Finance Guru: Rangers could lose millions due to latest Tory government blunder after £20m reveal
We’re delighted to welcome football finance expert Dr Daniel Plumley as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Rangers...
Dan Plumley agrees with Stewart Robertson’s verdict on the real financial impact that Champions League football will have for Rangers this season.
Robertson came out last week to rubbish reports of £40million being pumped into the Ibrox coffers off the back of their win against PSV last month, saying that the figure is around half of that [Scottish Express].
Since then, the pound has crashed against other currencies all over the world.
UEFA’s prize money is calculated in Euros and it seems that the last mini-budget by chancellor Kwazi Kwarteng may also affect what Rangers are paid for their Champions League exploits this season.
Plumley roughly suggests that it could mean the Gers get £3million less.
“In terms of prize money, yes. I think that’s what he’s focusing on there. That’s the known income,” Plumley told Ibrox News.
“I looked at the figures again just to check and it’s €15.6million for getting into the group stage and then you get a little bit from the co-efficient of the league and the TV pot.
“For Scottish clubs, that’s quite low so I’d estimate at a top-end of €5million from those two things on top.
“That gets you to €20million.
“Obviously, the pound’s tanked against all other currencies so speaking today, that’s probably about £17million.
“That’s where that £20million will be coming from.
“The other things you’ve then got is that you’ve got some bonus payments for winning or drawing matches. You’ve got the extra matchday revenue, so you can add an extra couple of million on there, cautiously, for those fixtures. And then there are all the other kind of commercial stuff you might sign off the back of it and you might have an increase in commercial activity.
“With Rangers, I’ve always gone with this figure of £20million to £25million guaranteed. That kind of chimes a bit with what Stewart Robertson was saying.
“It might be a little bit more when all is said and done but I think you kind of downplay that a little bit and go with the facts you get.”
Rangers fans have been left confused and angry by the club’s failure to sign better players for more money in the summer transfer window.
On top of qualifying for the Champions League group stages, Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey were sold for a combined fee of around £30million.
In other Rangers news, Scottish newspapers have reacted to Ryan Jack’s “wasteful” return to the national team versus Ukraine.