Scottish Premier League side Rangers are in a financial mess. Can they untangle themselves from it and emerge stronger than ever?
At present Rangers fans are currently experiencing every supporter’s nightmare.
Their club is at the mercy of administrators, the tax men, and the courts, with the playing staff a pure afterthought.
The club have a £50 million debt to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) which has been outstanding for almost a decade, which could spiral to £75 million.
Fans will simply want to know many questions, but the first has to be, ‘Can we get a team out on Saturday?’
Fortunately there seems no danger of the club being wound up, and they will be able to carry on, although players are understandably undergoing talks with the PFA, needing assurances over what will happen to their wages.
Rangers currently sit in second place in the SPL, four points behind leaders Celtic, but they will likely now have to forget about title aspirations, as a 10 point deduction will be heading their way.
The club may have to sell players to make money, but they have just sold their most valuable player Nikica Jelavic for £6.5 million, and even that income could not alleviate this financial mess.
They will be prevented from registering new players, as per rules of administration should they enter it, but the club are hoping they will exit it in a matter of weeks.
One more blow is that they will not get to play European football next season, as per a ban on clubs in administration, but to be honest, Rangers should forget about this, it is only one season and the club have more pressing matters getting their house in order to worry about.
The club have been in a slow agonising demise for the past five years, some would argue longer.
Despite winning domestic titles, the standard of Scottish football has slipped so much it is regarded on a par with the Irish domestic league, and long gone are the days of reaching Europa Cup Finals.
So could this be the end for Rangers? Not likely.
This is the start of a new beginning.
Fans and the whole Scottish community will rally round the club. Scottish football needs a strong Rangers and needs the Old Firm rivalry, part of its key identity and one of the most watched games around the world.
Yes it is a mess of the club directors and investors own making, but the thousands of fans will ensure the club is never lost.
Look over to the Italian League, where Fiorentina went bust over a decade ago and had to start again, several leagues down.
They rose quickly back into Serie A thanks to their huge fanbase, and while Rangers fall won’t be nearly as severe, the same assets will mean the club will emerge leaner, and healthier.
It will be a complicated and at times frustrating and long-winded mess over the next 18 months, but at least the club can begin moving forward again, to escape the downwards spiral it has long been descending.
– For more on Rangers financial woes- read the BBC’s Q&A on the topic.
image: © tombrogan
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