Rangers wage bill is high but not out of hand

Wage cut bid at Ibrox doesn’t mean a Second Coming of administration is on the way.

Take Rangers Chief Executive Graham Wallace at his word. There will be no second administration for the club. The Light Blues top man was categorical in his assertion.

It followed the news the players had the possibility of a 15% pay cut mooted to them by the Board. According to some ‘insiders’, the players had promptly turned the idea down.

But from the information available to us, I believe Wallace’s explanation. It had been an idea, not a directive. Had he been paving the way towards the nightmare scenario of another wage cut for the playing staff, his behaviour would have been very different.

First, it would have been formally presented as a proposal. Not, as he stated, as an initial discussion point. Second, the figure we would have been talking about would have been a lot higher than 15%!

I have looked at the accounts myself and don’t think the players wage bill is that bad. High for the level of football Rangers are playing but that’s a whole different conversation.

What was very unusual, if not unique, was the fact more money was paid out for off-field work. I appreciate there will be costs involved in setting up a share issue. In this case, though, it appears the figures were extremely high.

Lots of money, clearly, has been taken out of Rangers in the last few years.

Supporters, who have kept replenishing it through their purchase of shares and season tickets, deserve to have their concerns heard.

I believe Wallace is sincere in his desire to make cuts. But in this instance, he’s guilty of being a little naive. You can go about the process of trying to move towards a workable business model as you like.

However, when you come to dealing with the players, things are liable to get very lively, very quickly.

These guys have plenty of media contacts. Sometimes players give out information that helps the reporters. Other times they’ll give out stories that help themselves. Here, the agenda is clear.

If you’re in any doubt, consider the fact the story was accompanied with: ‘sources suggest the pay cut might have had more chance of being accepted if they were also told directors were to take a larger reduction.’

Wallace was quizzed on this, and his carefully-worded answer suggests the latter will happen, but he wants to be sensitive about it.

The lesson he will have learned is to show that kind of caution when dealing with the men able to get the crowd up on their feet. Or, just as easily, up in arms.