New research based on the latest club accounts of all the teams in Britain have revealed some eye-opening statistics about the financial gap between Rangers and Celtic.
They also show the financial disparity between Scottish teams and those in England.
The research was conducted by Price of Football’s Kieran Maguire, a lecturer in football finance at Liverpool University. It shows how Celtic (£59.3m – 22nd highest in UK) have 3.5 times the wage bill of Rangers (£17.6m – 40th highest in UK).
But Rangers and Celtic aren’t the only Scottish clubs in the top 50.
Aberdeen have a wage bill of £7.8m per annum, making them the 50th highest in the UK.
Celtic also boast three times the revenue of the Ibrox giants. Celtic, supplemented by Champions League revenue and the sale of Moussa Dembele, raked in £90.6m (20th). Rangers by contrast only received £29.2m (30th).
Aberdeen (£15.3m – 41st) and Hearts (£11.3m – 50th) also made the top 50.
Other insights released this week by Maguire include the fact that the disparity in revenue between Old Firm teams, and subsequently Scottish teams and those in England, drops considerably when you remove TV revenue. Rangers made £25.6m (-£3.6m) and rose to 18th in the UK whereas Celtic took a massive drop to £50.3m (-£40.3m) but still sit in 8th.
What does it all mean?
In short, that Celtic have a serious financial upper-hand over the rest of the league. Rangers sit above the rest but at present are closer to the other clubs financially than their league rivals. Rangers and Celtic are clearly the two financial powerhouses in Scotland, but these statistics don’t paint the entire picture.
These findings compare last year’s Rangers reports with this year’s Celtic reports. With Steven Gerrard, Europa League football and kits finally going on sale, it will be very interesting to see by how much Rangers have closed the financial gap this year.
The retail situation in particular continues to feel like a frustrating hindrance to the club’s off-field success. After Dave King’s comments, there seems to be no real end in sight. But kits are still being sold by the club and money is still coming in. We have a Chairman who’s willing to fight for the club’s best interests.
Let’s not delude ourselves, at present Rangers cannot compete with Celtic financially.
But one thing is for sure. Rangers are quietly chipping away at the financial gap. Issues that were reflected in the last annual reports are slowly being amended and this should be reflected in the next.
This can be coupled with the fact that on the pitch Rangers have visibly began to close a gap and there is steady progress being made.
Will it be enough to stop Celtic in their tracks? In short, it has to be.
