Douglas Park is delighted Rangers are in the black for 2021/22 after the club announced an operating profit of £5.9m for the year until July.
It's been 12 months of mixed fortunes under Gio van Bronckhorst as they relinquished their Scottish Premiership title to Celtic and have started off the pace in the league this year. But they also won the Scottish Cup in May for the first time since 2009, made the Europa League Final in Seville, and qualified for the Champions League - although the bonus cash from the latter is yet to be reflected in the accounts.
Off the pitch, club record sales of Nathan Patterson and Calvin Bassey have helped overturn the substantial losses of £23.5m from last year where the accounts were ravaged by the effects of Covid. The revenue raised from the run to the Europa League final, where they banked £15.5m in prize money alone, helped them nearly double their revenue from £47.7m to £86.8m.
Park had plenty to say on the accounts which paint a far more positive picture than last year and here is every word from the chairman's statement plus a flavour of his business review in which he insists the fans are being treated better...
Introduction
“The past year has provided many highs and lows, along with challenges both on and off the park, but ultimately, I believe we are continuing to grow stronger as a club.
"This time last year, I repeated my belief from 2015 when this current board took control of the club, that this would be a 10-year recovery project.
"While there have been moments in the last year that have exceeded both my own and the board’s expectations (with specific reference to the Europa League run to the final) we cannot, and will not, stand still and continue to have so much more to do.
"Assisting us on that path are our strong executive team and talented staff both at Ibrox and at the Rangers Training Centre. Rangers was created by four pioneers, and it should be and is the aim of every single employee of the club to continue in that spirit."
On the pitch
"Beginning on the pitch, we appointed Giovanni van Bronckhorst as our football manager last November. As well as delivering us the Scottish Cup for the first time in 13 years he also, as I touched on earlier, gave the Club a thrilling European journey where we came within a kick of winning only our second European trophy.
"This season, under Gio’s leadership, he and the players returned us to the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 12 years by navigating two difficult qualifying rounds in August.
"Our ‘player trading model’ is something your Board mention on a number of occasions. On joining the Club, Ross Wilson, our Sporting Director, was mandated by the Board to build a modern football department.
"Player trading success was essential to this, as it is a key revenue stream for the majority of European clubs. We are pleased that in the last twelve months, we have achieved two club record sales through our player recruitment and player development processes."
On the academy and women's football
"Our Academy continues to perform strongly, with Leon King the latest Academy graduate to make the breakthrough to become a regular fixture in the first team matchday squad. Encouragingly, fourteen players from the Academy have made appearances for the first team since the start of season 2021/22.
"The introduction of our B team into the Lowland League has been a fantastic success with the team being challenged week-in, week-out. Additionally, qualification of our first team for the UEFA Champions League Group Stages opened the door for our under-19s to feature in the UEFA Youth League group stages for the first time.
"Our women’s football operation is something the Board are very passionate about. Led by Amy McDonald and Malky Thomson, the Club won our first SWPL title in May, and were exceptionally unlucky not to qualify for the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage after a valiant effort against Benfica in qualifying."
On Ross Wilson and the training centre
"Our entire football operation, led by Ross Wilson, now operates in a world-class environment at the Rangers Training Centre. The board is committed to further improvements to ensure we retain a facility among the very best in the UK. Off the field, and allied to performance on the pitch, we have continued to make enormous strides."
On profit, revenue and turnover
"I am delighted to be reporting a club record turnover of £86.8m for the year to 30 June 2022. From this revenue, we returned an operating profit of £5.9m which represents an improvement of £27.6m on last year’s operating loss. This demonstrates the success and progress achieved over the last 12 months.
"During the year to 30 June 2022, we have raised new equity of £10.1m and taken on new debt of £3.6m to strengthen our financial position.”
Supporter relations
One aspect which the board identified as being critical, was the improvement of fan and customer communication channels. This work is ongoing. In the year, the club installed a new customer service department, which acts as a first point of contact for external queries to the club. Since November 2021, the team has resolved 120,000 queries, which highlights how important an area this is. The ‘Ask Rangers’ platform has been introduced on the website, to provide FAQs and guidance on key subjects. This department will continue to have key performance targets - to reply quickly to queries, and to resolve them successfully. Through this, and by utilising the club’s existing social media platforms, we aim to pass information quickly to fans, to help them enjoy the match, and to enjoy using Ibrox safely. To complement this, our supporter liaison officer meets with our recognised supporter groups on a regular basis and attends all matches to assist as a point of contact with all fans, both at the Stadium and online before or after the event.
The season saw the second full year of the MyGers membership scheme. By the end of the season, over 40,000 members enjoyed exclusive benefits such as a welcome gift, ticketing priority, discounts and speciality experiences. As part of the scheme, members earn MyGers Loyalty Points, which rewards supporters for activities like match attendance and purchases of club products such as tickets and RTV subscriptions. The scheme will continue to evolve and be reviewed as it continues, but it is already one of the largest membership schemes in the UK.The team again received wonderful support from the fans for the 2021/22 season, with over 45,000 season tickets sold, and over 1,400 hospitality season tickets sold. The support received, particularly on the European nights, will live long in the memory of fans and players alike.T he club continues to give its full backing to its ‘Everyone Anyone’ campaign, which aims to promote diversity and inclusion, and show Rangers as a modern football club through which fans can come together and support a common cause of equality and understanding. Rangers is for everyone and anyone and this campaign will send a clear message of zero tolerance to all forms of discrimination, on and off the pitch. The club was also happy to receive excellent audit feedback on the in-depth nature of our diversity and inclusion work. Additionally, we work hard on our child wellbeing and protection procedures.Having employed a full-time child wellbeing officer, excellent procedures and policies have been put in place.
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