Exclusive: Scottish media’s 2018 lie only strengthens Rangers’ position

This was touched on quietly by the Scottish media late last year but we thought it merited a revisit in light of where Rangers currently are with respect to Celtic both in the league, following the transfer window, and both clubs’ European endeavours.

For those who don’t know, last year Global Sports Surveys did a full report on sports salaries, and Rangers, at place 243 globally, ranked 44 places behind Celtic in a list of 349 clubs.

Most interesting was the weekly average – Rangers were at an average of around £9,000 per player, while Celtic were around £16,500.

Now, this was presented to the mass audience in Scotland as Celtic being double – basic maths and arithmetic shows that’s an outright lie, and while Celtic do pay more, it’s a notable amount short of actually being double.

This also brings a lot of claims into some context – yes, Celtic do evidently have a bigger treasury than Rangers, but not an unsurmountable one, and one which, almost a year on from that report, would have benefited from Rangers’ continued participation in Europe allowing the coffers to enjoy a stable source of revenue.

In short, Rangers not only have a bit more cash this year compared with last, but the sources which supplied it last year are still doing so.

What does this all mean?

It means Rangers were able to compete with Celtic on a more even playing field this summer – and the gap between the wages will be lower this year than it was last.

This is not to say that automatically paying higher wages means you’re better – Man Utd, a mile off the required level to challenge in England, were fourth in terms of football clubs in this list, behind only Juve, Real and Barca.

But it does show that Rangers can land gloves in competing for quality players – while Joe Aribo is yet to truly impress, that Rangers could fend off Aston Villa with wages at a level of around £20,000 shows the financial clout is increasing at Ibrox.

Slowly, but surely, it is.

Ryan Kent’s signing is further evidence of this.

And it’s only going to get better as Rangers progress slowly and steadily. More wins in the Europa League and higher (further) TV cash among a multitude of growing revenue streams (ST at record highs) available to Rangers will only strength the financial position of the club.

And where last year it was 9K to Celtic’s 16.5K, we’d imagine the gap will be closer still for this year.

Keep it up.