Exclusive: Football finance expert hails extra Champions League spot as ‘critical’ for Gers
Ibrox News recently conducted an exclusive interview with Football Finance expert Kieran Maguire, getting his views on the biggest talking points at Rangers this summer. Make sure to listen to the Price of Football podcast here.
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Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has hailed the fact that Scotland are now guaranteed two places in the 21/22 Champions League.
He said that’s one of the “biggest issues” in Scottish football and that getting into the top 15 of UEFA’s coefficient table was “critical” to both Celtic and Rangers.
Rangers are playing in this season’s Europa League after finishing second behind Celtic in last season’s Premiership – a league that was eventually decided off the pitch.
Talking exclusively to Ibrox News, Maguire said, “I think one of the biggest issues in Scottish football is the fact that Scotland are going to have two places in the Champions League in the future.
“Getting into that top 15 of the UEFA rankings was critical. There are a lot of reasons why Rangers will want to win the Premiership this year, but being a little bit further along in terms of Champions League qualification, it’s important.
“The Europa League was worth around £8 million in terms of prize money in 2019/20.
“You add on to that the fact that Rangers are a club who can sell out in Europe. If you got Denmark, Albania, Slovakia, and so on, they will have relatively low crowds on a Thursday night, but it’s testament to the nature of Rangers fans that will turn up for the group games, the preliminary games – they’d even turn up to watch the grass grow to a certain extent because they’re so committed to the club.
“That’s really good from a revenue point of view because it’s not just the prize money that’s coming in, it is the match day as well, which is a further frustration in the middle of this pandemic.”
Rangers have made a decent start to the new season, with a draw against Livingston the only blot on the season so far.
They haven’t conceded a goal and have scored seven. Winning the title would see them enter the Champions League at a later stage than the runners-up but would, more importantly, stop Celtic’s quest for a historic 10-in-a-row.
In other Rangers news, New boy Leon Balogun has started life at Rangers brilliantly – Ibrox View