Rangers could wind up having to pay “millions of pounds” to Sports Direct after the latest High Court ruling over the club’s merchandise.
Sports Direct and Mike Ashley won the latest round of legal battles which concerned Rangers selling the merchandising rights to Hummel/Elite Group before offering them to Ashley’s firm. It has been deemed that the club was contracted to do this.
Judge Lionel Persey said “SDIR’s losses are likely to be in the order of many millions of pounds” as he also adjudged Rangers to be liable for damages, as quoted by The Scottish Sun.
All of this is going on with the backdrop of Rangers captain James Tavernier reportedly being linked with the Mike Ashley owned Newcastle United.
The latest retail judgment essentially confirms that Rangers should not be deal with Mike Ashley in any footballing sense at all.
Unless of course the Cockney businessman was held to ransom for the marauding full-back.
Even then, any business Rangers have ever conducted with the Newcastle United owner seems to have ended in tears.
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This latest round of legal battles comes as a major blow for Rangers.
The club was finally beginning to see the benefit of the fans’ immense merchandising power just for Ashley’s firm to stop the momentum in its tracks.
The silver lining for Rangers fans is that eventually, Ashley’s grip on Rangers’ retail operations will end. It’s a matter of when not if.
Sports Direct has been a cancerous lump on Rangers ever since the immediate aftermath of 2012.
A poorly weighted retail deal was signed by the previous regime which led to Rangers getting a poor cut of merchandising and as a result a fan boycott.
They continue to hold the club back in the face of progress on the pitch and this latest ruling stands as further evidence of that.
