Rangers charged more for policing than another club in Scotland

The Ibrox side was charged £306,770 for policing games last season according to official figures released via a Freedom of Information request.

The Daily Record reports that Celtic was billed £227,361, the second-highest total in the country. 

In the league table of policing costs, other sides who were billed included Hibs (£120,345), Aberdeen (£94,813) and Hearts (£84,048) who all had the highest figures after Rangers and Celtic.

While Lanarkshire side Hamilton were bottom of the table forking out just £15,740.

The Old Firm at Celtic Park on September 2 was the most expensive match of the season, costing Celtic £48,134.

Scottish clubs were collectively charged a total of £1,054,717 by the national police force. 

While only five clubs in Britain paid more for policing than Rangers - Manchester United (£625,236), Manchester City (£595,822), Liverpool (£590,739), Leeds United (£459,798) and Everton (£405,778).

London-based Premier League and EFL clubs, meanwhile, were charged a combined total of just £478,808.

Crystal Palace paid just £7,429 of that, while West Ham paid as little as £41,973 and Arsenal £55,490.

At present, football clubs only have to pay for policing in the stadium and on their land.

As a result taxpayers often end up having to fork out cash towards the bill for some sides.

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Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams said: "As with all football matches, an assessment is made of the number of officers required within the agreed footprint of the venue and this element is rechargeable.

“Any football match is risk assessed on its own merits and this determines the resources deployed to that fixture.

"Some of the factors included in this process are the clubs involved in the fixture, the design, condition, and layout of the stadium, the day of the week, kick-off time, previous fixtures between the sides and intelligence.”