Rangers director Kenny Barclay took a thinly-veiled dig at the Scottish Premiership for their revenue streams in Tuesday's AGM in Glasgow - by highlighting the financial disparities between the Light Blues and relegated Premier League side Norwich.
With change aplenty at Ibrox in recent weeks due to the sacking of Gio van Bronckhorst and subsequently replacing him with Mick Beale, fans and shareholders were eager to hear from the board for the first time in person since the World Cup break. With 11 senior figures at the club taking to the stage - including Beale - fans were able to gain an insight and demand explanations into recent events including form, managerial changes and transfer dealings.
But whilst the big questions posed were being asked sporadically, the first on the agenda was the club's financial position; and whilst Barclay detailed a rise in revenues, profits and auditor satisfaction over bill payments, the club are still being underrepresented - alluding to the fact that basement Premier League side Norwich earned almost twice as much in revenue despite the Europa League run.
Barclay previously gave good news, stating: "Removal of ongoing concern clause in reports means that, for first time in 10 years, auditors are comfortable with the club's ability to pay its bills on a day-to-day basis. That represents massive progress."
Figures from the AGM showed that the club had earned a revenue of £59million in 2020, which has risen an incredible amount to £86.8million in 2022 - likely thanks to the Europa League run, ticket sales in the latter stages and, of course, Champions League appearance money. Though that showed a huge difference to the English Premier League, with Norwich having brought in £134m despite finishing bottom with no continental football.
However, with net losses for 2020 and 2021 combined totalling £41.7m, this year's £0.9m loss - although painting a prettier picture - still shows some improvement is needed in Govan. As a result, vice-chairman John Bennett stated that he has provided £10m more in overdraft facilities to Rangers; meaning he has input £23m to the Govan-based club.
More positively, net assets have flown up by £9.3m after failing to improve from 2020 to 2021, whilst player trading has had a similar impact - with Barclay stating that the current year has been the first time in a decade since transfer dealings have had a significant impact, totalling more than the previous nine years combined.
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