View: Rangers confusion over £16m share issue cleared up, financial news is not cash boost

Rangers are set to raise a £16million share issue for squad funds, but contrary to what some supporters may believe, it’s not a cash boost.

Andrew Cavenagh has announced that the figure is intended to be raised directly with the purpose of improving Gers’ first-team squad.

This means improving player wages, and adding new additions to Danny Rohl’s squad this summer, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that there will be a big spend.

Cavenagh has revealed that his consortium has invested a total of £36m since arriving, and has plans to increase this figure, but that comes at a season ticket price spike of 6.5 per cent.

Rangers spent big in the summer and winter windows, but the new share issue news is purely internal funding, which has a different effect than what a simple £16m cash investment would have had.

How £16m share issue is not a cash boost

Rangers are already gathering transfer targets ahead of the summer window, with plans in place to help Rohl’s team become a dominant force in Scottish football.

The Bears also want to start pushing themselves further in European competitions, which will only boost their revenue tenfold overall.

This update is not the 49ers announcing a new external boost of £16m, but rather a reallocation of existing capital from shareholders.

The minimum buy-in to contribute to the goal is 1000 shares, which not all current shareholders may be able to do.

The key takeaway from this is that it is not a signal that the 49ers will have a big net spend this summer, but it is another bold statement from Cavenagh.

What has Andrew Cavenagh said about ‘wise’ summer spending

The risk that the 49ers and Cavenagh now have is that some fans may be expecting a big summer of change in terms of incomings and outgoings.

But as explained, that’s not the case. The Rangers chairman penned a letter to supporters following the £16m share issue update.

Cavenagh said, as quoted by the BBC on Wednesday: “Increasing the revenue and capital is only part of the path to allocating more resources to the men’s first team.

“If we are going to ask supporters to pay more for tickets, we have an obligation to spend those funds wisely.”

So he definitely knows what he’s talking about, because this summer the transfer dealings will be under the microscope more than ever by the Ibrox faithful.

Updated 24/7 with expert analysis from the heart of Govan.