RANGERS’ early exit from Europe may provided their best chance of winning back the Premiership title for years.

But it’s not exactly boosted the bank balance.

Andrew Cavenagh and the bean counters at Ibrox are counting the cost of the club’s shock exit from European play before the group stages since Pedro Caixinha stood in that bush in Luxembourg back in 2017.

They’ll hope they could be quids in long-term if Derek McInnes can win the title and unlock the possibility of £40m in Champions League lucre next season – something that only Scotland‘s league winners will have access to.

In fact, a full analysis of the numbers conducted by Football Meets Data shows that the Gers will earn less than both Hibs and Motherwell from European play this season.

The Easter Road men won Conference League ties against Malisheva and Shkendija before going out narrowly to Gent in the play-off round.

Motherwell got past HB of the Faroe Islands and HJK Helsinki before going down to Bundesliga outfit Freiburg.

Their exploits guarantee them £1.1m in prize money, while Rangers‘ Europa League exit to Jagiellonia Bialystok then Conference League play-off exit to Jablonec were only enough to guarantee them £923k.

But where that failure really cuts deep is the comparison with their Premiership rivals Celtic and Hearts.

Okay so both might feel the strain when it comes to the strength and depth of their squads, but Celtic are guaranteed to pocket £11.16m in prize money before gate receipts are calculated from their season in European football.

It could of course be more than that in the final reckoning if they live on in the competition to the knockout stages and win plenty of games along the way – but the modelling gives them an average haul of £13.34m.

And while Hearts in the Conference League doesn’t possess the same bounty, it’s still worth a GUARANTEED £4.28m to the Gorgie club.

They too could generate more with an extended run but the modelling predicts that they will earn a total of £5.29m.

Wouter Vrancken’s men face a daunting task against Turkish outfit Trabzonspor this week.

Celtic – on the back of a winless start – take on a pointless Celta Vigo side in the East End of Glasgow in what is massive match for both clubs.