Rangers confirm only £800k raised from summer sale of five players

Rangers chief financial officer confirmed that player sales last summer only raised £800,000 in total, as the club admitted their player trading model had to improve.

The Ibrox club’s annual general meeting saw the Rangers hierarchy quizzed on a number of issues, including the costly stadium renovation that led to the team being temporarily relocated to Hampden, the leadership at the club and the state of the finances after a £17.2m loss was reported.

But one question from a fan focused on the amount of money raised from the sale of players in the summer transfer window, with the response bringing audible gasps from the assembled shareholders.

Rangers saw a huge turnover of players in the summer, with eight individuals leaving at the end of their contract, and the sale of Connor Goldson, Todd Cantwell, Sam Lammers, Scott Wright and Robby McCrorie.

A shareholder asked if it was true that the combined income from those sales was £800,000, which brought agreement from CFO James Taylor and an admission that the player trading model had not been working.

“Yes it’s confirmed £800,000 is indeed the number,” Taylor said.

“Player trading hasn’t been working for a number of years. It’s ongoing and something we need to address. This is the continued challenges of decisions that were taken 18-24 months ago.”

PA Media

Rangers technical director Nils Koppen then insisted that the club goes into every negotiation looking to get the best possible deal and explained the work that had gone into reducing the wage bill and changing the profile of the squad. The former director of recruitment gave a presentation showing progress made in working towards a “sustainable” model.

“We installed some key principles throughout the last two transfer windows,” he said.

“One of these key principles was to reduce the average age of the squad, and you can see the average age of the player at that club in the last window, and on the other side, you can see the average age of the young talent signed. So, the difference between 29.7 and 23.5, that’s a big difference and it’s one of the key principles that we want to have.

“The second thing is normalizing the wage structure. You see the total cost, the standard cost of the previous season was £41 million, circa £41 million. The current team is running up around £35 million, that’s a big difference.

“I think the most important thing was to create value inside of this team. I think that’s the most important principle that we had to implement.

“So for us, these principles are key in the recruitment strategy and the windows to come and to be sustainable, consistent, willing, and non-negotiable.”

Koppen also said work was being done to improve the club’s academy prospects and attract talent to the first team.

“We are reviewing it,” he said. “It’s not good enough currently.

“Not enough players are competing for first-team minutes from the youth, and structural changes will be made in January.”

Manager Philippe Clement also spoke at the AGM, saying that the changes had to be made and that there was a plan in place with the rebuild of the squad.

“It’s good to have this meeting and numbers are very clear,” he said. “Decisions had to be made to make club sustainable and avoid taking club into dangerous place as was before.

“We’ve spoken about rebuild. People can see the numbers now. But legacy of Rangers is winning.

“The day we lower that bar, Rangers is not Rangers anymore. That’s my message in the dressing room. We need to keep this culture in club.

“It’s true things in football are decided by money. The more you have, the more you can buy. But it’s also about hard work and we’re working really hard to get a better team.

“We know mistakes made in the past. I understand people don’t understand why we sign a young guy from Morocco. But we’re working hard to make things better, and I promise we will keep on doing that.”

Clement, who has been under fire after a start to the season that has seen them trail Celtic by 11 points in the league, was speaking the day after the team had thumped Kilmarnock 6-0 in their Premiership match at Ibrox.

“I promise I didn’t tell the players to give me more effort because I had the AGM,” he joked.

Interim chairman John Gilligan reiterated the board’s support for Clement and explained the decision to offer him a new contract as a show of confidence in the long-term potential.

“We have a history of making decisions under duress mid-season,” he said. “We wanted the manager to have comfort that he had time to bring in younger players.

“Time will tell if it’s the right decision, but we stand by it.”