Rangers major fresh investment highlighted as finance expert issues huge Ibrox verdict
Rangers will struggle to close the gap on Celtic off the pitch without significant new investment arriving, in the view of Kieran Maguire.
Speaking on The Price of Football Podcast on 7 November the University of Liverpool’s football finance expert expressed his doubt on that happening thanks to the nature of the current set up at Ibrox.
He gave a bleak assessment of the Light Blues’ position in Scottish football and predicted it would be a “huge challenge” to land the sort of money required to transform their fortunes when the club’s shareholders are not working in harmony.
Maguire said (48m 50s): “Off the pitch they’re a long way behind Celtic. I know Rangers fans don’t want to hear that because Glasgow is a city, or Scottish football is a [place], where being second is being nowhere as those two clubs are concerned.
“And it’s difficult to see how that can be reversed unless there is a lot of fresh investment. But when you’ve got a shareholder base which appears to be quite fractured and divisive, I think that’s going to be a huge challenge.”
Rangers trail Celtic as Dave King tees off on Ibrox board
Former chairman Dave King, still the club’s largest individual shareholder, demonstrated the fractured nature of the club’s hierarchy when he publicly criticised the board earlier this season [Rangers Review, 16 September].
The 3-0 defeat in the previous Old Firm derby on 1 September highlighted the gulf between the two sides of Glasgow on the pitch, and factors off it look set to stretch that even further.
King insisted he had a plan to turn the Gers’ fortunes around if given a new two-year stint as chairman in the wake of John Bennett’s resignation on health grounds [Rangers Review, 15 September].
But he was predicted to face resistance from the likes of Douglas Park [Daily Record, 16 September] and clearly was in no mood to build bridges with former rivals so that plan appears to have gone nowhere.
Major opportunities have been squandered at Ibrox, with the long and arduous journey back to the top with title 55 in 2021 a long time ago now, and even the run to the Europa League final in Seville a year later, with lucrative sales of Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo off the back of it, did not herald continued progress.
In that context support for a full takeover would likely be significant, but despite rumours of interest from the Far East [PLZ Soccer, 23 September] there is reportedly no sign of such a changeover [Chris Jack, 11 October], with new cash only expected to come from the current investors.
US billionaire John Halsted has reportedly held “detailed” talks over upping his own stake significantly [Daily Record, 29 October], which may offer a glimmer of hope, but whether it is the sort of cash that can transform the situation remains to be seen.
According to Alan Brazil on talkSPORT (31 October) the board are being extremely picky about who they allow to get involved, and while it is only right they are careful, it also dramatically limits the scope of change when it is so badly needed.
In other Rangers news, Ally McCoist was in disbelief as words were exchanged between Clement and a star player.
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