We’ve all seen the figures behind the ‘£40m Champions League cash bonanza’ before.  

These were mindboggling, club-changing numbers that could tip an entire financial model on its head and allow for serious speculation in the transfer market. 

And that is what many thought Rangers were looking at when they knocked PSV out of the qualifying rounds to enter the Champions League proper. 

If only it were so. 

In reality, managing director Stewart Robertson points out the club may have to reach as deep into the tournament as the competition's quarter-final to be certain of seeing such a return.

He said: “Some think the money has fallen out of the sky but it's not like that because we know we will be in the group stages of the Europa League. That’s budgeted. The £40m number is just wrong.  

“Unless we perform really well, get through to the next round, even get through to the last eight, we are probably not getting anywhere close to £40m.

"And we know the challenge in doing that because you are up against the biggest clubs in Europe. When you sit with Dortmund last year and you hear budgets are five times ours, I suspect we will have one of the smallest budgets in the Champions League this year.  

“Against Napoli, I thought we showed we can compete. Take the Ajax game away because that was different. Everybody knows we can do better but you realise the difference between the Europa League and the Champions League in terms of quality.  

“I hope people can now see (the reality). I think we should have done more to get that message out earlier.” 

Rather than the game-changing £40m revenue boost, it turns out roughly half is a much more sober assessment of the gross revenues Rangers will likely accumulate.  

But how did this happen? Champions League revenues have only been trending upwards over the years as it continues to capture the imagination of supporters across the continent and beyond. 

The answer lies in a cash grab from top clubs that has seen a regressive model put in place to share what was previously a guaranteed £15m for each participating side in the market pool. 

“In 2021-24 the distribution model changed,” Robertson explains. “You get a base fee which is just over £13m, there's an added element of the market pool, but it's not a lot of money, maybe £1m or £2m which is based on the TV market compared against others. You also get a performance-based payment subject to how you do.  

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“What used to be the other big element of it was the market pool. They have changed it so that more or less half the money is based on your 10-year coefficient ranking. Because Rangers were down the leagues, we weren't in it for five years then the sixth wasn't great (the Progres Niederkorn year). 

“So we only have four years' worth of points and when you rank the 32 teams in the Champions League, we are 31st.

"Every position is worth €1.1m. So, as the 31st team, we will get €2.2m. If you are Real Madrid, who are number one, you get €36m.  

“Back in the day the Champions League was worth much closer to £30m but now it's going to be much closer, for us, to £20m. So there's a big, big difference. 

“I know people raised their eyebrows when I said us reaching the Europa League semi-final was the equivalent of us reaching the Champions League. That's why, because you have all those extra games to get to that stage.” 

I put it to Robertson that my tentative calculations suggest there is approximately £8m difference between Europa League and Champions League revenue. The managing director points out it’s even less than that. 

“It depends on your co-efficient. For us it's less,” he said. “There's also an element related to transfer deals you do, some of the payments will be contingent on reaching the Champions League group stage. There aren't many of those at Rangers, but there are a couple. Those tend to be one-offs but there are some costs that come out of it too.”