Rangers say all kits sales ‘benefit club’

Rangers last night sought to reassure their fans over Sports Direct’s involvement in the retailing of their new Castore-produced home strip, which went on sale yesterday.

Following a long-running court dispute, Rangers were finally able to cut ties with Mike Ashley’s controversial sports company in May but, in publicity yesterday, Sports Direct claimed that the new Rangers kit would be sold “exclusively” in their stores from 1 August.

However, in statement released last night which did not make direct reference to Sports Direct, Rangers set out that Castore, the club’s official retail supplier after agreeing a £25 million, five-year deal with the Ibrox side, would determine which outlets stocked the merchandise and that all sales would “benefit” Rangers – an issue with the previous Sports Direct contract.

The statement read: “Rangers continues to look forward to their long term exclusive partnership with Castore, which, for the avoidance of doubt, is a direct agreement between those two companies with no other persons party to the deal.

“As previously stated, it offers a fresh start for the Club and a chance to purchase high quality clothing

Former Wigan owner Dave Whelan says he will look at whether he can help the club after they were put in administration, but says he “can’t promise anything”.

Administrators Begbies Traynor say other interested parties have already been in touch, as they prepare to undertake a thorough review of the club’s financial position.

The Championship side are facing a 12-point deduction for entering administration, although when that sanction is applied depends on whether the club can achieve survival on the pitch.

They are currently 14th, and, if they stay out of the bottom three, the deduction will be applied to their final tally this season. If they are relegated, they would be docked the points at the start of their 2020-21 League One campaign.

Whelan, who owned the club when they won the FA Cup in 2013, said: “I can’t promise anything. I’m 83 – I’ll be 84 later this year. Age is age,” he told Wigan Today. “And I have no idea about the depths of the club’s financial problems and how much they owe. You can’t blindly make commitments to bail a business out come what may. We sit on the fence and wait to see what details – if any - emerge.”

Wigan are the first club to go into administration since the suspension of English football due to the coronavirus pandemic in March, with joint administrator Gerald Krasner saying the impact of the outbreak on the club had been “significant”.

The club recorded a net loss of £9.2million in their most recent annual accounts for the year ending June 30, 2019. That was an increase of £1.5m on the previous year.

Wigan were owned by JJB Sports co-founder Dave Whelan until November 2018 when he and his family sold to the Hong Kong-based International Entertainment Corporation (IEC).

There was a further change of ownership on May 29 of this year when IEC divested its ownership to Next Leader Fund, also based in Hong Kong.