SPORTS business consultant David Bick reckons Rangers' latest financial figures paint a 'sad' picture after another loss was posted yesterday.

 

As reported in later editions of last night's Evening Times, Rangers International Football Club plc have revealed a loss of £2.6million for the six months to December 31, 2014.

Rangers' revenue for the second half of the year was just £13.1million and the accounts lay bare the size of the task facing the newly installed Ibrox board after they won their long-running power battle last month.

And Mr Bick, chairman of Square One Consulting, knows there is considerable work to be done by the new Rangers regime.

He told Sky Sports News: "The first thing you have got to say is that Mike Ashley leant some money when they could have gone out of business.

"What I find very sad when you look at this is that the turnover for the first six months was £13million. When you compare that with some of the numbers we see in England, it is quite a sad number.

"The losses, the balance sheet is pretty much only held up by the property that they own and the loan that was put in by Mike Ashley and, more recently, the money that was put in by the newer shareholders.

"I think those shareholders, when they put that money in, would have known what the deal was with Newcastle and Mike Ashley.

"The big issue for Rangers now is to recover from here."

One of the most pressing tasks facing the new board, headed by interim chairman Paul Murray, is to appoint a new Nominated Advisor to oversee RIFC plc's stock market activities.

The board have until the end of the week to find a replacement for WH Ireland, who quit just days before Derek Llambias and Barry Leach were removed from office at the EGM on March 6.

Mr Bick said: "In the case of the AIM market, if they have got one in place after a certain period of time then they will lose that listing on the Stock Exchange.

"I would have thought that now that the new shareholders have got control of the club, I would be surprised if they didn't get that in place in time."