Keith Wyness unimpressed by £16m Rangers move ahead of crunch meeting
Rangers' decision to issue £16million worth of shares in the club should not be seen as a major step in the right direction financially.
That is according to former Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who has warned that it won’t suddenly give the Ibrox outfit newfound ability to spend on players.
The club confirmed the full subscription of their share issue earlier in July, and have a meeting planned with their new shareholders in August.
Rangers issued the shares with the intention of raising money to go towards the first-team, but Wyness believes it is “papering over the cracks” somewhat at the moment.
He believes that the Light Blues’ next step is to begin mastering their player trading model once again, to ensure that they are finding hidden gems and selling for big profit.
Derek McInnes has already welcomed six new additions into his squad so far this summer, and the expectation is that there are still more deals to come.
Keith Wyness: European revenue holds the key for Rangers
Aberdeen’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Pittodrie between 2000 and 2004 and now runs a consultancy business advising elite clubs – believes that the European revenue holds the key to Rangers re-establishing themselves as a financial “machine” in Scottish football.
McInnes’ men are competing in the qualifying stages of the Europa League in the coming weeks, but will surely have their eyes on Champions League football in future years.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness explained why the European revenue could have the most transformational impact.
“These aren't massive amounts of money, as we've talked about before; that missing European money is the key thing and also having an effective player trading model,” the Scottish businessman said.
“Those are the two things that are going to be crucial for Rangers. They've got to get those two major revenue sources correct before they can really do any major pushing forward.
“It (the share issue) is sort of papering over the cracks; it certainly means that they've got to know that they need to put this base financial amount in place to be able to allow them to try and get that European revenue back.
“They've got to really start player trading and get that back into a really big machine, which Rangers can do. So it's a good sign, but it's not the way forward in terms of the fix, and everything's nice and rosy. It's not quite that good.”
Derek McInnes ‘fully aware’ ahead of Rangers’ Europa League clash
Wyness told Football Insider earlier this week that McInnes is “fully aware” of the club’s past failings when it comes to trying to qualify for European competitions.
The Bears have been drawn against Polish Ekstraklasa side Jagiellonia Bialystok in the third round of Europa League qualifying, with the two-legged tie beginning in Poland on 6 August.
Wyness stressed that it is a “tricky” tie for McInnes and his men, but stressed that the new boss will be aware of its importance, and the need for his players to “come out sharp.”
Rangers have the possible benefit of hosting the decisive second-leg, which is due to take place at Ibrox on 13 August.