Simon Jordan has defended Rangers after their 7-1 defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League – insisting you simply cannot compare the two clubs.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side were Ibrox was hammered Wednesday night, despite taking the lead through Scott Arfield’s 17th minute strike.
Liverpool were level by half-time thanks to Roberto Firmino’s header, but they looked a different animal in the second-half as they plundered six further unanswered goals – including a Record-breaking feat by Mohamed Salah.
This was the fourth consecutive defeat in the group stage this season. Rangers, subsequently crashed out of Europe’s premier competition.
The result was also the Glasgow outfit’s heaviest ever home defeat and joint worst loss, equalling the League Cup final defeat by Celtic at Hampden Park in 1957.
Ally McCoist, Gers legend, expressed concern for his former side after the match. labelled the defeat as ‘a shocking result for Scottish football‘ on talkSPORT.
Many fans have ripped into Rangers over their performance, including Sports Bar host Jason Cundy who branded them and great Scottish rivals Celtic – who lost 2-0 to RB Leipzig – as ’embarrassing’.
But Jordan has come to their defence, insisting the Old Firm teams simply can’t be expected to challenge Europe’s elite due to their comparative lack of finances.
Talking on TalkSPORT, he said: “If you look at the comparisons, and I’m not giving [Rangers manager] Giovanni van Bronckhorst a pass, I’m looking at the reality of the situation.
“Liverpool have probably got the best part of half a BILLION, if not more, worth of talent on that pitch.
“Liverpool’s turnover is £500million. Rangers’ is probably is £60m/£70m/£80m at the very tops, and maybe a little more bolstered because of this Champions League.”
Co-host Jim White then went on to discuss some of Rangers’ recent high-profile departures of Calvin Bassey [£23m]Nathan Patterson [£16m]Joe Aribo [£8m] along with £25m earned from qualifying for Europe’s top table.
To which Jordan remarked: “And that’s fine. And we can argue that, toss and talk about how much money they’ve got in and how much money they’ve lost recently and how much money they should have spent, and so on and so forth.
“But we can look at the fact that Liverpool gets £150m-a-year on their own – the entire Scottish league gets £40m.
“Liverpool play three games in the Premier League to achieve what the entire Scottish league get.”
Speaking after the game, Van Bronckhorst said: “The first-half and the last half an hour was night and day, comparing how we played and that difference in level in the Champions League is too much.
“The first hour we were there and we can make it difficult for many opponent at Ibrox but the way we played the last 25 minutes, you will lose against any team we play here.
“I cannot explain. This is something I must process, it is not my moment to explain.
“We need to solve it. We must find a way that will prevent such moments from happening again. This season, we have suffered some major defeats.
“That’s not what we want. We need to work on it because in the league there are a lot of big games still coming until the break.”
