Chris Jack has outlined the need for ‘efficiencies’ at Ibrox with a warning over recurring losses of £10m a season.
Over the course of the last week Brazilian starlet Jefte has been signed for an undisclosed fee, Jose Cordoba has opted not to join the Phil Clement Revolution! with CEO James Bisgrove quitting for a newly promoted club in the Saudi Pro League.
Clement hasn’t made any comment since after losing the Scottish Cup Final to Celtic.
Over the last month there has been a growing expectation about a massive turnover in players but the reality is likely to be very different.
Other than out of contract players moving on it is difficult to see any buyers for a squad of serial losers. Only the Daily Record is pushing the James Tavernier and Connor Goldson reunion with Steven Gerrard.
After funding the Beale Revolution which has left stars like Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers, Kieran Dowell and Danilo on lucrative contracts it is hard to see how another Revolution! can be funded.
Most bears are expecting to see the best part of £20m spent on Clement’s rebuild but that is looking increasingly unlikely.
Serious downsizing is the plan under Executive Chairman John Bennett with Jack chosen to break the bad news.
In the Rangers Review he explains:
It is understood that Bennett spoke with more than 20 members of staff, below executive level, during a four-day trip to Glasgow a fortnight ago to gauge the morale and to reaffirm the drive for efficiencies and improvements at all levels, in both sporting and business senses.
Bennett spoke at the Annual General Meeting six months ago about a £10.5million operating loss. That deficit, reported in the figures to the year end June 30, is unsustainable for investors and Bennett has focused heavily on reducing the financial wastage that he has uncovered since succeeding Douglas Park as chairman.
“This club last year lost £10.5million, pre-player trading,” Bennett said as he allayed fears from the floor about Rangers finances. “I would ask you please to keep your eye on that £10.5million. It has to go away. This is a new executive team for a reason and it is tasked with not only growing the club, but driving through operating efficiencies. It is a cultural change and it is under way.
“That £10.5million has to become, at worst, zero. Not every club operates at that level, in other words at 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. I can tell you right now, every day it’s turning – and it will turn.”
Bisgrove was the only survivor in the Ibrox cull last summer as Robertson left the club weeks after Ross Wilson joined Nottingham Forest. Andrew Dickson and Kenny Barclay also departed as Bennett kicked the tyres and had a look under the bonnet to see what was going on for himself.
His tenure as chairman will be defined by silverware, but a hand-me-down of financial sustainability would be a long-lasting legacy for a man that has put considerable sums into his boyhood club.
An Ibrox source has stated that progress on that front has been positive and it is felt that there is no need to cause uncertainty at executive level by rushing to appoint a CEO that will naturally have his own blueprint in terms of personnel and principles.
The £15m spent last summer on Dessers, Lammers and Danilo will ensure another substantial loss for the current financial year.
With the Ibrox Season Ticket money banked it seems that bears are being braced for bad news through this summer dressed up as financial sustainability. With speculation over signing Ryan Kent and Kenny McLean it is looking like an underwhelming summer of activity at Ibrox.
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2 Comments
by BriBhoy
Good article Joe. It seems like they are still just dosing themselves with an extra hit of deludemol every time reality bites (on and off the park) and the pain levels increase.
Thing is, even if they did have the fabled £20m budget, I imagine that would have to cover wages as well as any transfer fees. I would think that that £20m figure (or whatever the real figure is) is also net of any wage reductions from the out-of-contract players leaving. So there won’t be any top up to the budget from those wage bill savings they already know are coming (i.e they’re already factored in).
Add to that the fact that, whatever the actual budget is, you are looking at having to replace somewhere between 10-15 players this summer to maintain squad depth. That being the case, it looks like even a £20m budget will be stretched pretty thin, in terms of what can be spent on each individual new player.
So, having already blown around a tenth of it (depending on which of the various reported figures you believe) just on the transfer fee for the relatively unknown Jefte, you’re probably looking at loans, free transfers and young, unknown players from fringe leagues, who are available in the £1-3m bracket. Which is precisely the kind of strategy we used last summer. How did that work out for us again? How many of the numerous players we signed back then were on the park in the league run in, or in the cup final?
As for incoming transfer fees? Aye. Right. Butland maybe, but then he’d need replacing, or they go to Parkhead with Liam Kelly between the sticks. TikTok? Last summer, maybe, but after this season and with the way his once promising Norwich career ended (and all his social media baggage)? Goldson and TavPen – but having to play for teams with no client refs handing them pens and turning a blind eye? No chance. The rest? Ditto.
I think any plans they may have had to sign the likes of Miovski and Shankland (potentially £5m+), or anyone experienced and half-decent, may now be off the table – if they were ever even on it. I also think it will be another summer where they waste even more money they clearly don’t have signing low budget, but still overpriced mediocrity, who the Daily Retard et al will have built up into undiscovered new Messis, Maldinis, etc. and who they will claim will go on to net the club Dembele dollars after a year or two of unsurpassed dignity and learning their trade from international superstars like Matondo and Lawrence. Right up to the point they leave a year or two later on a free transfer, or are just quietly paid off – with the howls of the angry bear lynch mob ringing in their ears.
by Editor
Editor: Cheers Bri, it is so obvious how the bears are being manipulated, time after time.
Like Celtic, their board know how to keep them sweet through their trusted partners, hopefully this is the season when we stop tracking them with our Managed Decline and head off in the opposite direction.