Glenn Gibbons: Rangers not as ‘global’ as Bocanegra thinks

Carlos Bocanegra may be regarded as something of a hero by Rangers supporters, but his view of the Ibrox club’s predicament may have caused a collective shudder among those looking for encouraging signs of an end to the worry.

The big defender himself would be innocent of the implicit significance of his claim that Rangers are too big a club to be liquidated. Fans, however, would make an instant, chilling comparison with that other providence-tempting cliché about certain teams being too good to be relegated. For an American accustomed to a culture of giantism, though, he appears to have a rather distorted sense of scale. Either that or an unbecoming ignorance of reality.

Matching Rangers in size to the leading clubs in the Premier League in England hardly stands up to the only meaningful measure: that is, annual turnover. Manchester United’s latest figures, for example, show revenues well in excess of £300 million, around eight times that of the stricken Scottish club, even before the descent into financial darkness.

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Expanding on his theme, Bocanegra said: “It’s a global brand. Everywhere you go, someone is a Rangers fan.” Perhaps he meant everywhere you go in Glasgow, since that sweeping claim would be difficult to make even of Scotland, far less the rest of the world.

Soon after Bob Brannan became chief executive of Rangers in 1998, he oversaw the launch of a monthly club magazine that was viewed as a companion to the long-established weekly, Rangers News. The first edition achieved a circulation figure of 30,000, certainly something that warranted celebration and optimism.

Brannan replied to my congratulations with a certain resignation. “Yes, it’s very encouraging,” he said, “but you get some perspective when you realise that the Manchester United magazine sells 30,000 – in Thailand”.