“I’m beginning to think another year in the
Championship isn’t such a bad idea. Gives us a chance to clear out the dead
wood, and start again with youth, giving us ample to time to build a decent
team ready for 2016 and promotion.”
The above has become an increasingly-common
diatribe by Rangers fans in the past three or four months, when it has become
glaringly apparent Rangers will struggle to get promoted at all.
5 points from the last 15 tells
its own story of how absolute awful Rangers have become, giving credence to the
possibility of ripping it up and starting again. Fans point to the Hearts
model, validly, of how a rookie boss gave youth and a select number of new
signings licence to just play, and how it has paid dividends with them 20
points clear of nearest rivals Hibs, and a quite astounding 26 points ahead of
Rangers.
So, is starting again this summer
and resigning ourselves now to another year in the second-top tier of Scottish
football a good idea?
Well, there are two sides to this
coin – football, and financial.
On a football basis it is hard to
argue with the basis for such a strategy. Shear off the dead wood, do not renew
the out-of-contract duds and emphasis the younger players. The likes of Andy
Murdoch and especially Tom Walsh have carried themselves with some distinction
recently. And players out on loan such as McKay and Gasparotto would be
valuable assets to recall, with those younger players such as Crawford and
Gallagher already at Ibrox and ready and waiting.
In that context, it is not a bad
idea. Bring in one or two half decent signings, guys of the quality of Scott
Allan (do not get me started on him) et al who can enhance the team, in
conjunction with those aforementioned youth. AKA “The Hearts model”.
Unfortunately the other side of
the coin is the critical problem; financial. It is all very well romantically
desiring to stay in the Championship to give management a chance to rebuild the
team around youth and freeing the rubbish, but the longer Rangers stay out of
the SPL, the harder the coffers get hit.
Take a look at this entry. In a
nutshell that is the level of income Rangers are down per year. From around
£50M to £10M. Remove all the politics, remove all the power struggles of the
past, and remove any ‘siphoning’ allegations; the above figures are damning,
and they are the result of not being the SPL:
No prize money in the millions
for winning or being second in Scotland’s top flight, a gigantic loss of season
ticket cash (previously it was due to the price being cut, now it is due to a
lack of renewals), the ongoing loss of TV revenue cash which was sold (via
blackmail by the SFA/SPFL) to the authorities, the absolutely gigantic chasm
left from no European football (CL losses are well over £10M while Europa
League losses are roughly £2M), and of course the downscale of merchandising
over the past three years, coupled on top of the fact Mike Ashley owns it.
The longer Rangers stay out of
the SPL, the longer these financial restrictions cripple us. But the horrible
catch 22 is we require money to get back into the SPL – our income has to match
our size to at least break even, and it is not even remotely doing that.
Hearts’ strength is their
financial requirements are absolutely dwarfed by Rangers’, and they are able
happily to run within their means (at a much smaller loss) in the Championship.
But for Rangers that is not an
option.
And it is why remaining in the
Championship is far from the ideal solution.