Some off the pitch positives for Rangers

Scottish football has been given a big boost by World Cup qualification, but like all clubs outside the Big Five leagues, Rangers are still faced with a major challenge when trying to compete with the European elite.

If Rangers were ever to compete in the Premier League, they should be able to acquit themselves pretty well, as they would benefit from the same TV deal, but be ahead of most clubs in the other revenue streams.

The American consortium at Rangers has said that it “will chart a new strategic vision for the club’s future prioritising on-pitch performance and long-term financial sustainability”.  The authoritative Swiss Ramble surveys the position.

Ranger’s pre-tax loss in 2024/25narrowed by £2.4m (14%) from £17.3m, but it still came in at a hefty £14.9m. Revenue rose £5.8m (7%) from £88.3m to a club record £94.1m, but this was more than offset by a worse result in player sales, which swung from a £5.6m profit to a £0.6m loss.

Rangers’ revenue growth was largely driven by commercial, which rose £4.4m (22%) from £20.5m to £24.9m, through there was also a decent increase in gate receipts and hospitality, up £1.2m (3%) from £43.8m to £45.0m. Broadcasting was virtually unchanged at £24.2m.

Rangers’ revenue has grown by an impressive £41m (77%) in the last six years from £53m to the club record £94m in 2024/25. This means that it has more than tripled from the £29m they generated in their first season back in the Premiership in 2016/17.

Of course, the big two Glasgow clubs generate significantly more revenue than the rest of the Premiership, e.g. Rangers’ £94m was around four times as much as the next highest Scottish clubs, namely Hearts £24m and Aberdeen £22m.

Rangers are clearly making efforts to get their cost base under control, as wages reduced by £3.4m (6%) from £61.2m to £57.8m, while other expenses fell £0.7m (2%) from £32.2m to £31.5m.  Most Scottish clubs run a tight ship, so all but two of the clubs in the Premiership either made money or lost less than £3m. After Rangers, the next highest loss last season was only £2.1m at Aberdeen, though Hibernian did lose £8.3m in 2023/24.

The harsh reality is that they have lost a hefty £116m in the last decade, including £32m in the last two years alone.

Rangers continue to struggle with player trading, i.e. profit on player sales less player amortisation and impairment, where the net loss widened from £7.9m to £13.3m.  This is the club’s worst ever result for net player trading, representing a significant drop of £24.0m from the £10.7m profit two years ago, which is the only time they have been profitable in he last decade.

So Rangers have made very little money from player sales, only twice generating a double digit £10m profit in the last ten years.  In fairness, they had taken a strategic decision to retain talent, as the club had pushed for a rapid return to the top after its enforced demotion.   It’s difficult to imagine a sustainable business model for Rangers without a steep improvement in player trading – unless they do well in the Champions League.

Clearly, the return to Europe has been hugely important to Rangers’ finances with the club receiving €94m in the last five years, which was more than four times as much as the €23m in the preceding 5-year period.

It is therefore disappointing that Rangers have once again missed out on the Champions League this season, especially after the 20% increase in TV rights. Although they battled past Panathinaikos and Viktoria Plzen, they came a cropper against Club Brugge.  Furthermore, they have had an awful start in the Europa League, where they have lost all of their first four games, leaving them rock bottom of the 36-team league phase.

In fairness to the new owners, they have certainly put their money where their mouth is, backing significant transfer spend this summer with no fewer than 14 players arriving, either permanently or on loan.  However, it has clearly proved difficult to integrate this many additions into the team, so the new owners have discovered that it’s not enough to throw money at the project, but they also need to spend it well.

The new ownership said it was “beginning the early stages of investment planning for Ibrox”, with media reports speaking of long-term plans to lower the pitch and add seats to increase the current capacity of 51,700 by around 4,000, thus taking it closer to Celtic’s 60,411.

Rangers’ wage bill fell £3.4m (6%) from £61.2m to £57.8m, the lowest for three years, as the first team wage bill was reduced to “a more sustainable level”. This was the second year in a row that Rangers had reduced their wages, so these have come down 10% from the £64.0m peak. Basically, the high earners have left, replaced by younger players on lower salaries.

Rangers’ business model in recent years has been highly dependent on money from their shareholders, adding up to £128.7m in the last decade.

Although Rangers have posted yet another large loss, there are a couple of positives within their latest accounts, including record revenue and a sharp reduction in the operating loss. Indeed, they actually posted a profit excluding player trading.

The new investors have shown that they are willing to provide funding, though it remains to be seen whether this will be enough for Rangers to return to the top in Scotland.