Rebuilding Continues Behind The Scenes

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COMMERCIAL revenue at Rangers has fallen significantly over the last year – but moves are afoot to ensure it begins to increase as quickly as possible.

 

To the year ended June 30 2014, income from that sector stood at £651,000, but that had slipped to just £258,000 by the end of June 2015.

 

Managing Director Stewart Robertson views this as a key area of the club, and he revealed that the club’s Commercial Department is being restored to its former strength.

 

Speaking exclusively to RangersTV, he said: “We’ve taken a lot of steps already. The commercial department had been decimated in terms of the number of staff – they had gone from 21 people to three, and for a club of Rangers’ size and stature, that’s just crazy.

 

“We’ve appointed a new Head of Commercial in Scott Steedman, and he’s settling in well. We’ve recruited some more staff – three have already come on board and we are recruiting for another two.

 

Customer service is key, and, quite rightly, people were disappointed with the level of customer service they were receiving around about season ticket and hospitality renewals, so we have addressed that.

 

“There has been an IT upgrade, the ticket system is just about to go through an upgrade and the phone system is to be upgraded, so hopefully people will find it much easier to deal with the club, and all of that should help to generate more revenue.

 

“On top of that, with the club being in a better place, advertising and sponsorship revenues should hopefully start to climb. We won’t see a massive difference this year, but we are laying a lot of foundations for next year and we should see a step-up next season.”

 

The sales of season tickets have gone well, and their numbers are expected to increase further with the half-season ticket campaign beginning in the run-up to Christmas, and Robertson paid tribute to manager Mark Warburton and assistant David Weir for their work in encouraging fans to return to Ibrox.

 

He continued:“The season ticket numbers are just under 34,500 before the sales of half season tickets in the run-up to Christmas, that’s up from just over 26,000 last year, which is fantastic, and it’s back to the levels it used to be.

 

Hopefully, that is a real show of faith from the supporters, without whom the club means nothing, and it’s great to have the fans coming back.

 

“I don’t think it’s just a show of faith in the board – it’s also a show of faith in the management team, and the great job that Mark and David have done. Not only do they have a great team on the pitch, they are also promoting the club and all of the good things that are going on at the club at the moment.

 

“The supporters are the heart of the club, and it’s great to see those numbers climbing again.”

 

http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/rebuilding-continues-behind-the-scenes/