Rip off Rangers?

17
Rip off Rangers?


When news initially broke that Rangers were charging a lump sum of £105 for three Europa League matches in a block, reaction was more than a touch incredulous from supporters. After all, English clubs are said to be charging only just over half that, and our chums in the East are charging £72 for the same package.

Is Rangers’ supporters’ outrage justified? On the face of it, yes. We are receiving the same product as everyone else but being charged around 50% extra for the privilege, and in a market system, you should always try to match or beat your rivals.

The further annoyance for fans is the short-notice. This ‘deal’ only has three days’ availability, and even then it’s only for season ticket holders – once the three days are up the price rises again for individual tickets to a reported £40.

On the face of it, this doesn’t seem right, or fair.

However, to put our devil’s advocate cap on, there are some caveats here:

First off, this is Rangers’ first return to the Promised Land of European football for seven years. This club has had a seven year vacuum of finance where millions of pounds should have been with regards our regular European outings. Yes, these tickets are a bit steep, but the reality is Rangers have years of this ahead while we try to balance our books and get the incoming closer to the outgoing. Years of loss making has to stop somehow. It, to us, is a necessary evil to allow us to live within our means.

Secondly, clubs down south and Celtic can afford to charge so little. These clubs are rich. Simple as. They are all financially stable and can afford to charge less for tickets and still make profit. Even Celtic plugged their £10-18M shortfall of UCL failure by selling Dembele for £20M. They made a hell of a lot less profit than usual, but they still managed to end up in the black.

Thirdly, it’s clearly been so long since we were in Europe that we’ve forgotten this is roughly what our club used to charge for European nights anyway! In 2009 Rangers faced AC Milan in a friendly – £25 was the price. 2005 v Porto UCL – £29. Sure, £35 is slightly more but these are different times.

Lastly – our club is going to do everything it can to exploit every revenue stream it can for the next year or two. Seven years of borderline no cash, plus last summer’s wasted £11M all adds up – the revenue is starting to slowly flow again, but us supporters do have to take some of the burden ourselves too – the £10M we spent this summer was seemingly mostly funded by the board.

Yes, there is absolutely no doubt our club is slightly taking advantage of the situation, and yes, it’s charging slightly more than usual, but there are reasons for this and for fans to complain about the price of tickets almost feels like some of us have forgotten the past seven years.

How do you guys feel? Too high or a necessary evil?

bike trails


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17 COMMENTS

  1. Firstly I've always been a supporter of Dave King and this board and feel they don't get the credit they deserve. However, they are multi millionaire business men and can obviously afford the money they invest in the club they support. We, the normal supporter that have been shelling out constantly before and during our journey from division 3, paying to watch absolute dross, paying to watch meaningless friendlies just to raise funds for the club, to be charged far more than every other club in Britain for Europa League is poor, taking the piss in fact! If we need to make up a short fall in revenue then get the strip situation sorted, I'm sure I'm not the only 1 with kids impatiently waiting for 3 strips with players names on the back! The amount of cash strip sales will bring they could give away the Europa tickets!

    • Fair old points Stevie, but the problem with the shirts only adds up to further reasons the board is slightly overcharging for these tickets. We'll cover the shirt issue in a separate piece.

    • Show me what to credit King with!!! I will show you a list of what King hasnt done or fecked up on. Willing to bet which one is the longest???
      I just dont get this "king is soooo good" crap. This year, despite King we got Gerrard and co. Your answer to that will be "yeah but its his money" etc etc ad nauseum… Well no it isnt.
      While on the subject of money have you had a gander at what KING has caused to be spent on legal fee's?? Yeah some of them justifiable and some unavoidable. BUT then look at the bills run up which I KNOW were run up against best advice from the solicitors concerned, oh and against advice / wishes of other shareholders. Hell a JUDGE himself even declared what a waste of time and money it all is….. How many or how big a hint does King want or need??
      But returning to King… YOU yourself mentioned the strips debacle…. Emmmmm who has overseen that particular problem????
      For I, and many others, we will NOT be happy till he is gone and we have someone at the helm who is fit for purpose!!!

    • He bought the shares, took control from Ashley, he's funded Warburton, he funded caxinha, he even backed murty. We didnt get gerrard in spite of king, he was vital in getting Gerrard! He has backed him considerably allowing him to build a good squad of potentially valuable players. He has backed every manager with funds. If there was someone fitter for purpose, able, willing…where was he??? For I, and many others are happy and grateful for Kings actions and contribution. I dread to think where we would be with Ashley still calling the shots!

