Rangers Academy Get £400,000 From RYDC

[SonOfLuther 3,400]

Director of Operations Colin Stewart, Glenn Middleton and Head of Academy Craig Mulholland (L-R) are on hand to present a cheque of 400,000 from the Rangers Youth Development Company to the Rangers Academy.

THE Rangers Youth Development Company have handed over £400,000 to the Academy at the Hummel Training Centre as supporters invest in the next generation of Light Blues stars.

Money from a range of initiatives, including Rangers Lotto and Rising Stars, help fund the work that Head of Academy Craig Mulholland and his coaches undertake.

And Mulholland is grateful for the backing he has received once again after previous donations of £250,000 and £175,000 over the last two years.

He said: “On behalf of all the staff and players at the Academy, we would genuinely like to thank Colin Stewart and his team for their ongoing, fantastic support.

"The Rangers Youth Development Company has supported the Academy for more than 50 years and we are thrilled to receive this latest donation of £400,000, which is an incredible amount.

“I would also like to thank the Rangers supporters, whose contribution allows us to undertake our exciting and ambitious plans for the Academy. Together I am confident we can achieve something special.

“The progress our Academy has made in the last three years has been phenomenal - a new innovative elite schools programme at Boclair Academy where 30 young Rangers players undertake up to 18 hours of contact time per week, the appointment of top coaches such as Graeme Murty, Peter Lovenkrands, David McCallum, Malky Thomson, Stephen Wright, Brian Gilmour, Kevin Thomson and Gregory Vignal to name but a few and we tripled our staff numbers in our Performance and Analysis teams.

“We increased our number of international youth players from 17 to 32, doubled our number of scouts, undertook an innovative European games programme which saw wins over the likes of Benfica, Bayern Munich, Villarreal, Valencia, Copenhagen, and AEK Athens and created a new Academy culture & football methodology.

“We achieved a score of 88% when independently audited by top European auditors – the highest in Scotland and higher than the average of top European Academies – and took part in more than 240 cross border games to create player challenge.

“These are only some of the many achievements that we could list. It has been an incredible journey delivered at pace and one that would not be possible without the work of RYDC.”

All profits from the RYDC have been directed to the Academy structure since 2002 and almost £8million has been handed over in the last 17 years.

Director of Operations Colin Stewart made the presentation after the friendly win over HJK Helsinki at Ibrox on Sunday.

He said: “The Rangers Youth Development Company is delighted to present the Youth Academy with another £400,000 and this takes our total donation to the club’s youth programme to £825,000 in just three years.

“RYDC is totally committed to assisting youth development at Rangers and the fans deserve great credit once again for their unbelievable backing. They go above and beyond in their support for the club and RYDC’s initiative and I thank each and every one.

“We have a great working relationship with Craig Mulholland and his Academy team and I know they all greatly appreciate the level of financial support we are able to provide. Steven Gerrard has given many talented youth players the chance to train and feature with the first team squad in 2018/19 and we are pleased to play our part in the development of talent at the Hummel Training Centre.”

[The Specky Forum Organiser 65,713]

“We increased our number of international youth players from 17 to 32, doubled our number of scouts, undertook an innovative European games programme which saw wins over the likes of Benfica, Bayern Munich, Villarreal, Valencia, Copenhagen, and AEK Athens and created a new Academy culture & football methodology.

“We achieved a score of 88% when independently audited by top European auditors – the highest in Scotland and higher than the average of top European Academies – and took part in more than 240 cross border games to create player challenge.

Obviously academies will be judged by how many players you bring through but that's great to hear.

[Sparkle 53,755]

But, but, Admin 2 

[MrMckee 3,436]

Good to hear. Was saying to the old man the other day I expect us to produce a few really good youth players in the next couple years that can go into the first team. 

[Bakbear 3,586]

43 minutes ago, Sparkle said:

But, but, Admin 2 

Shall forever be a bone of contention for me that there was an admin 1. 

Absolutely criminal and I still want someone in jail for it. 

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

Great news, but for a fan base our size £825,000 over 3 years isn’t good enough. 

We should be raising a lot more money than this. 

[Blumhoilann 6,712]

1 hour ago, Sparkle said:

But, but, Admin 2 

Beat me to it,TomEnglish will be on the radio saying 'this donation is fantasy,Rangers are broke' 

[Bakbear 3,586]

14 minutes ago, Blumhoilann said:

Beat me to it,TomEnglish will be on the radio saying 'this donation is fantasy,Rangers are broke' 

Time the club started issuing cease and desist notices for any cunt making up shite. It’s defamation and damages our brand. Sue the cunts for every penny and then go after the BBC as their employers. 

[Sparkle 53,755]

1 hour ago, Courtyard Bear said:

Great news, but for a fan base our size £825,000 over 3 years isn’t good enough. 

We should be raising a lot more money than this. 

People have bills to pay. I’m sure they give what they can. 

[McEwan's Lager 30,808]

2 hours ago, Courtyard Bear said:

Great news, but for a fan base our size £825,000 over 3 years isn’t good enough. 

We should be raising a lot more money than this. 

What?

It’s a lot of money for bricks, scratch cards, lotto tickets and half a season of pools.

