The news last week that Rangers are operating a £64m wage bill – £3m more than Celtic and a record amount – should ring pretty serious alarm bells. At the very least it should scorch the theory that the Ibrox side are somehow operating as Glasgow’s poor relations when they are held up to the light with Celtic.
A £4m loss on the back of a campaign that delivered Champions League football and the sale of a player for just shy of £20m should not slip under the radar for anyone.
Little wonder then that chairman John Bennett felt it incumbent to remind everyone of the need for ‘clear and tangible results.’ It is surely not just a reference to those who are in charge of the club’s accounts.
As the light was shone upon all those with a significant role to play at the club last week, the most notable aspect at any team is that it is the players and what they do on the pitch that puts everything else in the shade.
Rangers have claimed just two top flight trophies – the league and the Scottish Cup – since their 2012 liquidation. A player trading model has had limited success outwith the sporadic returns on the likes of Nathan Patterson and Calvin Bassey with recruitment failing to hit the mark repeatedly for the club.
The jury remains out on a number of this summer’s arrivals. Rangers are unlikely to find the door being banged down in January for the likes of Cyriel Dessers, Jose Cifuentes and Sam Lemmers given the inauspicious start they have had to their Ibrox careers while there has to be more from the likes of Todd Cantwell, who is in danger of doing his talking on social media platforms rather than on the pitch.
Ultimately, with a wage bill this size the only mark of it being money well spent is by putting silverware in the trophy cabinet.
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