Ibrox View: Rangers-bound chief to cure financial woes, 'Lucrative' behind-scenes deals likely

Rangers’ finances caused a huge stir when John Gilligan released the Scottish Premiership club’s accounts last month.

The Light Blues revealed a major loss of £17.2million despite posting record revenues of £88.3million and a total income of £94.2million.

For the Gers to lose so much money despite raking so much in is unforgivable.

It seemed to be largely down to the useless so-called “player-trading model” that Rangers have bleated on and on about for several years now without ever actually applying it.

Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent, James Tavernier, Jack Butland, John Lundstram and Borna Barisic could have all been sold for pretty fees over the years. Most of them have now left Ibrox for absolutely nothing while those who remain have seen their values plummet due to the terrible form of the team – and, in some cases, themselves.

Rangers need to look at ways to stop haemorrhaging cash away from the transfer market because, for one reason or another, different chairmen, managers and directors haven’t been able to do it right.

Commercially, things have gone well.

As confirmed by the Light Blues last month, they posted a record commercial revenue of £67million, which represents double-digit growth.

But there’s no way the club can rest on their laurels in this regard – they need to make the most of it.

Rangers look set to hire Patrick Stewart as their new CEO.

Rangers to hire Stewart after Man United mega-role

As reported by Rangers Review journalist Chris Jack, the Scottish Premiership club is expected to announce Stewart alongside new chairman Maclom Offord.

Stewart will arrive at Ibrox with experience of being a solicitor, an arbitrator for CAS and an in-house lawyer at Manchester United, where he eventually became an executive director and CEO.

Writing on his LinkedIn account, Stewart says that he played a role in INEOS’ £1.2billion investment at Old Trafford by onboarding new owners and directors.

While he’s not likely to be involved with such eyewatering figures at Ibrox, Rangers Review notes that Stewart signed off on “lucrative kit deals” at Manchester United, too.

And that’s one of the areas where he could come in handy at Ibrox, with the Govan side already securing a back-of-shirt deal that’s the biggest in their history.

Jonny McFarlane reported on 23 November that a new agreement with global fintech company Guavapay represented a 45 per cent increase on all previous deals.

Has Stewart already been playing a role before his official arrival at Ibrox? It wouldn’t be a shock.

Either way, this is a guy with a lot of experience at places where there are a lot more zeroes at the end of figures on the balance sheets, contracts and transfer deals.

He may even be a bit overqualified.

However, he cannot be bigger up too much because in the last couple of decades, a lot more harm has been done than good by various members of the Rangers board.

Let’s just hope for Rangers’ sake that Stewart goes down as one of the good guys.

In other Rangers news, Stewart and Offord have already been told to sack one senior man at Ibrox.

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