Rangers and the SPFL board will never be friends, that much is clear, at least until there are new leaders at the helm anyway.
The cinch dispute over the league’s sponsorship was one that the club warned Neil Doncaster et al about and yet it still ended up in the courts.
On this occastion, Rangers have been proven right in their pursuit of justice with compensation and an apology finally delivered by the SPFL, as reported by The BBC.
Ironically, despite not showing the title sponsor anywhere on kit or in Ibrox, Rangers could now make more money from Doncaster’s ill-fated deal, although the compensation is being given to a charity of the club’s choice.
This is an agreement that sees a third party paid £100,000 per year due to their part as consultant’s in bringing cinch to the table.
The proposal was sent to clubs and Rangers raised their concerns.
The SPFL has, by ignoring Rangers questions about the cinch deal, cost clubs hundreds of thousands of pounds and yet the chief executive remains in his £380k per year job.
This fiasco, which was entirely preventable, on top of various competitions being played without sponsors, highlights why Rangers are so adamant that change is needed.
As well as compensation and an apology, an independent review – something Stewart Robertson has demanded for years – could expose the current hierarchy for what they are.
James Bisgrove has to maintain the pressure on the clubs and build the relationships needed for progress which will be mutually beneficial.
Nearly 10 years ago, Barry Hearn stood in front of those that ran the game in Scotland and said that if they worked for him they would all be sacked – and nothing has changed.
If we had begged him to overhaul our game then, we could have saved ourselves an awful lot of money.
