The philosophy behind Rangers' rise from financial ruin to Europa League final

The sporting director of Rangers, Ross Wilson, is listing the many factors that go into consideration when identifying a player suitable for this famous Scottish club, now on the brink of a historic final, and it strikes you that there are not many who tick all the boxes.

For a start they have to fall inside the budget and with an annual revenue of around £50 million, just ten percent of the biggest beasts in Europe, there is a focus on bargains, like the former Leicester City academy boy Calvin Bassey. They also need to be able to deal with playing in front of 50,000 home crowds, and big expectation – which is where Ryan Kent, once an academy star at Liverpool, has thrived. They need to be technically accomplished in a team that tries to dominate the ball, and tough as befits a team everyone wants to beat. Which made free agent and former Premier League midfielder John Lundstram a prime candidate.

Rangers face Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday in the Europa League final - the stage set for arguably their greatest achievement in half a century. It is 50 years since their one European honour, the Cup-winners’ Cup of 1972. Fourteen years since they reached the Uefa Cup final to lose to Zenit St Petersburg. Ten years since the club entered financial administration. One year since their historic comeback 55th Scottish league title. Six months since manager Steven Gerrard left for Aston Villa. This has been a momentous ride on the 150th anniversary of Rangers’ creation in Glasgow, one half of one world football’s most historic rivalries.

Celtic have regained the Scottish league title. But after the final in Seville, Rangers’ thoughts will turn to the last game of the season, the Scottish cup final against Hearts on Saturday. In Europe, Rangers have accomplished what every ambitious club outside the elite seek to do in a game ever more weighted in favour of a small dominant group – exceed expectation and outperform their wage budget.

Wilson has been there since October 2019 and was the key figure in overseeing the appointment of Giovanni van Bronckhorst, as well as recruitment and the overhaul of the club’s infrastructure. “We think we are in a strong place as a club,” Wilson says, “but we are on the verge of something that could be unbelievably exciting.”

Much has changed at Rangers, from a training ground, Auchenhowie, that has been transformed, to an academy that is producing first team players again. The women’s team are Scottish champions for the first time. Nevertheless, it will ultimately always be about the results and Wilson accepts that in the end he is judged on “who you sign, who you sell, and whose contract you extend”.

Rangers have reached the final of a competition that included Napoli, Leicester City and West Ham at group stage and then saw Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Seville enter in the knockout rounds. These are all clubs who rank in the Deloitte football money league top 30. Rangers have not ranked at all for the last seven years. How have they assembled a squad capable of competing?

It is best explained in the stories of individuals. For Bassey, 22, whose career was stagnating at Leicester, Rangers paid the £300,000 Fifa cross-border training compensation tariff. “As a character he is good as it gets, positive and enthusiastic and desperate to do well,” Wilson says. Bassey’s progression has been accelerated in recent months with outstanding performances against Dortmund and then RB Leipzig in the semi-final. He is attracting interest from all over Europe.

Vice-captain Connor Goldson, 29, formerly of Shrewsbury Town and then Brighton, where he needed surgery for a heart defect, was a key signing whom Gerrard identified. Goldson joined for around £3million and has played more than 200 games in four years. Goldson is out of contract in the summer. “He trains every day, he plays every game,” Wilson says, “we would love him to stay but if he wants to do something else we will respect that.”

Rangers' record signing remains the £12million paid to Chelsea for Tore Andre Flo almost 22 years ago. Kent, 25, cost around £7million in 2019. After Liverpool, he drifted at loans at Freiburg and Bristol City but thrived at Rangers and has been a star of the Europa League run. “He has found a home here,” says Wilson. “He has found somewhere he is comfortable and a club that loves him. He has made his life here.”

In the semi-final second leg against RB Leipzig, it was Lundstram, 28, signed as a free agent last summer, who scored the winning third goal on a remarkable night at Ibrox. “We were interested in John when he was at Sheffield United but we were never able to buy him,” Lundstram said. “As a free agent we saw a great opportunity. He was coming in as an immediate starter who could make a big impact.

“Even he would say it took him a bit of time to get going. This is a massive football club and the city itself has an unbelievable intensity. We can’t expect every player just to be plug and play. John totally understands what it takes to be a Rangers player and being part of a club with a relentless desire to win.”

Different players, all of whom have made first team impacts although as Wilson says, not every player has to be “considered starting XI”. “Some are here to play ten to 15 games a season and others play 50-60 games. We need to make sure we get the balance right and we also have to make sure from a budgetary point of view we have got a balance between those who play every week at the highest level and those who are squad players.”

The club’s record transfer sale went through in January with Nathan Patterson’s £16 million sale to Everton, vindication for the club’s development pathway. On the other hand, Wilson says that the club recognises that “it won’t get every signing right every time, even with best intentions.” As well as Goldson, veteran goalkeeper Allan McGregor, 40, and veteran midfielder Steven Davis, 37, are out of contract in the summer. Winning the final in Seville, and securing a place in the Champions League group stages next season, would add a whole new revenue stream.

Wilson is not prepared to think that far ahead yet, but he knows the players he needs. “Being technically really strong is really high up on our scouting radar,” he says. “Secondly we know this is a big football club with big demands, big history and you carry that weight on your shoulders. So we need characters who can absolutely handle those expectations and that Ibrox crowd every week.

"And we need people who can represent this club well off the pitch. We are not interested in people who will let us down all over the place. We have a really good group – which is not to say everyone is an angel – but we have good players and good people, and that works well."