Rangers will continually be up against it in Europe and have to word harder than most to generate income due to the lacklustre TV deals in the SPFL.
For perspective, the teams that get relegated from the Premier League in England could lose every game and still earn more than five times what every club in Scotland gets, combined.
Nils Koppen and Philippe Clement will have to work even harder to get value for money for Rangers as the costs for supporters continue to soar thanks to those running the game in Scotland.
Rangers fans asked to cough up by SPFL once again
A new TV deal has been announced which will see an additional 20 games shown on Premier Sports as Scottish football fans get hit once again where it hurts.
With the deal said to be in the eight-figure range, clubs could get a ‘whopping’ £166,000 each per year – or Cyriel Dessers wage for five months, give or take.
It’s another reminder of Barry Hearn’s words 10 years ago when he eviscerated the SPFL and SFA for how they run the game in Scotland:
“If you worked for me, you’d be sacked. You have so much good in Scottish football, so many positive things, but you don’t sell yourself.
“You don’t do enough for yourselves. I’m seeing too much self-pity.
“You’ve been in the shadow of the English Premier League and you’ve almost given up to be honest.
“That’s a bit brutal and it is a generalisation, but if you don’t believe in yourself, how on earth can anyone else believe in you?”
The boxing, darts and snooker supremo is right.
Compared even to Scandinavian countries, Scottish clubs are short changed with their main Sky Sports deal.
A fan of an English team competing in Europe now pays less to watch their team than Rangers do.
If making Ibrox on a regular basis isn’t possible, to watch Rangers across every domestic and continental tournament will now cost in the region of £96 a month.
Fans will need a combination of Sky Sports, TNT Sports, Amazon Prime and Premier Sports to watch Rangers for the next five years.
The time for change was a decade ago
Even if Rangers win every domestic competition, they still won’t make as much money from the TV deals as they do from a decent Europa League run.
Neil Doncaster hasn’t negotiated a cheaper option with any of the broadcasters or an SPFL TV package between the providers which says it all about what option he will always take in negotiations.
When Hearn gave his speech in 2014, the SPFL didn’t have a title sponsor and since then, the Scottish Cup, league cup and league have all gone without.
And yet, Doncaster remains in his post.
Rangers tried to invoke change with how the game was run in Scotland and even the farcical situation with cinch wasn’t enough for Doncaster to get his p45.
A decade has passed, nothing has changed, and Barry Hearn’s speech remains as accurate now as it did then.
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.
