Rangers along with rival Celtic receive fines from UEFA for incidents that occurred during play in the Europa League, we get the show must go on for business behind the scenes but this couldn’t have been more poorly timed.
Both Rangers and Celtic were given fines related to incidents in each team’s Europa League round-of-32 matches played back in February. Celtic were charged 15,000 euros or 13,327 pounds for being responsible for a late kick-off in their match against FC Copenhagen.
Rangers received two fines for their February Europa League fixture against Braga, the first totaled 10,000 euros or about 8,823 pounds after a fan invaded the pitch in the squads 3-2 victory over the Portuguese club. The second came after fireworks were thrown onto the pitch during the same match, which resulted in a 5,250 euro fine, or about 4,632 pounds.
The last 5,250 euro fine was the result of a glass bottle thrown onto the pitch after this past month’s 1-3 loss to Bayer Leverkusen in the round of sixteen at Ibrox. That is a grand total of 20,000 euros or about 17,646 pounds in fines dealt to an already struggling Rangers club in even further financially uncertain times.
Now the business side of the show must go on regardless of absence of a product on the pitch, but still this seems like a very cold move from UEFA given the world’s uncertain circumstances. Clubs are struggling to stay afloat without match revenue worldwide and the SPFL isn’t immune to those struggles either.
The fines need to be paid within 90 days but with uncertainties regarding the completion of the current season and it’s financial implications this is terrible timing. Even given that in the grand scheme of things this may be a small dent given the 10 million pound deficit the club still needs to cover by season’s end.