There are fresh fears surrounding the kit future of Rangers retailers Castore at Newcastle Utd as reports claim kit giant Adidas have been spotted taking in a game at St James’ Park.
Mike McGrath of the Telegraph is claiming that the global sporting retail giant was in the stands to take in Newcastle’s 2-0 League Cup win over Leicester City earlier in the month.
This comes amid murmurs of discontent surrounding the controversial retailer, who have sprung up in football over the last few years and have now signed a range of partnerships across the beautiful game.
This includes with Newcastle Utd, with whom Castore signed a deal in July 2021, a year on from when the Manchester-based retailer signed its first footballing deal with Rangers.
This was during the reign of controversial High St billionaire Mike Ashley and before the Saudi-led Public Investment Fund took over in October of the same year.
However, there have been complaints from within the St James’ Park faithful regarding a number of issues familiar to Rangers fans, ranging from struggling to meet demand to customer service, and there are now major doubts surrounding the deal.
Doubts surround Newcastle Utd deal with Rangers retailers Castore
Adidas are an attractive proposition to Newcastle fans given their previous relationship with the club during the so-called Entertainers Years, when the Magpies where title contenders and Alan Shearer was banging in the goals.
This isn’t the first time doubts have been raised over the Newcastle Utd and Castore deal with CEO Darren Eales previously pushing back on the suggestion the “multi-year” contract could be ripped up.
“I’ve just obviously started with the club, and Castore are our current partners,” said Eales [BBC Radio Newcastle].
“They’re our partners for, you know, a contractually-committed period.
“They’re a company that I’m going to go and visit. I want to chat with them, and talk with them, and try to be the best partners that we can with them, and vice versa. I’m a great believer that it’s all about having that communication.
“From my perspective, we’ve got Castore as a partner that has shown commitment to the club from before I was here, before ownership was here.
“And, from my perspective, they’ve been great club partners, but we’ll always look, because you can always improve.
“It’ll be ‘how can we help Castore? How can Castore help the club?’. We’re working together, we’re partners. It’s great for both parties the better we can do.”
Rangers signed a kit deal with Castore heading into the 20/21 season after years of tumultuous boardroom retail upheaval following the kit deal signed with ex-Newcastle Utd Mike Ashley.
And the club are still fronting up the cost of those legacy issues associated with the previous Ibrox regime.