Five main talking points as Rangers post financial results including Elite/Hummel settlement fee, £8m cost cutting and £30m hit

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Even when Rangers were winning on the pitch, things off the pitch still left a lot to be desired.

Since Dave King and his knights swept to power, restoring and upgrading Ibrox has swallowed up tens of millions, litigation over various commercial deals the same and more has been spent than made when it came to building and rebuilding the playing squad.

With revenue growing, Rangers had to reset at some point and 2024 has seen current manager Philippe Clement have to cut his cloth accordingly.

• READ MORE: The 11 big takeaways as Philippe Clement previews Rangers’ trip to face Aberdeen

Five talking points from Rangers financial results

The financial results are in and, with a £17.2m headline making operating loss for Rangers, the other details might have been missed – here are the top five talking points from the accounts.

Rangers revenue and commercial figures breaking records

Pre-player trading is basically income and expenditure of the club without player sales and/or purchases and, for once, there is good news.

Previously around £10m, chief financial officer James Taylor has reported that this figure is now down to £2m.

What this means is that, if this figure can break even or turn a profit, it gives the recruitment director and manager more room to play with and, potentially, a bigger transfer budget with/without sales.

The key figures include:

• Record core revenue of £88.3m; record total income of £94.2m.
• Record rommercial revenue of £67m; double digit growth.

Rangers wage bill is heading in the right direction as Philippe Clement cuts costs

There has not been value for money in terms of wages and, with five senior Rangers players leaving in the summer, it was always going to be a good chance to cut the wage bill.

For these accounts, the overall figure has already decreased by £2m with another £6m saved from Rangers 2024 summer transfer business which will be taken into account this time next year.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	9	8	1	0	27	3	24	25
2	AberdeenAberdeen	9	8	1	0	18	8	10	25
3	RangersRangers	9	6	1	2	14	6	8	19
4	Dundee UtdDundee Utd	9	4	3	2	13	10	3	15
5	MotherwellMotherwell	9	4	1	4	11	12	-1	13
6	ST JohnstoneST Johnstone	10	3	1	6	13	20	-7	10

How much did it cost to hire Hampden Park?

The double-edged sword of the delayed Ibrox works is not an easy one to put a total price on.

Would Rangers have won if the second-leg tie had been at their spiritual home, or would the referee still have intervened and sent off Jefte in a ridiculous incident?

We’ll never know.

What we do know, is that it “only” cost Rangers £67,000 to rent Hampden Park, rather than the millions that was feared – the real cost though, hypothetically, was the £30m that qualification to the Champions League would have guaranteed.

Rangers are free of the courts and expensive litigation

For years, Rangers have had to pay their way out of antecedent contracts inherited by the current board.

After the Elite/Hummel litigation was settled, the club is now free from the court and the expense that it brings with it.

The cost? An eye watering £3.8m. The sort of figure that could pay for a new number six, winger or striker.

The importance of a successful player trading model

Once again though, the major talking point despite record total income, record commercial income, the wage bill coming down and an £8m pre-player trading loss reduction, the important of scouting, identifying and signing the right players continues to be paramount. 

Jefte, bought for £600,000, looks to be this summer’s poster boy of how it should be done. Young, with obvious physical and technical abilities but with the potential to develop and make the club a profit.

At the other end of the scale, players like Cyriel Dessers, bought for £4.5m as his 30^th birthday approached and with no sell on value, must become a thing of the past.

If it doesn’t, annual reports like this will continue to be the norm.

Despite the chaos, things off the pitch seem to be going in the right direction.