Soccer Football - Champions League Qualifying - Play-off First Leg - Rangers v PSV Eindhoven - Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - August 16, 2022 Rangers fans outside the stadium before the match Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith
The accounts finally lodged at Companies House have produced some eye-watering detail about the money flowing out of Ibrox.
Providing an update on key events sine 30 June 2022 it was disclosed that Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s summer spending spree plus his pay-off has wiped out all of the income from selling Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo.
Two share issues since the turn of the year plus the rapid exits of Douglas Park and Ross Wilson has given Internet Bampots plenty to speculate over while Micky Beale discusses his unrestricted transfer budget.
The fees paid for Rabbi Matondo, Ridvan Yilmaz and Ben Davies has been causing concern among some Ibrox fans but it seems that those three look like solid investments compared to the £8.1m sunk into New Edmiston House.
After flattening the old eye-sore the Board of Directors decided to invest in a fresh white elephant- largely driven by the Gullible & Deluded on a certain message board that are convinced they follow a global brand.
A concert venue with a fan zone, Sports Bar and Club Store have sprung up with the promise of a Company Museum bringing to life the story of Charles Green and the Gallant Profiteers of 2012.
Some notes on the TRFCL AR.
Rangers spent £0.9m MORE to bring in players & dismiss GVB than received for players sold.
RIFC committed £9.6m for stadium AND building improvements, while TRFC £1.52m for stadium. The difference of £8.1m is likely mostly or all for Edmiston House. pic.twitter.com/6Er7EuhFOt
— GrandOLTeam (@JBLuvsCeltic) April 10, 2023
According to Companies House, NEH as it is catchily titled came at a cost of £8.1m, or £2.1m more than Celtic paid for CCV. Alternatively you could have got change back from £8.1m by signing Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda for Ross Wilson’s Scouting Network to spend elsewhere.
NEH is targetted with making a profit of £1m a year. Apart from 25 matchdays the events calendar so far consists of a Callum Beattie concert and a sell-out evening with David Edgar.
The notion that any musician or band will want to set up shop in one of the most rundown areas of Glasgow while alienating 50% of their potential audience to strut their stuff surrounded by pictures of Lee McCulloch, Kevin Kyle, Martyn Waghorn, Joey Barton and Carlos Pena clearly hasn’t been thought through. A pie and pint in the Louden has fairly limited appeal.
Staring at the cold figures Four Lads Had A Dream report:
The cost and timeframe for the construction of New Edmiston House has been something that has been debated by fans on social media since its inception. Originally rumoured to cost around £5-6m and with £2-3m or so part-funding coming from the sale of a section of the Albion Car Park it was to be a savvy investment in an asset that would generate revenue, provide profit and improve the matchday experience as well as play host to an overdue and very welcome club museum.
Global factors and rising inflationary costs however put a rather large and costly spanner in the works. Promised as the flagship of the club’s 150th celebrations and with work already having started the board were left between a rock and a hard place. Had they abandoned the project they would have been ridiculed and mocked. But having ploughed on the cost of that decision is now being laid bare in the financial accounts for all to see.
The group accounts to 30 June 2022 disclosed that £4m had already been spent on ‘Assets Under Construction’. The ‘Capital Commitments’ note further revealed that the club had contracted for a further £9.63m of capital expenditure at that point in time.
TRFC Ltd’s accounts note that £1.52m of that commitment lies within itself and thus the remaining £8m can only logically lie with New Edmiston House Ltd, the vehicle set up for the construction and operation of the now-constructed asset.
The overall cost therefore appears to be north of an eye-watering £12,000,000 and while Rangers have increased revenue and had record player sales we are not by any stretch of the imagination a cash-rich club. Fresh share issues totalling £3m and the £12m in interest-bearing director loans are testament to that.
Rather than generating £1m a year in profit NEH is shaping up to be as big a drain on resources as last summer’s £15m expenditure on players on long term contracts.
£1m per year over 12 years .. it’ll be at least 2035 before the can at the very least even start to think about generating a profit ..
by then Celtic could be on 65 league titles …11 more than the first dead club .., goodness knows how many iterations of them there will be by then .. Sevco 3…..4 ..?
Mr Murray should invest in this Circus Act, Oh wait. It was his fault that other Kkklub popped it’s clogs. But he is still looked upon as a Dead RainJurZ Legend. Who brought them the Dutch Contingency and Mr Shaggedacaat. Aye memories of Yonder. When the Bears were cheating all before them. TNRA
If the scum want to ease the hordes from worrrying knashing of teeth knuckles dragging all in the name of transparency.
Let them give there accounting books to Uefa and Fifa but then we know and everyone and the blindman since inception and sevco those accounts are cooked.
So in the Fifa and integrity ” Fair game ” motto if nothing to hide make the Filth and scum less vvvery wwworried open the books for all to see.
Because Sfa Uefa don’t want a rigged game when it happens everywhere else in the world Morals Fairness Integrity Fair Game anything but.
In all seriousness the fact they aren’t questioning why Park decided to leave at the same time these Accounts were overdue for publication and the news they are once again in court facing a possible £10m law suit for bailing out on the Hummel deal mid contract is weird.
Then there is the emergence of Dave King back in the media screaming about share prices.
You can be 100% certain that there is a serious does of bad news coming down the drain pipe for Supporters this Summer.
Put it this way.
If Celtic posted record Turnover,a massive sales return on 3 Transfers combined with reaching a Europa League Final AND Champions League money and posted a loss then SERIOUS QUESTIONS would be getting asked.
The fact the mainstream media are putting glitter in it claiming a profit was turned then subsequently ignoring what has transpired since tells you this if far worse than any of them dare let on.
Park has pumped millions in to keep the pretence up that all is well.
Now he’s cashed his chips in it would seem highly likely he sees major problems looming and wants nothing to do with it.
I always wondered why King seemed so keen to offload his shares at period when his shares looked like they were going gain more worth if he stayed.
The constant dilution via the 24 d share issues since 2016 was obviously having a greater impact than the proclaimed revival.
These types don’t tend bail out for no reason after all.