Rangers accounts: Should supporters be worried by heavy loss at Ibrox? Two key issues remain

The figures in the red may be eye-watering but for the blue half of Glasgow, nothing has really changed with the release of Rangers’ latest annual accounts.

Rangers have posted a total loss of over £24 million in their annual accounts for the year to June 30, 2021. (Photo by Willie Vass/Pool via Getty Images)

A total loss of over £24 million for the year to June 2021, compared to just under £17.5 million 12 months earlier, and a drop in revenue from £59 million to just under £48 million in the same period starkly illustrate the ongoing challenges facing the Ibrox club in their quest to establish a sustainable longer-term financial strategy.

Context has to be applied in recognising how income was impacted by a season of football behind closed doors due to the coronavirus crisis.

Yet Covid-19 aside, the two key issues for Rangers remain exactly the same as they look to advance their recovery from the club’s financial collapse of 2012.

They need to establish a player-trading model which will allow them to balance the books with significant sales in the transfer windows. Rangers have not received a major transfer fee of note since discredited former owner Craig Whyte’s fire sale of Nikica Jelavic to Everton for £5.5 million just before the club went into administration almost a decade ago.

The onus remains on sporting director Ross Wilson to maximise the value of Steven Gerrard’s first team playing squad and translate it into profitability in the transfer market.

That has to be achieved in tandem with continued success on the pitch, most crucially with annual participation in European group stage football.

With this season’s Premiership winners all but certain to be guaranteed direct entry to the Champions League group stage next season, that would entail at least a tripling of the £11 million Rangers can earn from the Europa League.

Until those two ambitions are realised, Rangers will continue to depend on the largesse of the directors and shareholders who provide regular loans which are converted to equity to meet the club’s financial obligations.

Chairman Douglas Park contributed another £2.5 million last year, while new investors Stuart Gibson and John Halsted put in loans of £7 million and £3.25 million respectively. So long as those pockets remain deep, Rangers can manage their losses and their supporters can feel their club is in safe hands.

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