Rangers finance chief James Taylor has revealed crashing out of the Champions League, Copland road construction work and a temporary stint at Hampden will make their bid break even a real challenge.
The Ibrox side released their annual report and accompanying financial statement for the year ended 30 June 2023 with the Chief Financial Officer providing the ins and outs in a club TV interview following the announcement of a £17million loss. Over the summer Philippe Clement lost high earners like John Lundstram, Borna Barisic and Kemar Roofe on free transfers and his recruitment drive was focussed at bringing in replacements on a lower wage bracket in order to bring down the cost of the first-team wage bill.
The club have a stated objective to get to a point that allows them to break even pre-player trading but Taylor has admitted it will prove challenging due to the Copland works, playing the opening weeks of the season at the national stadium and Champions League elimination to Dynamo Kiev while in Mount Florida which meant they missed out on the big cash bonanza at Europe’s top table and have had to settle for Europa League football this term.
Asked how he and the board ensure the club remains on a secure financial footing for the years to come, he stated to Rangers TV: “I think the thing to highlight here is there was a £17million bottom line post-tax loss this year. That number – whilst again is something we should acknowledge and observe – is something that we recognise in and understand how we are going to move forward and fix.
“A lot of that loss is coming down to the impact of the player training model and this year taking impairments on players from the recent past that we have moved on in the summer. Again, one of the big talking points over the summer has been the normalisation of the first-team wage bill from the clubs perspective.
“That has allowed us to look at how are we are going to move forward in a sustainable manner and in a manner that allows us to get to a break even point pre-player trading. Which again is a stated objective.
“It will be challenging this year given the nature of the Copland works, Hampden and indeed the Dynamo Kiev result. That will be challenging but it is something we are focussed on and looking to achieve.
“For us as a football club we have to get to a point that we have an operating model that is sustainable and successful. We then have the football side of the business that generates on the players sides that generates us gains over a five-year cycle.
“If we deliver that we can then start bolstering our balance sheet and accelerating investment and look at various different ways of further enhancing the opportunities of the capital available to the first team.”