Absolute Nonsense- The Ibrox Money Myth is exposed

Last night there was a very swift change in the attitude of the Scottish media to European competition.

A year ago the Champions League was the place to be, the only show in town after Giovanni van Bronckhorst had engineered a classic Walternaccio smash and grab on PSV Eindhoven to send his side into the big time for the first time ever.

Taking the club to a new level was partly true as half a dozen matches later the Ibrox club were in the Champions League History Books as the worst ever team with van Bronckhorst replaced by a novice from QPR with less than 30 matches on his management CV.

Boosted by Champions League money and the windfalls from selling Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo, Micky Beale rebuilt his squad during the summer while retaining the core of the Europa League finalists from 2022. The result was spectacular.

The money gulf chat between PSV and Rangers is absolute nonsense.

Rangers’ turnover in 2021-22 was over £7m higher than PSV.

Would be an even bigger gulf in 2022-23. https://t.co/mvaCAXxnap

— SPFL Mediawatch (@SPFLWatch) August 30, 2023

There was an awkward moment on TNT last night when Ally McCoist started discussing the disparity in TV revenues between Scotland and Holland- yeah partly created by the company that was paying for the views of the former Ibrox boss.

That disparity are more than cancelled out by matchday revenue with Ibrox hosting 50,000 at home matches compared to just 35,000 in the Phillips Stadium.

While Beale spent £15m on nine new players, mainly strikers with dubious scoring records it looks like poor choices in recruitment with PSV superior in every area of the park. Even bringing on Ibrox reject Malik Tillman in the closing minutes to ensure that he gets to pick up his qualification bonus.

With a £15m gap in finances for this season plus no saleable assets Beale is in for some uncomfortable chats with James Bisgrove, especially when he is asking for money for new players.