Mike Ashley is still a murky shadow hanging over Rangers retail agreement with Castore – whether we like it or not.
When Dave King paid the Sports Direct magnate off it was under the impression that we’d heard the last of him, how wrong could we be?
A five-year deal with up and coming sportswear brand Castore has seen them use Rangers to slingshot themselves into a position of serious power.
The top five leagues all have clubs who are provided with Castore kit and they are now said to be targeting a future valuation in the £1bn region.
So, why are Rangers using a fan with no official club role to advertise merchandise rather than using their own official account?
A conversation between the fan and a Rangers Supporters Club has raised more than a few eyebrows on Twitter.
With 32,700 followers @SeafarerMichael has long provided Rangers fans with updates on kit, new lines and accessories that have been added both in-store and online.
But why?
Rangers official account has 777,200 followers on Twitter alone, another 661,000 on Instagram, that’s over 1.4m by my maths.
Considerably more than 32,700, to put it another way.
Recently, we have seen Elite (our previous retail partners with Hummel), despite being in administration, push on with a claim against Rangers.
A deal that was set up to try and get away from Sports Direct and the previous merchandise agreements.
Are Rangers still being hamstrung by the influence of Mike Ashley and our rush to break away from him?
Only recently have we started to see other merchandise in the club shops other than official kit and even then it is still limited.
The club badge has also been changed during this period.
It’s another example of the lack of communication from the club. It can’t be a genuine marketing strategy.
It certainly isn’t the sort of approach that a brand aiming to be “best in class” should adopt.