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

1 hour ago, Sparkle said:

People have bills to pay. I’m sure they give what they can. 

Rangers Lotto built the Staduim at one time. 

We need back to that level again. 

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

30 minutes ago, McEwan's Lager said:

What?

It’s a lot of money for bricks, scratch cards, lotto tickets and half a season of pools.

300k went to Manchester. 

£1 a month from all of them, never mind the overseas fans. 

Rangers Lotto used to be the biggest earning football club Lotto in the UK. 

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

1 hour ago, Sparkle said:

People have bills to pay. I’m sure they give what they can. 

 

35 minutes ago, McEwan's Lager said:

What?

It’s a lot of money for bricks, scratch cards, lotto tickets and half a season of pools.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-hugh-adam-visionary-former-director-of-Rangers-fc-who-predicted-the-club-s-woes-a-decade-ago-1-2723693

That is what Rangers Pools/Lotto was capable of long before we had the internet and social media, image what it could achieve in this day. 

[Leeds_Bear 8,129]

 

3 hours ago, Courtyard Bear said:

Great news, but for a fan base our size £825,000 over 3 years isn’t good enough. 

We should be raising a lot more money than this. 

Half of it in the last twelve months effectively, think we are more mobilised as a support and credit must go to those fans who have volunteered their time to help drive lotto sign ups.

Think you’ll see that number increase over the coming years. 

[McEwan's Lager 30,808]

2 hours ago, Courtyard Bear said:

 

https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-hugh-adam-visionary-former-director-of-Rangers-fc-who-predicted-the-club-s-woes-a-decade-ago-1-2723693

That is what Rangers Pools/Lotto was capable of long before we had the internet and social media, image what it could achieve in this day. 

The heyday of Rangers Pools earnings were in a time of no National Lottery / Euromillions and other clubs fans using our Pools. That’s likely not going to happen now.

Don’t forget that a lot more money would have gone into the fund - you have to account for agents fees for Lotto and prize money too.

Edit: I’ve just found out this doesn’t include Pools money as that goes towards Stadium maintenance. We have raised about £25k since August from Pools.

[McEwan's Lager 30,808]

1 hour ago, Courtyard Bear said:

300k went to Manchester. 

£1 a month from all of them, never mind the overseas fans. 

Rangers Lotto used to be the biggest earning football club Lotto in the UK. 

I don’t think overseas fans can sign up to Pools / Lotto.

[McEwan's Lager 30,808]

Only on RM could fans raise £400k for the youth team and it not be good enough.

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

2 hours ago, Leeds_Bear said:

 

Half of it in the last twelve months effectively, think we are more mobilised as a support and credit must go to those fans who have volunteered their time to help drive lotto sign ups.

Think you’ll see that number increase over the coming years. 

Run properly the Lotto could be a goldmine for the club. 

[Laudrup1984 25,100]

 

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

1 hour ago, McEwan's Lager said:

The heyday of Rangers Pools earnings were in a time of no National Lottery / Euromillions and other clubs fans using our Pools. That’s likely not going to happen now.

Don’t forget that a lot more money would have gone into the fund - you have to account for agents fees for Lotto and prize money too.

Edit: I’ve just found out this doesn’t include Pools money as that goes towards Stadium maintenance. We have raised about £25k since August from Pools.

You don’t need agents these days, the days of boys like myself helping the pools man by running up the street getting the money as he walked behind are long gone. 

Only 30p in the pound goes to the staduim  

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

1 hour ago, McEwan's Lager said:

I don’t think overseas fans can sign up to Pools / Lotto.

Not sure mate. 

If they can’t then we need to find a way of getting them a way of putting money into the club. 

[Sweetheart 8,458]

10 hours ago, Courtyard Bear said:

Great news, but for a fan base our size £825,000 over 3 years isn’t good enough. 

We should be raising a lot more money than this. 

They're not, see for yourself in the accounts https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/SC040033/filing-history

[govanblue 16,847]

Since December 2012, the RM Erskine Fund has supported RYDC in the following ways:

Rangers Lotto - Each year, we prepay 10 weekly entries.  That's £520 each year. So about £3000 in total

Rising Stars.  Each home game, we buy 10 Rising Stars.  That's £20 per home game, approx 25 games per season = £500. In total, about £3000 again.

Stadium Bricks - Our subsidised scheme for generating brick sales to members has resulted in over 150 bricks purchased.  At £50 each that's over £7,500. (Incidentally, did you know that we have been the single biggest purchaser of stadium bricks at Ibrox in recent years.)

Purchasing tickets for Erskine Veterans to attend RYDC Fundraising Events, and purchasing raffle tickets and football card entries for the Veterans at the events. (We won Erskine the Star Prize at the last event)  Probably about £1000 in total.

Buying RYDC T-shirts.  Which reminds me - I think we've still got a box full of them sitting in the RYDC office.  I told them I'd sort that back in October!  I think we bought about 50, and paid £15 each for them, so there's another £750 there.

And a few scratchcards here and there. 

 

So anyway.  Two points from that:

1.  Find me any other football forum that is consistently achieving anything like that.

and

2. If you haven't donated to the RM Erskine Fund this season (or ever), then please do so today. Then we can do even more!