Chairman John Bennett is looking to cut £10.5m from costs inside Ibrox.
The 2022/23 accounts revealed turnover of £83.8m which resulted in a loss of £4.14m, mainly coming from a wage bill of £64m, higher than Celtic paid out to win a Treble and avoiding Champions League humiliation.
Since they were founded in 2012 by Charles Green the Ibrox Tribute Act has never recorded a profit as they try to keep track with Celtic.
A stadium that houses 10,000 more seats alongside market rate commercial deals for a bigger fan-base has given Celtic a built in advantage season on season which is also bolstered by superior domestic and UEFA prize money.
That sort of disadvantage could be overcome by smart use of resources in the transfer market but a fourth manager in 28 months has run up a very costly wage bill with players sitting comfortable on long term contracts.
Fans have expectations that Philippe Clement will be backed to the same extent as Micky Beale but the message to yesterday’s AGM was to prepare for austerity in order to save the Tribute Act from a repeat of the events of 2012.
Covering Bennett’s comments, the Daily Mail reports the Chairman saying:
Yes, this club, for the second year in a row, posted an operating profit but that was post player trading. This club last year lost £10.5m pre-player trading. Keep your eye on that figure. It has to go away.
There’s a lot of low-hanging fruit there we can squeeze out, in my view. That’s a cultural change, it’s underway and it’s driven by the executive team. The £10.5m has to become, at worse, zero.
I’ve got closer to the operations over the last six months, kicking the tyres etc. That £10.5m has to go away.
Now, not every club in this country or in Europe operates at that level, minimum break even prior to player trading. They need player trading to have a model.
We want to take Rangers to a place where it breaks even or better from that £10.5m and I can tell you right now it’s turning — that will turn. Please don’t be concerned about that.
Losing Kemar Roofe and John Lundstram at the end of this season will significantly reduce the wage bill but their contracts have set a new standard
Todd Cantwell will almost certainly be on similar terms, arriving from Serie A Cyriel Dessers and Sam Lammers will be looking to be well compensated as will Danilo who required a £6m transfer fee from Feyenoord.
Getting rid of the low-hanging fruit sounds great to an audience of hard of thinking shareholders, getting agents to agree to transfer their clients out on lesser terms will remain a pipe-dream like most things at Ibrox.
