Someone is letting Rangers down on the financial front

[ian1964 10,416]

It was one thing recently for the Old Firm to drop out of the Deloitte Top-20 List for Europe�s richest football clubs: when you consider the Milans, Real Madrids and Manchester Uniteds of this world, what right do either Rangers or Celtic have to be permanently hobnobbing with the elite? Within the Scottish context, though, I was still shocked by the poor financial health of Rangers, given their most recent set of accounts issued in recent days.

 

It was alarming, even given their Champions League exit in August, to note that Rangersââ?¬â?¢ turnover amounted to a feeble Ã?£21 million ââ?¬â?? almost Ã?£13 million down on the previous year and just 44 per cent of Celticââ?¬â?¢s equivalent figure.

 

Even worse were the ancillary figures in their interim report. Rangers made a pretax loss of �£2.7 million, down �£6 million on 2007, and their retained loss was �£4 million, a decline of �£6.2 million on the previous year.

 

It appears that Rangers are on course this season for a total income-from-trading of around �£42 million to �£43 million, way below the target the Ibrox hierarchy should be hitting in this day and age. Or, put it another way, the amount of business that Rangers will generate in the present financial year will be less than Celtic posted for their first six months.

 

Sir David Murray recently rebuked ââ?¬Å?the amateur economistsââ?¬Â who had been poring over Rangersââ?¬â?¢ figures and picking holes. In one sense he is on sure ground: his business track record stands as a testament to his financial bravado and risk-taking. But Murray, surely, will deplore the fact that Rangers are falling so far behind Celtic in almost every area off the park.

 

Compared with Rangersâ�� six-month �£4 million loss, Celtic have just posted an �£8 million profit, and are making millions more than Rangers from their commercial affairs. The Old Firm were never meant to be as unequal as this.

 

Even worse now is that old, dreaded subject of Murray and Rangers: debt. Four years ago, Murray, scolded by coverage of Rangersâ�� near �£80 million net debt, vowed to wipe out the Ibrox overload and proceeded to chip away at it. Ultimately, it took the absorption of the Rangers debt by Murrayâ��s umbrella company, Murray International Holdings, to fix the problem, but, nonetheless, fixed in that sense it was. But look at it now. Rangers tried and failed to sell a principal playing asset during January, and now we know why. Their figures to December 31 have set alarm bells ringing again, and the Ibrox debt is once more estimated to be somewhere between �£25 million and �£30 million and rising. Again, the contrast with Celtic will pain those Rangers fans who crave the day when their club are back on a healthy footing. Celtic have just announced that their debt is less than �£1 million, which means that, over the next two years, they will be in a far healthier position to enhance their team.

 

Given all this, when you recall the August day that Rangers sold Carlos Cu�©llar to Aston Villa for �£8 million, it all makes more sense now. Rangers will not have received all of that money up front, but their loss-making would have looked even worse had Cu�©llar not been sacrificed. It is putting it too strongly to say that Rangers are back in a financial mess, but their financial performance is deeply unimpressive.

 

The question is, who is to blame? Many Rangers fans are asking: why is their club being run so much worse than Celtic? Is Murray to blame? Is Martin Bain, the club�s chief executive, at fault? Is it Andrew Dickson, Rangers� head of football administration and Bain�s right-hand man? Someone is certainly falling below standards inside Ibrox.

 

Murray cites the Champions League as if it is a cureall. He was at it again on Friday, claiming that ââ?¬Å?the importance of qualifying for the Champions Leagueââ?¬Â was underpinned by Rangersââ?¬â?¢ poor financial figures. The Champions League, however, should not be the be-all and end-all of their commercial worth.

 

Given that qualifying for Europe�s elite club tournament has been an erratic business in recent years, Rangers should have a business formula in place that preserves them when they are not in Europe. Right now, evidently, that formula has escaped the club�s boardroom.

 

And another thing...

 

Undermining of Strachan so difficult to fathom These days some of the most embittered and aggrieved football supporters I come across are those of Celtic. There is a vocal rump of them who dislike Gordon Strachan, dislike the football his team play, and have constantly disliked his signing policy.

