Tom English: Rangers must start selling players with £100m lost since 2012/13
Rangers need to start selling players in order to create a sustainable business model, according to BBC Scotland journalist Tom English.
Last week, the Gers announced losses of £23.5million for their title-winning season and £7.5million needs to be made before the current season ends in order to meet liabilities [Sky Sports].
Speaking on the BBC’s Scottish Football Podcast, English revealed that the Light Blues have lost around £100million since the 2012/13 season and that cashing in on valuable players is the first port of call when it comes to clawing some of that money back.
“I look at the continuing operating losses since the 2012/13 season, it’s about £100million now season-on-season,” said English.
“Now, they’ve got the support of some very supportive directors and backers and that’s great.
“They have really been fantastic for Rangers and, as [football finance expert] Kieran Maguire says, they do have sellable assets.
“I think they’re going to need to start selling some of them because player trading, as Stewart Robertson has said a number of times now, is a model that is essential to Rangers.
“They haven’t done any player trading of any significance at all.”
Exits are necessary
For a club like Rangers in the league like the Scottish Premiership, player trading is an absolute must.
Celtic kept themselves going through their dominant years by signing players on the cheap, developing them and allowing them to flourish and then selling them on for a massive profit.
They’ve had a setback in that due to the fact that Brendan Rodgers’ crop of players wasn’t adequately replaced and that is a risk of the player trading model. However, it’s not as risky as continually making massive losses each year.
Speaking last December, Robertson confirmed that the Gers will have to sell players and even suggested that would happen in the summer just gone.
However, it didn’t.
High-value players such as Ryan Kent, Alfredo Morelos and Nathan Patterson were linked with moves away from Ibrox but nothing happened and they’ve stayed, the squad has shown signs of plateauing and our financial situation hasn’t improved.
January could be big for Rangers, especially when £7.5million needs to be brought in before the season ends before director John Bennett has to provide loans to cover the shortfall.
In other Rangers news, there could be a major development regarding Gerrard’s future at Ibrox within the coming hours.