The visit to the home of Manchester Utd brings more than just the much talked about England v Scotland, Teacher v Pupil Battle of Britain that has had every hack in the country salivating since the names came out the hat and also since the first tie at Ibrox. This remarkable draw also gives us the opportunity to view the fortunes of both clubs and how differently they would be viewed if situations at both clubs had worked out differently over the last decade or so.
A quick scout on the internet today shows that the respective share prices of both clubs could not be more different. Rangers - handicapped with a crippling debt in the region of £60 million - have a share price that reflects this dire financial situation, with it currently standing at a modest 0.93p. Compared to their opponents’ on Tuesday evenings share price – a healthy 2.33p – it is a paltry showing.
United have recently announced a £39 million profit from a turnover of £170 million - figures that the money men up the marbles can only dream about. If the gulf between England’s and Scotland’s Champions financially was not big enough, it is being muted that United are being lined up for a potential take-over bid. How does this increase the gulf between us and Manchester’s finest I hear you ask? Well, the share price of 2.39p is twice what it was at this point last year. When share prices increase it is a sellers market, anyone buying in bulk is either non-suited to the business world or strongly believes that the price will increase further.
Quite why John Magner, JP McManus, Malcolm Glazier and Jon De Mol were increasing their stake in United was unclear at first, but it now seems that the current deal between the Premier League and BskyB could be the reason for them believing that United are on the threshold of increasing their turnover to even higher amounts. As it stands, United sell their TV rights en-masse as it where with the rest of the England’s elite. This is felt to hinder United’s true potential in this market and they feel they would make more money selling their overseas rights individually. They have much reason to feel this as this is how La-Liga and Seria A clubs sell their rights, with the likes of Madrid and Juventus raking in £38 and £31 million respectively. A tad higher than the £17 million that United currently rake in.
The rumoured take-over has sparked an angry reaction from fans who feel that the posse of men currently increasing their stake will simply take the money and run, and will have no real long term commitment to United. All this is a million miles from the action on the park when the two cross swords again this week, but the possibility of United increasing TV revenue is another blow to our great club who, if you remember, not that long ago where bigger than United.
There is little doubt that circumstances helped Rangers to the top of the pile in the late eighties and early nineties, but circumstances also helped United on route to their global brand status.
The appointment of Graeme Souness at Ibrox was a huge factor in Rangers becoming the biggest club in Britain, of that there is no doubt. But as big a contributor was the Hysel disaster that led to English clubs being banned from Europe for five years. Souness saw this as a chance to lure the big names north by offering them the very thing that was not available south of the border – the chance to play in the European arena.
Throughout this period Rangers were the club in Britain with the highest turnover, highest attendance and were basically the best run outfit in the country. David Murray’s arrival in ’88 had enhanced the clubs profile further and the business operations involving Rangers were expanding at a prolific rate. The retail aspect of the club was also being increased as Rangers sought to increase their revenue in every way possible in an attempt to meet the aspirations of their young ambitious manager.
Despite this though, Rangers’ attempts in the old European Cup under Souness are not much to write home about, apart from a quarter-final place in 1988. First round exits at the hands of Bayern Munich in 1989 and exiting a round later the following year to Red Star Belgrade was not the progress Souness had hoped to make. We were Britain’s only real hope of bringing the big one home during this period and we underachieved in a massive way. Manchester Utd at this point where not only unable to even compete in Europe, but were an also ran English club who had not won the English Championship since 1967.
The last meeting Rangers had with English opponents, in the shape of Leeds Utd in the 92/93 Champions League qualifier, is poignant game in that it represented the beginning of the end of Rangers’ biggest in Britain tag and the start of United’s claim to the throne. We may have put the Yorkshire side to the sword home and away, but there is little doubt that this season was to be the peak in our years as the countries biggest and best. Leeds Utd came to Ibrox as Champions of England, but significantly, a significance that no-one could have noticed at the time, they were Champions of the old English first division – not the Premiership. A few months after these memorable games Manchester Utd claimed their first title in 26 years – the first of the new Premiership titles – and a global and monstrous brand was born.
Unlike the old First Division, the new Premiership promised riches that its outgoing predecessor could only dream of; this was to be a new dawn for the English game. They were now back in Europe, which meant increased revenue for those clubs participating. Satellite TV – be it BSB or Sky – where pumping millions into this new start for English football – again, increasing revenue for the top clubs.
Within three years of the Premierships foundation it had turned the English game on its head and attendances and interest in the beautiful game increased tenfold. English clubs now had serious cash on the hip and they were spending it like it was burning a hole in their pocket. A clutch of top stars from abroad moved to a variety of clubs in England as they all vied to win the newly formed league. Yet, today, ten years into this league, Blackburn and Arsenal (twice) are the only other clubs to have had the audacity to take it away from Manchester Utd, who have won seven of the ten competed for so far. It is a remarkable achievement, and on hearing it you realise and understand why United are such a massive institution, but there is little doubt that if they had enjoyed this kind of success in the eighties, then they would not be the global brand they are now. In short, like Rangers under Souness, they came good at the right time.
Whilst United were slowly but surely increasing in size and reputation, Rangers were wasting chance after chance in the Champions League. Throughout the nineties - with a squad we would kill for today - we squandered what was basically a free license to the big boys table given the state of Celtic at the time. It is often perceived that gaining entry to the Champions League automatically means a £10 million jackpot. This, however, is wide of the mark as monies received partially depend on points gained, and with our woeful showing in this competition under Walter Smith it can be assumed that we lost a lot of potential revenue.
By the time Dick Advocaat arrived the transformation between the two clubs was complete. We were looking to the Dutchman to instil some credibility in Europe whilst United were chasing the big one with a rabid persistence – one that would pay off in Barcelona in 1999. Despite not having the revenue to support such lavish spending, Rangers – or David Murray – allowed the Little General spend freely on players not up to the task. It was a policy that was to backfire as Martin O’ Neil’s arrival at Celtic put an end to perceived automatic or probable qualification to the Champions League, and TV deals went belly up leaving clubs with a huge hole in their balance sheets.
With a huge debt to service and players tied to huge contracts that the turnover could no longer subsidise, Rangers now had a serious problem on their hands and it was obvious that they had to cut a different cloth financially. The huge transfer fees were halted and players on bigger salaries were shown the door to be replaced my players on a more moderate scale. A club that once lavishly spent £12 million on Tore Andre Flo would now argue over a moderate fee (believed to be around the £250,000 mark) for Emerson Thome. The transformation was complete.
Whilst Sir Alex could afford to spend £13 million on Christian Ronaldo in the close season – an 18 year old ‘prospect’. His counterpart on Tuesday and protégé, Big Eck, had to make do with his old cast offs in the shape of Henning Berg. When you consider that Rangers only just lost out in the race for Gary Pallister all those years ago, it is a remarkable turnaround for both clubs. I mean, can you imagine Rangers even being in the hunt for a player United were after now? No, me neither.
All in all, when I sit down in front of my TV on Tuesday I will be aware of the huge gulf that currently exists between the respective clubs but know that, despite the result at Ibrox, it doesn’t mean we can’t take something from the game – it is eleven against eleven after all.
However, although some quirks of fate helped Rangers to their top placing in Britain all those years ago, there is little doubt that we didn’t take advantage of it when we had it. If we are being brutally honest, we took it for granted and expected it to always be that way. Well, time has shown that not to be the case and when he takes his seat at Old Trafford this week David Murray will have to ask himself if he and the rest of the powers at be had acted differently when we had the power, would it have been us, rather than United, going into this game as favourites and Britain’s biggest?