Rangers have slaughtered the SPFL after a court ruled in favour of club Chairman Douglas Park and Park’s of Hamilton amid the high-profile cinch fiasco.
The Gers have also claimed that the ruling “underlines ongoing concerns” regarding the leadership of the SPFL and have claimed that “many” SPFL clubs share the Gers’ views.
This comes after a high-profile dispute regarding the £1.6m a year cinch deal signed by the SPFL which Rangers had previously claimed clashed with an existing commercial contract at Ibrox.
Despite intimations from Rangers that they would invoke the SPFL’s rule 17 – in short this meant the club refused to display cinch branding on matchdays – the organisation went ahead and signed the contract anyway.
Club chairman Douglas Park would then halt SFA arbitration proceedings regarding the dispute after Park’s were left out of the process, something contrary to SFA rules.
A Park’s statement – via Glasgow Times – reads:
“We can confirm that Park’s of Hamilton Holdings Ltd has today been successfully granted an interim interdict at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, to prevent the SFA from proceeding with its arbitration process in relation to the sponsorship of the SPFL.
“For the purposes of Park’s interim interdict application, the Court considered that the failure to include Park’s went against the SFA’s own rules. This ruling now prevents the SFA from proceeding with an arbitration process without Park’s of Hamilton being involved.
“We were surprised that both the SFA and SPFL vehemently argued against this petition, despite the fact that their rules clearly state that any arbitration process should feature all interested parties.
“Park’s is proud of its association with the SFA and Scottish football, which dates back over 50 years, so it is with regret that we were forced to take this action.
“This is a decision we did not take lightly but felt it had to be made as a matter of principle, to protect the rights of club sponsors throughout all levels of the game.”
Rangers would then back this up with a statement of their own which suggests this fiasco once again highlights the incompetence of those running the national game.
Beyond that, it criticises the SPFL for their “antagonistic approach” to the dispute which it is clear the Gers do not feel is in the best interests of the game north of the border:
“Today’s court ruling once again underlines ongoing concerns regarding the corporate governance and leadership of the SPFL.
“These concerns are shared by many of the SPFL’s member clubs. We have complied with the SPFL’s own rules but today’s court hearing was one that could easily have been avoided if those responsible had adopted a more consensual and less confrontational approach.
“The Executive of the SPFL required to carry out effective due diligence before entering into its contract with the new league sponsor.
“Instead, an inadequate and antagonistic approach appears to have been adopted; one that it is hard to imagine is in the best interests of the SPFL’s member clubs.”
At the time of writing, the entire thing appears to have stunned Hampden bosses into silence with the Scottish footballing public awaiting their response.
It’s not the only statement coming out of Ibrox this weekend as the club was applauded for its “swift and decisive” actions regarding an intolerable incident this weekend.
