I don't think it would take much for us to get into Europe, but whether that would allow us to balance the extra expenditure is a debatable point.
Just as rangers continue on the road to liquidation it seems bizarre to be suggesting we take a risk and hope for the best.
I can't imagine our accounts this year are anything better than atrocious and our debt will be creeping ever upwards. Next season whatever happens we will be losing more money.
It's debatable what will be worse for our club accounts and to an extent I can see from a purely financial point of view the SPL chairmen have a difficult job:
without Rangers we will definitely lose cash from their fans and some tv and sponsorship money, that is certain. Whether that is in anyway offset by bigger home supports is questionable.
With Rangers we keep TV money but will probably lose fans, given our record lows this year I'm not sure there are many more to lose. Yet any rangers side in the SPL is likely to be barred from Europe and be shit, which may boost our league position and potential of Euro spot which could bring the crowds back in.
This all means that whatever happens we will probably need to trim our budget further in the coming years.
Of course sporting integrity means that any NewCo shouldn't be anywhere near the SPL.
Anyway I digress, Hayes and Swanson are exactly the kind of players we should be going for but we shouldn't be breaking the wage structure to bring them in.