Rangers have been indirectly criticised by a leading tabloid who claim the club’s dispute with the SPFL and cinch partnership could cost all member clubs.
The Daily Record are claiming that cinch may not pay out on the first season of the five-year contract due to Rangers’ ongoing boycott of the sponsorship.
This has resulted in Rangers refusing to wear the branding on their shirts, refusing to adopt the branding at Ibrox and refusing to do interviews in front of anything cinch.
Describing some of the clubs as “cash-strapped” and very much sounding Rangers out as the bad guys, there’s cringe aplenty in this article.
It is all because Rangers claim the deal clashes with a pre-agreed commercial contract at Ibrox, namely chairman Douglas Park’s Parks Motor Group.
Both Park’s company and cinch deal in user car sales and there is a clear conflict of interest in this regard.
Rangers dispute with cinch and the SPFL continues to rumble on
The move is not without controversy with some also believing Rangers are using the situation to make a statement about the details of the contract with cinch.
The car sales company allegedly pay Tottenham Hotspur up to £10m for a single sleeve sponsor but pay a measly £1.6m per season between all 42 SPFL member clubs.
There are accusations that the five-year deal completely undersells the Scottish game, whilst Rangers have also complained about the use of costly middle men to secure the contract.
Embarrassingly, the Daily Record describe the finances involved in the deal as “whopping” when objectively – and in comparison to other football leagues – it is anything but.
The governance of the SPFL continues to come under intense scrutiny and Rangers are undoubtedly the most vocal dissidents of the current Scottish footballing hierarchy.
The Ibrox side infamously asked for the suspension of chief executive Neil Doncaster amid the fall-out from the controversial end-of-season vote during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Not all pro-Rangers voices agree with the club’s approach either; ex-Rangers chairman Dave King described the situation as an “unseemly spat with the football authorities to assist Douglas’s personal agenda”.
This came amid a fierce boardroom disagreement that played out in public between fans group/shareholders Club 1872 and the current regime.
Meanwhile, a polarising ex-Rangers star has been caught up in a touchline spat with supporters of his current club.
