Roger Mitchell had some headline grabbing comments on Twitterr yesterday- except for readers in Scotland.
After a four day diet focussed on the £252,000 operating profit from the Ibrox Tribute Act the real story has started to move away from being exclusive to Internet Bampots.
With 243,000 Twitter followers Swiss Ramble has the sort of digital reach that Scottish publishers would do anything to achieve but with their narrow focus the Daily Record Sport account has 70,000 Twitter followers while BBC Scotland has 173,000 followers despite round the clock content on more than football.
After reading very predictable reports on the financial success story at Ibrox Roger Mitchell discovered some basic analysis provided by Swiss Ramble.
The full horrors of an expanding wage bill and running costs that can’t be served by club record transfer fees and Champions League football was laid bare. Worst of all comparisons were made to the impressive figures released by Celtic, not what bears want to read about as they drool over the Clement Revolution and the signings coming in in January.
Mitchell’s reactions are shown below- he called out his media buddies Graham Spiers and Jonny McFarlane, so far neither has gone near the real story although they are generally receptive to the opinions of the first CEO of the SPL.
The comparisons to 2012 are obvious with the Mainstream in complete denial about the disastrous state of finances at Ibrox. A google search of ‘Roger Mitchell, Rangers’ draws a blank, there hasn’t been a single story this year.
With the sales of Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo there was an expectation that income at Ibrox would be close to £100m which would probably have been greeted with special pull outs from the Glasgow based publishers.
Kieran Maguire and Neil Patey would be sharing their opinions on the good news with Celtic’s domination about to be toppled. Just last week James Bisgrove was giving the annual stadium expansion chat with plans for a 70,000 capacity stadium at Ibrox.
That sort of ‘news’ was eagerly consumed and passed on to digital audiences but Mitchell’s reaction to a drop in turnover to £84m alongside a £9m wages increase has gone under the radar.
There is the wider issue of a club trading while insolvent against fellow SFA and SPFL members but more directly if Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen or Celtic had published similar figures their fans would be demanding accountability alongside a change in personnel and policy.
But not at Ibrox where fans are discussing the £10m valuations of Todd Cantwell, Nico Raskin and Danilo based on who knows what alongside which Belgian stars will be joining the Clement Revolution!
Denial didn’t do the old club any favours in 2011/12 as billionaire Craig Whyte was celebrated as Dave Murray II, a previously unknown billionaire plucked from the streets of Motherwell.
There is no obvious leader this time around but unless the current directors and willing to continue loaning £10m a season there is a predictable ending coming up as savvy bears dig out the ‘naebdy tellt us’ excuse once again.
If you’ve not been blocked by Mitchell you can follow his Twitter account by CLICKING HERE.
CLICK HERE for Swiss Ramble analysis/report.
Widely reported in the Scottish press as a healthy set of results……
Reporting on financial accounts based on a Club press release, rather than reporting on financial accounts based on financial accounts. 🤷🏼♂️
Same as it ever was.— Aldo Boot (@bikey99) November 17, 2023
Swiss Ramble continued:
Despite the lower revenue, Rangers still invested more money in the squad, as the wage bill increased £9m (17%) from £55m to a new club record of £64m, while player amortisation rose £0.6m (5%) to £12.4m. In addition, they booked £0.5m player impairment.
Depreciation was also up £0.5m (26%) to £2.6m, while other expenses were flat at just under £29m.
Rangers £4.1m loss after tax is actually the worst financial result in Scotland over the last two years, though many clubs have not yet published their 2022/23 accounts. In stark contrast, Celtic posted a £33m profit.
As a rule, Scottish clubs run a tight ship, so everyone except Rangers and Celtic can be found in a narrow range between £2m profit and £2m loss, i.e. effectively break-even.
If we look at the results before tax, the difference is even larger, as Rangers’ £3.1m loss is £43.8m worse than Celtic’s £40.7m profit, which in fairness is a record for Scotland.
