“We have the demand” – Bisgrove drops Ibrox expansion hint
Rangers are heading in the right direction in terms of success both on and off the pitch, however, as we’ve seen recently, there are still areas that need to be improved upon to bring us into the 21st century, never mind making us leaders in our field.
Speaking to Talksport and reported by Glasgow Live, commercial director James Bisgrove spoke to Jim White about where we currently are in the long term planning of the club and that the continued growth relies on every aspect of the club working together, including the fans.
Bisgrove touched on how much fans have invested in the club in recent years and dropped a hint that Ibrox could eventually be expanded to keep up with demand:
“We’ve got 47k season tickets and the stadium only holds 50k. One day we’d like to be in a position where we can expand the stadium because we know we have the demand.
“We’re fortunate to have the fan base who back the club in so many ways, not just in buying tickets but shirt sales we’ve had, subscriptions on Rangers TV etc.
“We’ve sold a quarter of a million shirts since May this year which is unbelievable.”
Dave King has spoken before about how much money had to be invested just to bring Ibrox and the training ground up to scratch, never mind improving it, but, as Bisgrove said, we are now well on the path to growth with every area of the club being analysed to maximise it’s potential and, at the moment, Ibrox simply isn’t big enough or meeting the requirements of the fan base.
It’s reassuring that the hierarchy are at least aware of what is important to fans, we’ve seen Stewart Robertson make an address through an open letter and we have seen jobs advertised for the customer service and ticketing departments.
Bisgrove isn’t stupid, he hasn’t got to where he is without being good at his job. Yes, having a bigger stadium would be great so that more fans can get in on a weekly basis, it would also add guaranteed income and increased match day revenue – in short, everyone wins.