Rangers news: Kieran Maguire shares ‘huge’ claim in ‘£2.4m’ Ibrox reveal
The Champions League qualifying matches will be the biggest game of the season for Rangers because of how much money is on the line.
That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who exclusively told Football Insider that Rangers will be under pressure to qualify for the tournament to keep rivals Celtic in their sights.
Philippe Clement’s side narrowly lost out on the Scottish Premiership title to arch-rivals Celtic.
As a result of their league title, Celtic have automatically qualified for the 2024-25 Champions League with the tournament set to change to the Swiss-style format next season.
Following their second-placed finish, Rangers will have to go through the qualifying play-off phase which is set to begin on 9 July and end on 28 August.
As revealed by Football Insider, Champions League qualification would provide a huge boost to the club’s finances and add £20million to their transfer budget.
Maguire argued that the Champions League qualifiers are “by far” the biggest game of the season for Rangers.
Rangers can close gap to Celtic with Champions League clash
“It’s by far the biggest game of the season in terms of the money it would bring in, it’s huge for the club” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“Rangers will hope to get some better results than last season but we know it’s around £2.4million per win and £800,000 for a draw.
“We know Rangers will sell out Ibrox regardless of what competition they’re in, but we saw last season that they charged £135 for a three-match ticket in the group stage.
“If they reach the Champions League, they will sell out whatever packages they put before fans.
“It will be that much harder to do that in one of Uefa’s junior competitions.
“There is also the broader issue that they need to keep Celtic in their sights and being in the Champions League is a great way of achieving that.“
In other news, Rangers board’s transfer plan emerges after Philippe Clement sack news
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