As Rangers retailers Castore reportedly get ready to take over the retail operations of Newcastle United, it’s understandably triggered fan fears in a few Ibrox supporters.
For years Rangers fans boycotted the club’s retail operations due to the influence of Magpies owner Mike Ashley, the High Street billionaire exploiting the club’s then weak ownership to construct brutal and oppressive retail contracts at Ibrox.
In the summer, the Gers broke free of the shackles of Sports Direct by signing a new deal with Castore which brought all existing retail contracts to an end. It was cause for celebration.
But when Rangers kit turned up in Ashley-owned businesses – and Sports Direct trolled Rangers fans on Facebook in the process – suspicions were raised about how and why.
That remains particularly unclear – even now Rangers kit is being sold through the retailer – but we’ve been rest-assured by Rangers and Castore Ashley’s hands are nowhere near this.
However, the sight of Castore reportedly signing a deal with Newcastle United to produce their kits – making the Toon Army only the second football club in their portfolio after Rangers – has once again raised a suspicious eyebrow.
Ashley has reportedly closed the Newcastle United retail store – leading to multiple redundancies – with the Sports Direct-owned business being turned back into a club asset as part of a renewed £300m takeover at St. James’ Park [Daily Mail].
If you listen closely you’ll hear the clinking and clanging of Celtic fans exploiting the link between Rangers, Newcastle United, Mike Ashley and Castore to push conspiracy theories aplenty.
But there are some comments from Rangers’ retailers – made back last summer – which should at the very least reassure Rangers fans that Mike Ashley is not involved in Castore.
“When I see rumours about Mike Ashley being a shareholder in Castore or having some sort of affiliation with Castore it is surprising as we have been 100% clear this is not the case on several occasions now,” Castore co-founder Tom Beahon exclusively told popular Rangers fan media Four Lads Had a Dream.
“Mike Ashley or Sports Direct have no shareholding or involvement at any level in my business. There are only so many times or ways I can say that before people believe me.
“I know people have their own opinions but that is the complete and unambiguous truth. Mike Ashley has got nothing to do with Castore in any way, shape or form.”
The fact the billionaire Rueben brothers are reportedly involved in the Newcastle United takeover is another aspect of Castore which is regularly speculated on by supporters.
This is something which is of particular interest after comments made by Tom Beahon regarding investment from a wealthy UK-based family into the sports company.
“We have investors who like to remain private. Our biggest investor is one of the wealthiest families in the UK,” said Beahon back in May [Daily Mail].
“For the record, it’s not Mike Ashley despite some of the things I’ve read online in the last couple of weeks.
“Our investors are backing Castore to go and achieve the vision we have to go and build a truly global brand.”
However, even this link appears coincidental.
According to Fashion Network, Net-A-Porter founder Arnaud Massenet, New Look founder Tom Singh and former Saatchi & Saatchi boss Robert Senior are investors in Castore.
Andy Murray is also named as an investor into the brand which secured £7.5m worth of funding to move into the global football market.
The Massenets are one of the richest families in the United Kingdom.
Coincidence or not, it’s also worth noting that in dealing with Rangers and the club’s previous situation with Sports Direct, it’d be relatively safe to assume that Castore have at least some level of professional relationship with both parties.
On top of that, Castore have not been shy in talking up their ambitions to secure yet more leading clubs throughout Europe’s top five leagues as part of their portfolio [Forbes].
Here’s more on that Newcastle United Castore story as Mike Ashley reportedly prepares to finally move the Premier League side into new ownership.
