Rangers can’t afford to miss the Champions League again | OneFootball

While our last entry was a speck negative, nevertheless Russell Martin’s Rangers are one step closer to the Champions League.

By hook or by crook, it doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you do it, and Martin has negotiated past the Greeks. That his XI was a shambles and his tactics are a mess, for now, don’t appear to matter – Rangers now face Plzen.

And the money on offer should Rangers get past Plzen alone is significant – for the playoffs, £3.6M is on offer for the losing side. That’s cash the club needs.

But make it past those playoffs and you’ve just opened the door of big, BIG money.

Here’s a breakdown:

£16M just for simply being in the league phase.

£10M pool of TV revenue.

£12M for the four home matches ticket sales.

£5M-£15M for coefficient payment

£0M-£10M+ – performance related bonuses for wins and draws in the competition.

But the guaranteed payment? £37M.

Simply for getting past Plzen Rangers will secure nearly £40M guaranteed baseline cash, and that’s money we can’t afford to miss out on.

If Celtic don’t get there and we do, all the TV money is ours – all £10M. If they make it as well as us, it’s £5M each.

Coefficient payment is harder to nail – it stopped being paid based on the 5-year coefficient, and is now on 10-year revenue share. Celtic got £11M last season, but that’s based on their circumstances. All we know is it’s somewhere between £5M-£15M for Rangers, possibly more.

And of course the bonus for winning points in the league phase.

But baseline? £37M, give or take.

That’s vital money Rangers cannot afford to lose out on yet again – we’ve lost cash of that ilk since 2010 13 times. Only in 2022 did we finally manage to secure it.

Lose it again, and Celtic just keep getting further away. Even if they don’t make the UCL league phase proper themselves.