A GOOD DAY TO BURY BAD NEWS: RANGERS FINANCIAL MELTDOWN QUIETLY CONTINUES
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 21 minutes ago
- 2 min read
They almost got away with it.
I have to say, credit where credit is due.
Though of course any business with a credit issuing facility should steer as far clear of the current incarnation of Rangers as possible.
Anyway, I digress.
Rangers clearly took a leaf out of the Jo Moore PR playbook.
Rangers Financial Meltdown Goes Unnoticed (Almost) Unnoticed Amidst Celtic AGM Chaos
For those who may not remember the infamous Ms Moore, she was a PR consultant to Tony Blair’s Labour government in the early 2000s. She was, perhaps, one of the earliest victims of what some would call “cancel culture”.
She lost her job after a memo she sent on September 11th 2001 to her boss in the Department of Transport saying that “today would be a good day to bury bad news” was leaked to the press, sparking international condemnation.
Outrage ensued, and she eventually resigned about 9 months later.
Cynical, and undoubtedly in very poor taste though it was, she wasn’t wrong with what she said. Sneaking out bad news while something tangential to you, yet far worse, is grabbing the headlines is one of the first lessons PR staff are taught.
And so was the case with Rangers, and the announcement late on Friday afternoon of a £14.8 million loss in their latest financial figures.
I guess that American sugar daddy they so craved turned out to be a diabetic. Rangers’ Financial Meltdown has barely slowed, let alone stopped.
As other fan blogs have since pointed out this weekend already, though the mainstream press remain strangely quiet on the issue, Rangers are now skirting dangerously close to infringing on UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules.
Then again, we are dealing with a fanbase who aren’t the brightest. Many of them probably think FFP is a derogatory slogan to be hurled at His Holiness Pope Leo.
In any case, the figures just underscore what I have been saying for months now. Rangers’ American investment, substantial though it may be, is not a magic cure-all for years of financial belligerence and an overwhelming sense of entitlement that refused to allow the fledgling young club to live within its monetary means.
It will take several more years of extreme austerity for them, and an equal measure of ongoing fiscal incompetence from the Celtic Board just to bring the two clubs on to a level playing field financially.
The only clear and present danger to Celtic domestically this season is Hearts. Tony Bloom is no mug. He has assembled in a very short space of time a very capable team. Like the punter he is, I expect him to double down on this in January if he thinks Hearts have a legitimate chance to maintain a challenge for the title.
Make no mistake we are in a league title race this season, but I do not think that race is between us and the current occupants of the stadium John Brown played for.