cash they don't have!.

[Bluedell 5,354]

No disrespect but BD analysed LAST YEAR's accounts - in fact it was probably the half year financials through December 31st, 2015 as the year end financials haven't been filed yet, to the best of my knowledge.

 

So even BD wouldn't know for sure whether we will be running at a loss.

 

Agreed, although I'm fairly sure we will be. Whether that's supported by investment from the shareholders is a more important question.

 

There are a number of unanswered questions but I'm not going to get worried about it at this point, and am just going to enjoy the football and our signings because we don't have enough information at this point to assess whether the likely loss is a problem or not.

[cooponthewing 1,139]

Just catching up on all the news. Financially I wouldn't be overly concerned. There will be another ST increase of around 10-20% next season which if it was 20%, we couldn't complain.

I suspect we will cash in on a few players at the end of the season and it looks like our retail position will become much healthier shortly.

All in all things are looking very bright and I don feel in any way we are over stretching.

Then again, I'm not running the club?

Edited August 18, 2016 by cooponthewing

[craig 5,199]

Agreed, although I'm fairly sure we will be. Whether that's supported by investment from the shareholders is a more important question.

 

There are a number of unanswered questions but I'm not going to get worried about it at this point, and am just going to enjoy the football and our signings because we don't have enough information at this point to assess whether the likely loss is a problem or not.

 

Completely agree BD - I was just trying to clarify BH's statement that you had reviewed the financials.

 

My simplistic opinion is that the only way we would have broken even would be if we hadn't replaced any of the players we got rid of in the summer - but that was never going to happen.

 

Even if we did have a loss the more pertinent question, as you say, is whether that will be supported by investment from the shareholders. If it is then we will be fine.

 

I think we ALL want to get back to operating in a self-sustainable fashion - but that is highly unlikely without European football and/or the retail contracts being renegotiated/terminated.

[BEARGER 1,829]

Aston Villa will cover part of Joleon Lescott's wages for the final year of his contract in order to shift him out of the club, with the defender close to joining Rangers.

 

Villa are desperate to offload Lescott, who has a year left on his contract, and have been clear that he can leave Villa Park without a fee.

 

The centre-back is travelling to Glasgow and will undergo a medical with Mark Warburton's Rangers tomorrow, ahead of linking up with the Scottish giants.

 

For the move to take place, Villa are having to subsidise Lescott's pay packet at Rangers, paying part of his wages over the final year of his contract.

 

Asked about whether Villa are receiving a fee for Lescott, owner Dr Tony Xia replied on Twitter: "No. Sorry for that."