KING SAYS NEW KIT DEAL WILL BE GAME-CHANGER FOR GERS
King says Gers grit forced Sports Direct to cut a deal
RANGERS fan group Club 1872 has called on the Light Blue legions to end their boycott of official merchandise.
Gers supporters have refused to buy replica kits and other items from the Ibrox Megastore or Sports Direct outlets in recent years due to the retail deal in place with the Mike Ashley owned firm.
Ibrox chairman Dave King announced yesterday afternoon that a new agreement had been reached ahead of the upcoming campaign.
And Club 1872 – who are the fifth largest shareholders in RIFC plc – have urged supporters to part with their cash once again.
A statement read: “We commend them (the Rangers board) for that progress and for matching the commitment shown by supporters who have once again backed the club with record season ticket sales.
“Prior to the formation of Club 1872, several fan organisations were at the forefront of a supporter campaign to boycott retail operations due to the unfavourable deal entered into with Sports Direct by the Charles Green regime.
“That campaign was not entered into lightly and it has been difficult for such a large number of our supporters not to feel able to wear the Rangers jersey.
“We hope and anticipate that with the resolution of this matter we will see the Rangers jersey once again become a symbol of pride and support for our club.
“We appreciate some supporters may still be reluctant to end their boycott. We would like to inform those supporters that we have been reassured by the Rangers executive team and board that this deal does represent good value.”
DAVE KING reckons Rangers’ determination not to cave in to Sports Direct was key in securing a new merchandise deal.
The Ibrox chairman has reached an agreement to end the lengthy battle for control that will significantly increase the money the Light Blues receive from their retail operations.
Sports Direct chief Mike Ashley attempted to have King jailed two years ago as the level of hostility between the respective camps escalated.
But a deal has now been done that will see the Gers reap the
rewards as supporters get set to end their boycott of official merchandise.
King said: “I don’t think they came round to our way of thinking.
“What happened was the level of intensity in the litigation, with all our directors being sued in a personal capacity and issued with injunctions which meant we couldn’t talk about Sports Direct, that I could have gone to jail last Christmas for saying unkind things about them.
“We had a level of ferocity at us from Sports Direct for about a year. In my view, it’s the fact that didn’t work and we resolved not to give in.
“I said ‘you can do what you like, you can try and put me in jail’. We had come to do a job for the club and we will not back down.
“There was a bit of an impasse. Sports Direct applied their mind and asked themselves whether they felt Rangers were going to back down.
“The answer was ‘No’, so was it not better to seek some sort of negotiated outcome? It was a realisation from them that the initial strategy of trying to blow us away hadn’t worked.”
The litigation with Sports Direct had dominated the Ibrox agenda since King, Paul Murray and John Gilligan won control of Rangers in March 2015. It denied the Light Blues millions of pounds of crucial income as supporters kept their money in their pocket in protest at Sports Direct.
King and his fellow investors, including the likes of Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor, have filled in the financial void.
And the South Africa-based businessman is pleased with the progress that has been made as Rangers look forward to a cash boost this summer.
He said: “It won’t scale it back in the sense that we are already beyond the investment.
“People talk about this £30 million, I think if you put it all together with commitments given then we are beyond that with the money that was put in this week to help fund the activities of the club.
“What it means is that if we had continued beyond the three-year window I was talking about and we didn’t have a retail deal in place, I would have to go back to the investors and say ‘we had hoped to have a normalised Rangers within three years, we don’t have a normalised Rangers, we don’t have a retail deal done. Are you guys happy to continue to invest on the football side without the benefit of the retail deal knowing that we would have to put the money in?’
“There is less chance of that having to happen now so I think I will have some quite relieved investors now that I am not chapping on their door every six months looking for more money.”
The end of the stand-off with Sports Direct is another step in the right direction for Rangers as the countdown continues to the new campaign.