Rangers 'free of litigation' as they post £17.2m loss

Renovation work at Ibrox Stadium's Copland Stand was delayed

Rangers are "free of any litigation claims for first time in over a decade" as they posted a £17.2m net loss - up from £4.1m the previous year - despite what the Scottish Premiership club say are record revenue and income figures for the year to June.

The Ibrox club in August settled a dispute with the administrators of sportswear brand Elite Sports Group Ltd in a row over their Hummel brand kits.

Rangers' annual accounts highlight a "record core revenue of £88.3m, record total Income of £94.2m" and "record commercial revenue of £67m - double digit growth", with chief finance officer James Taylor describing it as "a stunning performance".

But, despite managing to keep cost increases "to just 1%", they still had pre-player trading loss of £2m, although that was down from £10.5m in 2022-23.

The £17.2m loss came despite implementing the first part of cuts to the first-team squad, with a player trading loss of £8m contributing to the overall figures.

"Realignment of costs has been made across the business, but particularly in the first-team squad cost, which reduced by £2.5m," the annual report states. "This is anticipated to reduce by a further £6m in the coming year since the summer 2024 transfer activity."

Rangers state that, following a strategic review of the player trading model undertaken after director of football recruitment Nils Koppen joined the club, "there has been a focus on reducing the age profile of the squad".

Costs associated with transfers and the value of the squad were listed at £13.6m, with player gains at £5.6m, and the club stated that their minimum target is to balance transfer business.

"The investments made in the January and summer 2024 transfer windows provide the board with additional confidence on the future success of the player trading model," the review says.

However, net borrowing is up from £16.5m to £28.4m, with Rangers having agreed an additional funding package of £8.6m with current investors.

Interim chairman John Gilligan told the club website: "Undoubtedly, it has been a challenging period for the football club with significant change occurring both on and off the park throughout both season 2023-24 and over the summer months."

He pointed out that John Bennett had stepped down from his role as chairman "in order to focus on his health" but "remains a supportive shareholder and investor".

James Bisgrove had stood down as chief executive to join Al-Qadsiah in the Saudi Premier League and Creag Robertson departed as director of football operations.

"Whilst we continue our search for the outstanding candidate for the CEO position, we retain a strong executive team within the football club," Gilligan said.

"As you can see from our underlying performance, there have been significant steps made in a short period of time in delivering against our strategic objectives."

Gilligan again apologised to fans for the delay to completing work on the Copland Road Stand that led to a switch of four games to the national stadium at Hampden Park.

"The support received at Hampden was outstanding and epitomises the link that our great club has with our supporters," he added.