Selling the jerseys
Gers fans have every right to be excited by Gerrard’s arrival but King’s continual court battles are casting a long shadow over Ibrox
CHANCES are Rangers will soon be confronted by a difficult dilemma.
They’ll have to decide for themselves at what point Dave King’s chairmanship is doing the club more harm than good.
On Thursday night a brand new season will begin when Steven Gerrard gets his teeth into the job for real with a Europa League qualifier against FK Shkupi and that first-leg tie ought to be the only thing occupying minds in and around Ibrox.
Gerrard’s arrival has come as a shot in the arm to the club’s supporters who, after experiencing a number of excruciating false dawns, desire nothing much more than a manager capable of delivering a team which is genuinely fit for purpose.
Only time will tell if the untested Gerrard really is that man but, already by virtue of his presence and lofty pedigree in the game, he has succeeded in grabbing this club by the scruff of the neck and dragging it out of a very gloomy place.
He has given these fans a reason to believe again and, given the patience and devotion they have afforded to the cause over the last few years of unadulterated turmoil, that is the very least they deserve.
That more than 40,000 of them stumped up to watch a pre-season friendly against League Two outfit Bury last week is really quite remarkable and an indication of how badly they want to believe in Gerrard’s revolution.
To add to their excitement, a raft of new signings have been ushered in during the first few weeks of the summer and because of Gerrard’s work in the transfer market, Rangers appear to be in far more robust shape for the challenges ahead.
Millions upon millions of pounds have been wasted on this squad over the last few years but, despite his inexperience, if Gerrard can get value for money from the players he has recruited then it stands to reason that Rangers’ fortunes on the pitch will improve. Perhaps even considerably.
Little wonder then that these supporters are chomping at the bit until the first ball of this new era is kicked in earnest but while their anticipation of a fresh start builds, an old problem continues to weigh down on this club’s shoulders behind the scenes – King’s apparent thirst to engage in combat wherever it can be found.
Tomorrow, in a London courtroom, the latest chapter of his toxic feud with Sports Direct and Mike Ashley is scheduled to play out before a judge. It must be said, this is not a fight of King’s picking.
Rather it was one he had to inherit when he ridded the club of Ashley’s old board. In trying to untangle Rangers from Ashley’s web he was perfectly justified.
But the bitterness and resentment between both men continues to come at a cost to the club.
There is a tendency for the majority of Rangers fans to let these legal spats pass them by but, given they won’t be able to get their hands on any of the club’s recently released new kit until this issue is resolved, it might help focus some attention.
Last week Ashley’s lawyers were granted an injunction to prevent Rangers selling the jerseys through another outlet and at tomorrow’s hearing they will argue that Ashley retains the legal right to flog them exclusively from his own high street stores if he so desires.
For their part, Rangers will argue that they have acted within their rights to secure a more attractive deal elsewhere and it will be left to the law to decide which version is correct.
When King announced just over a year ago that Rangers had renegotiated the terms of the one-sided arrangement which Ashley hatched with Charles Green – and hinted that the club’s ties with Sports Direct would be severed by this summer – it seemed like his finest triumph.
He urged supporters to end a boycott of club merchandise but did not mention not only that he had agreed to pay Ashley the guts of £3million but also that the Newcastle owner had reserved the right to continue as Rangers kit supplier for just about as long as he sees fit. This was a distortion of the truth and even if that was a condition laid down by Sports Direct, it’s the unsuspecting supporters who have now been blind sided by Ashley’s blockade.
Until this matter is resolved one way or another they will be unable to load up on the freshly launched Hummel kit – and the club will be starved of the vast revenue it was expected to generate.
Given that Gerrard needs funds in order to complete his rebuild – he’ll want to add at least one quality striker of the calibre which tends not to come cheap – and that the club is still forking out substantial sums to cover the cost of Pedro Caixinha’s catastrophic shopping spree last summer, that truckload of extra cash would have come in handy right about now.
But that’s not the only issue which should be causing concern. King’s ongoing dispute with the Takeover Panel may prove to have far more wide reaching ramifications and not least because they are chasing him on a charge of contempt of court.
This issue ought to have been far more straightforward than the dispute with the notoriously difficult Ashley. In this matter, no ducking or diving was required.
King merely needed to abide by the rules, not attempt to run rings around the financial establishment. He insists this is entirely his business and that it will not place Rangers in harm’s way.
Indeed, it’s difficult to see how Rangers would not be impacted upon if its own chairman is found to be guilty of contempt of court and maybe even the subject of a cold shouldering by financial authorities.
If the Takeover Panel were to issue such an order, Rangers will suffer consequences and not just to their reputation.
Had King not chosen to rail against the authorities then the club would not be exposed to any of this and if the situation should deteriorate further then the rest of King’s board will have to decide if they can remain in his regime. Or if it might be in Gers’ best interest for King to step down.