Scottish Championship side Rangers Chair David Somers "has admitted the club announced a misleading attendance figure for Saturday's clash with Cowdenbeath," according to the HERALD SCOTLAND. The club announced midway through the second half of the Scottish Championship fixture that 28,137 fans had turned out at Ibrox.
That figure for Rangers' 1-0 win "would have been the Glasgow giants' smallest home attendance for a league game since Graeme Souness' first season in charge 28 years ago."
But now Somers has said "the true figure was 10,000 fewer than the number given out on Saturday."
The acting exec chairman said, "The 28,000 included season-ticket holders who were not there. In reality Saturday's attendance was around 19,000" (HERALD SCOTLAND, 12/10). In Glasgow, Keith Jackson reported Somers conceded that the initial official figure "was inflated by including the thousands of season ticket holders who did not turn up despite already paying for their seats."
This practice "is not uncommon in football but the sheer scale of no-shows has set alarm bells ringing." The drop-off in numbers "will come as a huge concern for Somers and his board" who, just last week, announced an £8M ($12.6M) loss in the club’s latest accounts -- while admitting that a further £8M in external funding "will be required in order to avoid a financial meltdown over the next 12 months" (DAILY RECORD, 12/10).
