Rangers run UEFA gauntlet over FFP as finance expert charges the board with crucial 'work to do'

A football finance expert has warned Rangers over potential penalties that could be dished out by UEFA after the club posted a £17.2million pre-tax loss.

Interim chairman John Gilligan is attempting to offer financial stability at the club amid fans’ concerns have escalated with Philippe Clement's side sitting nine points adrift of Celtic and Aberdeen. But amid a disappointing season the Ibrox punters were given an extra reason to worry after the annual profits were released. Gilligan and the board have been attempting to bring the outgoing costs for the squad under control with wages reduced by £3m from £64m to £61m, while player amortisation fell £2m to £11m.

However, Dan Plumley reckons that the Scottish Premiership giants could still be running the gauntlet with UEFA set to crackdown on clubs over their bumper wage bills. As it stands, European football's governing body currently Financial Fair Play rules allow 85 per cent of revenue of outgoing revenue to be made as player wages and amortisation but are looking to cut that down to 70 per cent in their updated guidelines.

European football's governing body gives clubs a maximum of five years to amortise transfer fees in their accounts regardless of a player’s contract length. Possible penalties for breaching UEFA's FFP rules currently include fines, the withholding of prize money, transfer bans or disqualification from European competitions.

Concerned Plumley told Ibrox News: “One other interesting takeaway linked to the European side of things and UEFA’s new regulations. Their football cost at the minute loosely from what we can see in the accounts, player wages and player amortisation is about 85 per cent of revenue, and we know that UEFA are looking at getting