CHARLES GREEN has revealed plans to try to tap into the Chinese market.
The Rangers chief executive views China as a sleeping giant in terms of football and hopes to open training academies there while also recruiting Chinese players for Ally McCoist's squad.
Rangers, under previous owner Craig Whyte, made an unsuccessful attempt to exploit the Indian market last year, bringing players Jeje Lalpekhlua and Sunil Chhetri over on trial, travelling to India to meet officials from the Indian Premier League, and launching a Twitter feed in Hindi.
Green, though, is not put off by that failure, believing opportunities abound in Chinese football. "A few weeks ago I had a very rich Chinese man here," said Green. "He said, 'Charles, we are a country of 1.3 billion people but we can't find 11 footballers among them. How can that be?'"
Green also boasted of the strength of Rangers' financial position. The club shed all its debt when the oldco went into liquidation.
"Today we are the strongest club in Scotland," he added in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine. "We have the biggest fanbase, no debts, no loans, no overdraft and money in the bank.
"Rangers are among the 15 most famous clubs in the world. We have the product, the names and the brand."
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