Concerned Kris Boyd reckons Rangers have been “ran by the heart” with cash being splashed in an attempt to catch Celtic.
The fears of the Ibrox diehards escalated last month after the board revealed an operating loss of £17.2million in the most recent financial year. The annual accounts and accompanying financial statement and that deficit were grim reading for the punters amid a tough campaign on the pitch under Philippe Clement, despite the club also saying they have recorded record figures in core revenue of £88.3million.
The figures are only made worse when contrasted with the mega-money arriving at Celtic Park as Rangers watch Brendan Rodgers’ side bolster the Parkhead coffers in the cash-rich Champions League. UEFA have beefed up the prize pot for teams this season – and Celtic eyeing a spot in the knockout stages with seven points from their opening four fixture the cash will only continue to flow towards Glasgow’s east end.
And speaking to the The Warm-Up, Rangers hero Boyd pointed to a key misstep by his former club in recent seasons: “You only need to look at Rangers finances that were released a few weeks ago as well. It’s all well and good having money coming in, but if you don’t spend it wisely you could end up in trouble.
“Celtic are the opposite. Celtic have brought in a lot of money and a lot of their fans will be demanding ‘you have to go and spend that money’ – but it has been built up. I think Celtic have been ran by the head, and when you look at Rangers a lot of it has been run by the heart. It has been a case of ‘we need to put money in because we need to get there’ but there has been a proper business model for a number of years.”
Fellow pundit Craig Levein felt Celtic also had to adopt a cautious approach to spending despite rubbing shoulders with Europe’s elite. He said: “The thing with Celtic is, they know they can’t close the gap on the European giants, they can’t do it.”
Former Celtic boss Gordon Strachan responded: “There’s no point in doing that. What if you spend £200m, how many players are you going to get for that? Then you have to pay the wages. So say you pay £10m for someone, they’ll want £50k a week. Then the other players there (at Celtic) say, ‘well I want £50k a week, I want £45k, I want £40k’. And before you know it, it’s out of control. If you then have one bad season, you’re done and the club is at risk (financially). That’s the problem you’ve got.”