Rangers suffer ‘enormous’ financial blow: ‘There’s no two ways about it, it’s bad’
Rangers must improve their player trading after missing out on a Champions League place for next season.
That is according to former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider there is an “enormous” difference between the Champions League and the other European competitions.
Rangers finished third in the Scottish Premiership table after losing four of their final five games of the season.
Meanwhile, Celtic lifted the title after securing a last-gasp victory over Hearts, who ended the campaign in second place.
Rangers have a place in the Conference League qualifying rounds for next season, but they will be promoted to the Europa League qualifying rounds if Celtic beat Dunfermline Athletic in the Scottish Cup final.
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It has long been suggested Rangers need to improve their player trading if they wish to compete financially with Celtic.
The Ibrox club recorded a £600,000 loss on player sales last season, while their Old Firm rivals made a £31.5million profit.
| Financial Year | Rangers | Celtic |
| 2023-24 | £5.6m | £6.6m |
| 2024-25 | -£600,000 | £31.5m |
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson discussed how finishing third will impact Rangers moving forward.
“There’s no two ways about it, it’s bad,” said Borson.
“The difference is so enormous between potential Champions League and everything else, so it’s a very difficult situation.
“They’ve got to find a way really of bringing youth players through and making more money on player trading because there’s now so little certainty around being able to get into the Champions League because of the change of the rules and the difficulties that Scottish teams have.
“They’ve got to have a different business plan. We’ve been talking about it for probably a couple of years now, how they’ve got to improve bringing players through, their development of players and their reselling of players.
“To me, that’s got to become a central part of the business plan because the old relying upon really Champions League as being the way to develop the team compared to Celtic is just not a reliable route anymore. The gap between being in the Champions League and not being in the Champions League is even bigger.”
How Rangers can combat Champions League qualification blow
Borson insisted that improving how they operate in the transfer market is the key to Rangers strengthening their financial position without Champions League football.
“It is bad news and the only way to fix it is to concentrate on player development and better trading,” said Borson.
“That then has the effect of bringing in more capital, bringing in better players, developing better players, getting Champions League and also trading players. The two things together then working to generate proper profits.
“But look, it’s not a straightforward thing to do, don’t get me wrong. Everybody wants to do it.
“I’m not saying it as if it’s just so obvious to be able to fix, but if you’ve got a situation where qualifying for the Champions League has just got a lot harder, you’ve got no option but to do that.”
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