Rangers Sky TV deal stance explained as frustrated Ibrox chief reveals Euro disadvantage fears

Rangers chief Stewart Robertson believes Scottish clubs are being hampered in Europe by the gulf in value of TV deals to many of their rivals as he again aimed a blast at SPFL chefs for “Scottish football”. The Ibrox club refused to give their backing for a new £30 million a year Scottish Premiership deal which would see current broadcaster Sky Sports continue to show top flight games until 2029.

The Light Blues were the only one of the dozen top flight clubs not to give the green light to an agreement that would see Sky’s live match package from 48 games to 60 games from season 2024/25 - and are willing to increase their annual payments from £24m to £30m by season 2028/29.

But Robertson revealed his concerns over the deal in an interview with the Rangers Review, saying: “My problem is we haven't gone and sold it. We haven't sold it whatsoever. That's no secret. I've been reasonably vocal about it when I was on the SPFL board. James and I made the point when this new deal was presented to the clubs.

“The one that really stuck with me was Malmo. Their TV deal was more than double the Scottish TV deal. You sit with Ajax and Napoli and they are all receiving far more from their TV and sponsorship deals and their league commercial deals as a whole.

“It put Scottish clubs at a disadvantage when you are playing other European clubs because you know they are all taking bigger sums out of their leagues and TV deals than we can. To highlight the extent of the challenge facing us soon, Liverpool received £151m from the Premier League last season for finishing second and we received £2.7m from the SPFL for finishing second.

“I don't think we sell it. We just go along and nudge it up a little bit. This is no criticism of Sky