• Other Financial Issues

    Celtic and Rangers Finances 2019/20: The Watchman

    Introduction No one expects football clubs to have had a good 2019/20 financially due to the impact of Covid-19, but now that the two large Glasgow clubs have published their results, just how badly were the finances of Rangers and Celtic affected by the ravages of the pandemic? Every business has been impacted by COVID-19, but can Scottish football survive until hopefully successful vaccinations allow a return to ‘normal’ life? Financial Summary Celtic Rangers £’m £’m Revenue 70.2 59.0 Wages 54.3 43.3 Player amortisation 12.2 7.6 Day to day profit (22.6) (16.3) Profit before tax 0.1 (17.8) Wages/Revenue % 77% 73% Player signings 23.5 11.0 Player sales 19.6 1.1 Net…

  • Other Financial Issues

    Rangers and Celtic: Never Let Me Down

    Glasgow’s big two teams have  good starts to both domestic and Europa Cup campaigns so far this season and both have just announced their financial results for 2018/19. Everyone know that the rivalry between the clubs and especially their fans is intense,  but do the accounts give the likes of @BearNecessities1872 and @PopeAndGlory on Twitter more point scoring opportunities against each other? Revenue Revenue for clubs is generated from three sources, matchday, broadcasting and commercial. Relative to the rest of Scottish football, where many clubs are so small, they are not legally obliged to show income and expenses in their accounts, Celtic and Rangers dominate as would be expected. All…

  • Other Financial Issues

    Rangers: Phoenix from the ashes or new dawn fades?

    Rangers won the Scottish Premier League five times between 2003 and 2011, as well as reaching the final of the UEFA Cup in 2008, which on the face of it was an impressive achievement as the club went toe to toe with a resurgent Celtic during that period. To compete with Celtic the club was however prepared to take steps that would ultimately lead to the liquidation of the club’s operating company and had to apply for membership of the Scottish Third Division. It would take four years out of the top flight before the club was once again able to face its rivals in a league match. The high…

  • Financial Results

    Rangers: Automatic for the people

    Introduction 8pm on 31st October is when I’m usually wondering if I can eat all the fun size Mars Bars that haven’t been vacuumed up by local youths dressed in Freddy Kreuger or Gary Neville fright masks trick or treating for Halloween. Instead my email inbox pinged, and something came through about Rangers. Initially I ignored it, couldn’t be important surely, as after all the first team were playing high flying Kilmarnock at the same time. At half-time, having prised myself away from the match on TV, it appeared that Rangers had published their annual results, a good time to bury bad news perhaps? Key figures for 2017/18 Income £32.7m…

  • Financial Results

    Glasgow Rangers 2016/17: Orange Crush

    Introduction I’ve only ever seen Rangers play once, which was at the 2008 UEFA Cup final. It’s fair to say that there was a discrepancy between the number of people who came to Manchester for the event and those who had tickets. The following morning I was on a breakfast TV show, and had to walk around and over hundreds, if not thousands, of Rangers fans who had decided to sleep al fresco on the streets following the match. 2016/17 saw a return after four years to the Premiership, Joey Barton scrapping with team mates, lawsuits against former directors and Mike Ashley, three managers, fan groups buying shares in the…