 

ââ?¬Å?Strachan demeans Celtic,ââ?¬Â one of them told me recently, while another fan I spoke to actually said: ââ?¬Å?He is not a manager worthy of Celticââ?¬â?¢s name.ââ?¬Â

 

And just to stem the conspiracy theorists, both of these people were of my own faith-tradition, which is to say, of the Reformed tradition. And they don�t seem to be alone among Celtic fans in their views.

 

It leaves me wondering . . . if Strachan does go on to make it four championships in a row with Celtic, just how the heck are these people going to explain their position? It would be indefensible, wouldn�t it?

 

Refreshing attitude

 

One of the most refreshing parts of my tasks from last week was hearing out James McCarthy on the subject of bigotry. The young Hamilton Academical star has a right to feel as vehement as anyone on the subject, given the abuse he takes from the terraces, yet McCarthy was utterly refreshing when asked about the anticipated singing of The Famine Song by Rangers supporters at New Douglas Park on Saturday.

 

ââ?¬Å?It doesnââ?¬â?¢t bother me in the slightest,ââ?¬Â McCarthy said. ââ?¬Å?These people are just idiots. There are always people in a crowd who want to abuse me, but it just goes in one ear and out the other. Like I say, itââ?¬â?¢s a bunch of idiots shouting.ââ?¬Â

 

With an attitude like this, sometimes I wonder why the rest of us bother about such chants. If McCarthy can bring himself to laugh it off, and believes that it just makes the choristers seem slightly thick, why should the rest of us care about it?

 

Laborious process

 

So Henry McLeish, Scotlandââ?¬â?¢s former first minister, is to chair a coalition committee wherein a procedure for streamlining between Scotlandââ?¬â?¢s three football governing bodies ââ?¬â?? the SFA, the SPL and the SFL ââ?¬â?? is to be established. Would someone wake me up once they have their findings?

 

Young guns misfire

 

It was billed as the John Fleck v James McCarthy show at New Douglas Park on Saturday, but neither showed up in the Hamilton-Rangers game. Fleck was dropped by Rangers, while McCarthy, who did play, failed to ââ?¬Å?turn upââ?¬Â in the old, disparaging phrase for footballers who donââ?¬â?¢t perform. May it serve as a lesson to those ââ?¬â?? and Iââ?¬â?¢ve been counted among them myself ââ?¬â?? who have tended to speak of these two young players as if young Diego Maradonas have appeared among us in Scotland.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/scotland/article5828321.ece

[Bluedell 5,330]

"the current debt situation at Rangers, which is estimated to be in the region of �£23million" - Graham Spiers 27/2/09

 

"net debt is now estimated to be around �£25million" - Graham Spiers 28/2/09

 

"the Ibrox debt is once more estimated to be somewhere between �£25 million and �£30 million and rising." - Graham Spiers 2/3/09

 

Make up your mind, Graham.

 

 

Compared with Rangersâ�� six-month �£4 million loss, Celtic have just posted an �£8 million profit, and are making millions more than Rangers from their commercial affairs.

 

That's not true, Spiers. Telling lies, again!

[CammyF 6,787]

He's right about one thing tho, someone is letting us down and letting us down badly....

 

Cammy F

[calscot 0]

Celtic do have a far healthier set of accounts but you cannot compare the two clubs' turnovers equally without exaggerating the disparity. The Deloite list is misnomer as turnover itself does not make you rich and does not take into account contracting out certain services which accounts for between 10M and 15M of the difference in the OF gross incomes.

 

Difference in profit and debt though are another matter and in those senses we look way behind although most the former can be accounted for by the qualification of the Champions League and indeed, taking all of Scotland's media pool money.

 

Celtic will get no such bonus in the second half of the financial year and so those results SHOULD be much closer.

 

This doesn't detract from the fact that Celtic do indeed look much better run financially than Rangers currently, but the disparity has definitely been exaggerated.

 

David Murray and Martin Bain do both have quite a few questions to answer, even if just to themselves.

[Super_Ally 0]

Cheers for explaining some of that Cal. As I have had to thank BD and Craig in the past for explaining some simple financial ideas.