    • Mr Cathcart had it not been for David King and those other Gentlemen who have backed and rescued our club we would have been totally ravaged and in Admin 2 gone ….please consider that my friend if you don't like it …then go we don't need negativity

    • Rubbish Mr Cathcart. The whole neanderthal side of Scotland stuck the dagger into Rangers then laughed for years. King at least has stood by and made a reasonable effort thru the truncheon years. I would blame Scotland way before King.

    • Rubbish. King said he go rid of Ashley, then it come out he paid £3 million to get out of the deal and then signed a deal with ashAsh which is a lot worse.
      He picks fights that he can't win and its the club left picking up the pieces.
      You say he has put all this money into the club , sorry he has not. He has loaned the club money that he expects back, look in the club accounts.
      The take over panel issues some him up. He thinks he can have a share issue while he's in brwavh of a court order to buy the shares of the club. Bold Dave thinks he can do what he wants.
      We won't be taken seriously by big companies for sponsorship until he's gone

  2. I.N i agree that the shirt situation could be another factor for the high ticket prices but again, we, the normal supporter can't do anything about the contract issues, we can't hire lawyers and fight it out in court to get it sorted. We will pay over the top for these tickets (the board know we will) then the strip situation will be resolved in time for Santa! We will then pay top dollar for them – again the board know this. We really do deserve 55!

  3. Got to agree with Stevie, Its taking the piss. 1st we buy record numbers of season tickets , we support our club once again with full houses in every qualifier. We pack out Ibrox in Div 3,2,1 and top division not to mention cups. We have been served dross over the last 7 years but follow on we did. Now the club stand to make X amount of extra revenue through TV money and group stage money. We are not paying for Stevie Gs 10mil we are paying for Pedros 10 Mil. This was a chance for the board to give something back to the fans who have supported our club with 100% class , showing up in numbers constantly. Now they just want to fleece us some more. Ridiculous in my opinion. £85 fine £105 is taking us for granted. its far too much of a hike against the £72 option Celtic are offering. By the time i take me and my boy to one game including travel and food we are talking about an £90 x 3 £270. It has left a sour taste in my mouth tbh

  4. Yes, we are charging too much but, for the reasons stated in your article, this is necessary and understandable. We just don't have time to waste any longer and cash is King in football nowadays. It might be easy to say this, but at least we now know that the cost is going to the Club and to the squad.

  5. Big box office club now,you want the best but dont want to pay ffs,if you dont someone else will move over💪

    LETS GO WATP 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

  6. Agreed and great article IN. We the fans have been there through thick and thin and we will keep following. As Benidormloyal says, if you don’t want to pay someone else will.

  7. I believe the price is fair. We cant compare ourselves to the English clubs. The money they will make in the Europa league is pennies compared to their other revenue, the East end mob have w yrs champions league money behind them aswell as numerous player sales. The money we bring in will help us massively in our development. £10million would buy 2 or 3 good players.

  8. ill be there our club just trying to get stability we have had no money coming in for years we have got to milk european football hopefully champions league next year white ,geen ,murray,s fault with this ashley carry on ,blame them not king ,follow, follow ,

  9. Mr king can't please everyone I voted no cos I can afford it I know some people can't but I'm pretty sure everyone reading the article knows we're in a far better position under Mr king and the current board. At least now more of the silly court cases have stopped being our #1 news story. We're actually debating if we're charging too much for European tickets ffs it's been 7 long years let's celebrate Mr G and the management team pushing there players over that line and enjoy the 3 special nights to come. Watp

  10. I've said it before, if they if they have spare space, why don't they open a 'pay at the gate' for people like me, on part-time income. I just can't stretch to a full season ticket, atm. The only games I can realistically get tickets for, is the away games. Have clubs got so picky, they won't accept, pay at the turnstile these days? I mean, we're not all in full-time jobs. I work part-time and supplement my income with e-bay reselling. People in our situation, are almost persona-non-grata, at the club. I don't see what the problem is, if they can allocate a wee section. Extra income, should no be sniffed at. Aye I agree on your main point. Rangers fans seem to get shafted. Even more reason, to maximise all areas of income. It canny just be all about, season ticket holders.

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