First time poster, but regular reader; putting my “two-cents” in over the possible impact the 49ers bid will have on Glasgow Rangers. Been following the news very closely and donning my legal cap, but I am still taking this all with a pinch of salt. Yes, I think there will be positive ramifications, but that will not come with a £100m war chest to ramp-up the squad rebuild.
That will be tempered due to Profit Sustainability Rules, which limits the cash injection available tied to a percentage of the revenue generated by the club each year. Player wages, agents fees go towards the percentage cap. For context, in 2024, we generated £88m in revenue (excluding Champions League money as we did not qualify), with operative costs of £96m (not including transfer fees). Our staff costs were £61m. To encourage spending, we needed to lower that staff cost expenditure.
Crucially, that’s not to say that the 49ers can’t inject any amount. They could certainly make a smaller war chest available for the summer. But, realistically, the instant impact would be expenditure on aspects excluded from the percentage cap (stadium upgrades, training ground upgrades, stadium footprint investment).
I would suspect this would be the first area focussed on heavily. All of course with the objective of increasing our revenue (developing players meaning bigger fees when sold and better chance of Europe; improved stadium and match day experience creating a small increase in ticket prices; better footprint more match day and passive income).
Looking pragmatically, this certainly isn’t going to be a ‘quick fix’ but certainly ties into Patrick Stewarts’ (PS) comments in his recent interview – adopting the “root and branch” approach to explore every avenue of the Club to get a more holistic interpretation of what is needing a spruce-up. Will be interesting to hear PS in his next update video where he certainly will most likely be pushed to provide some answers on the very large elephant in the room.
Grateful for additional thoughts, but I suspect we’d be similar to Newcastle. Revamped training ground and ongoing understanding of the redevelopment/ expansion of St James’ park (both not included in the percentage cap). But unlike Newcastle, our room for growth is higher, with a much lower wage budget accounting to that revenue figure. Looking at the reason why the likes of Cantwell, Goldson, Jack, Barisic, Lundstrum etc. all recently moved on, and the rumours of Hagi being re-offered reduced terms, this certainly does have the marks that this has been brewing in the background for a while.
Written by Legal-Bear February 21 2025 10:53:16
