Simon Jordan has claimed that Rangers are a balanced club financially and that they did the right thing in buying Liverpool attacker Ryan Kent in a deal that’s worth around 20% of their revenue from the past six months results.
Rangers paid £6.5m upfront with £1m of add-ons that could take the overall fee to £7.5m [Standard].
According to their latest financial results, Rangers recorded revenue of £35.3m in the six months up to December 31.
Talking on talkSPORT (Jim White show, Tuesday, 10am), Jordan was positive about what Rangers have done and how they’re conducting their business.
“If you look at Rangers and the nature of their recent financial results, they’re a profitable football club,” Jordan said. “They’ve got a bit of cash about them, they’ve got an elite manager, they qualified for the Europa League and that’s bringing revenue in.
“They’re sticking to solid principles and it’s balanced. Their revenue’s gone up and it’s testament to their support. They’re making profit and it’s probably right they’re buying players like this to move forward.
“Spending 20% of revenue on a single player is ambitious but I like to see it. I want to see a fit and vibrant Rangers. I still think there’s a big gap between Rangers and Celtic but a compelling Rangers makes a compelling Scottish league for everyone.”
Europe the magic money tree for Rangers
Rangers fans will love half of what Jordan said… the stuff about there being a big gap between them and Celtic still, not so much.
Jordan is knowledgeable about the finances behind clubs. He was a former owner himself and although the sum of money spent on Kent does seem big for a club like Rangers, they need to invest to catch up with their rivals.
Qualifying for the Europa League group stages has brought in another pot of money for Rangers this season, but the real riches are in the Champions League.
Both Rangers and Celtic earned £2.65m for qualifying for the Europa group stages, but Celtic missed out on the much bigger sum of £13.84m they would have earned for getting into the Champions League group stages [BBC].
There could be more to come too, with £517,315 for a win in the Europa League groups and £172,438 for a draw. Rangers will also get an extra £906,430 if they top their group and £453,785 if they come second.
Rangers would bank another £194,483 for their coefficient ranking and there’s TV and gate money to add on top.
It shows just how important European football is and how much further Rangers could push themselves if they won the league and managed to get through to the Champions League proper.
That’s a long way away at the moment. Catching Celtic and winning the Premiership is the next step, but Rangers fans must look at the Kent deal and feel that the club is making serious progress under Steven Gerrard.