Rangers have spent £42.63m since 2022 and have a League Cup to show for it

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Rangers have fallen further and further behind Celtic on the pitch since winning title 55 in 2021.

And there has been a general feeling that they simply haven’t been able to compete with the other side of the city financially, leading to them wrestling back their domination that was threatened briefly by Steven Gerrard’s side.

Celtic are in good financial health and every year post some eye-watering accounts that would make most teams in Scotland blush. In the most recent window, they smashed their transfer record with £11million signing Arne Engels and splashed out on other players too.

Gers haven’t quite been able to match that but does the poverty narrative ring true?

• READ MORE: Rangers outcast wows new club’s fans who question Gers assessment

Andy Halliday and David Martindale on Rangers transfer spend

Livingston boss David Martindale would certainly question the narrative. With £17million spent in the summer (including the fee that will eventually be paid for Oscar Cortes), he’s not so sure there have been the struggles financially some have claimed.

Speaking on Open Goal, he said: “£17m this summer…so what I will say is there is maybe not as much a problem upstairs as what some people are suggesting, if you’re getting £17m to spend. £17m would keep us in the league for 17 years.”

Former Gers midfielder Andy Halliday chipped in with his take and concentrated on the spend over the past six transfer windows.

And the issue he raises is not getting enough return on your investment with player trading, which could then have been reinvested back into the squad.

Responding to Martindale, he said: “I think I read £45million in the last five or six windows. The only issue is out of that £45m they’ve probably only brought in about £19m or something. So that tells you the ones they’re signing, you’re not getting that sell-on value and you’re not making them better to then sell them.

“There’s not just one person to blame. The way the club is…no director or CEO is not great and the stadium situation.”

Rangers transfer spend since 2022

Halliday was very close with his number – Rangers’ transfer spend over the last six windows is actually £42.63m – £16.55m in 2022/23, £14.5m in 2023/24 and £11.58m this year – and that’s not including the Cortes money.

And in that time of the £42.63m spend? Rangers have won one League Cup.

So there is definitely something in Martindale’s comments about how there hasn’t exactly been no money to spend, and an argument could be had over whether Rangers should have spent it more wisely and been able to challenge more.

In that time, £11.3m has been spent on Ben Davies, Antonio Colak, Todd Cantwell, Sam Lammers and Jose Cifuentes none of whom are currently available to Philippe Clement after leaving on loan or permanently.

While £6m was splashed on Danilo who hasn’t been able to get a run of games due to ongoing injury problems.

“£17m this summer…so what I will say is there is maybe not as much a problem upstairs as what some people are suggesting, if you’re getting £17m to spen. £17m would keep us in the league for 17 years.

“That (player trading) has definitely been a problem and the constant turnaround is a struggle, isn’t it?”