Out of thin air BBC Scotland is reporting ‘a gain of £252,000’ on yesterday’s accounts from the Ibrox Tribute Act. Founded in 2012 by Charles Green and friends.
That is quickly followed by mentioning turnover of £83.8m with costs of £108m.
Some basic arithmetic would suggest a deficit of £24.2m but after seven years out in the cold there is no chance of BBC Scotland putting at risk Kenny Macintyre getting a cosy interview with Philippe Clement after similar sit downs with Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Micky Beale.
Fortunately others outside of the Ibrox bubble have Rangers Tax Case to share the detail without instruction, digging into the figures RTC reveals a loss of £11.9m on the back of a season that is unlikely to be repeated with no sign of massive incoming transfer fees or a place in the Champions League.
Picking through the accounts, or after being directed, BBC Scotland reports:
Rangers have announced an operating profit for a second successive year, reporting a gain of £252,000 from an £83.8m turnover for the year to June.
The latest annual figures include “record commercial revenue” and “positive player trading”.
The profit is down £5.5m on last year, with turnover dropping by £3m while costs rose from £97m to £108m.
The Ibrox club returned to the Champions League group stage for the first time in 12 years last season.
Manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst was subsequently sacked and replaced by Michael Beale, who departed last month.
“While successive years of operating profitability can be seen as encouraging, especially in light of what had gone before, there is still much work to be done,” said chairman John Bennett.
It seems highly selective the figures that the BBC highlights with no attempt to join them up to the £252,000 gain being reported.
This season there is already a significant deficit in the mythical Player Trading Model after Micky Beale spotted the ability of Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers and Danilo that escaped every other club in Europe.
The figures published yesterday includes the fees for Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo, with both players bombing it will be a long time before any other club decides to spend £5m or more on the damaged goods from Ibrox.
Last season’s figures include increased costs of £10m which is being put down to Champions League bonuses and increased wages.
The Ibrox board caved in to Steven Gerrard’s demands to sign Kemar Roofe and John Lundstram which has set a new wages benchmark for any on-the-ball agent.
Ben Davies, Ridvan Yilmaz and Rabbi Matondo didn’t come to Scotland for the golf and scenery, with £40,000 a week not out of the question Todd Cantwell and Nico Raskin were added in January before the pile on during the summer with Kieran Dowell, Dujon Sterling and others costing plenty with very little contribution.
Philippe Clement has expectations of a transfer budget in January, unless some directors are prepared to dig deep again the Belgian will have to be creative with his dealings with Jack Butland looking like the only player capable of raising a worthwhile transfer fee.
For the avoidance of doubt, RIFC/Sevco spent £11.9m more last season than they took in.
That is the only financial statement you need to know.
Then, after 01-July, they spent a further £13.1m on new players and getting rid of Beale.
£25m gone. pic.twitter.com/hHDo6MlnYD— Rangers Tax-Case (@rangerstaxcase) November 13, 2023
Sevco report a wafer-thin “operating profit” (which is profit with some of the actual costs for the year removed).
The result is yet another loss for the year by the only measure that matters.
— Rangers Tax-Case (@rangerstaxcase) November 13, 2023
In any given year, management of any firm can rig the reported profit (or lack thereof in this case) in the P&L.
The Statement of Cash Flows is difficult to rig without outright fraud.
Sevco spent much more than they took in last season- and they still came 2nd. pic.twitter.com/wqZtAeHK8D
— Rangers Tax-Case (@rangerstaxcase) November 13, 2023
