Rambles in Ibrox

After the succulent spin from the Stenography Corps comes some forensic analysis.

Today, the rather brilliant Swiss Ramble chap dropped his analysis of Sevco’s finances into my inbox.

Only those on Deludamol at Ibrox will find anything to cheer in these numbers.

Here is an evidence-based assessment of the financial situation at the basket of assets that you won’t see in the Daily Radar:

Rangers’ pre-tax loss slightly increased from £2.2m to £3.1m, as revenue fell £3m (4%) from club record £87m to £84m and other operating income dropped £4m (82%) from £5m to £1m, while operating expenses climbed £11m (11%) from £97m to £108m.

This was largely offset by exceptional charges falling £5m (78%) from £6m to £1m and especially profit from player sales more than doubling from £11m to a new club high of £24m.

Loss after tax widened from £0.9m to £4.1m, as a £1.3m tax credit flipped to a £1.0m charge.

He pointed out these inconvenient facts:

Rangers’ £4.1m loss after tax is actually the worst financial result in Scotland over the last two years, though many clubs have not yet published their 2022/23 accounts. In stark contrast, Celtic posted a £33m profit.

Given that reporting this comparison within the normal succulent paradigm is practically impossible, it is off-limits for the local media.

When I perused the excellent analysis from this Brit in Zurich, who started doing this as a hobby and now charges for his excellent content, it was no surprise that the mainstream media on Planet Fitba is slowly dying.

In the first decade of this millennium, they missed the biggest sports story of the generation.

This site was flagging up the impending financial tsunami approaching Ibrox from 2009 onwards.

The response of the stenographers was to sneer and spin.

When Rangers died, they were stunned.

This front page of the Herald emanated from the news desk, not the brogue wearers in sport.

Despite this brief outbreak of journalism in 2012, the local media quickly fell into line with the survival myth.

They had to discover such wheezes as “holding company vehicle” and, my personal favourite, “engine room subsidiary”.

Now Sevco finds itself between a rock and a hard case:

UEFA’s FSR and Hector.

Unlike the original Rangers, the basket of assets must pay all due to taxes, and our gallant allies in Europe have them on a watch list.

Anyone who thinks that the current financial Sevco shitshow is sustainable should probably apply for a position at the Daily Radar.

The good news for the Ibrox klanbase is that the people at UEFA will impose sustainability on the club that is destined to be simply the second best in Scotland.