Red card for Ashley over legal battle at Rangers
Warburton blow as his top target moves to Leeds
A SENIOR judge has condemned the ‘intimidatory, muscular tactics’ used by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct in a failed attempt to have Rangers chairman Dave King punished for an alleged breach of a gagging order.
In the latest chapter of a costly dispute that has embroiled the club, lawyers acting for Mr Ashley and his company asked Mr Justice Peter Smith, sitting in the High Court in London, to find Mr King guilty of contempt of court.
They accused Mr King of breaching a confidentiality undertaking contained in an order made by a judge in June last year.
The breach was alleged to have occurred when Mr King gave an interview to Sky Sports News last July disclosing the existence of a meeting and discussions relating to commercial contracts between Sports Direct and Rangers.
Dismissing the contempt application as an abuse of process, the judge said the ‘proceedings from first to last were designed to intimidate rather than to seek proper sanctions for an alleged breach’.
The judge said yesterday: ‘These kind of muscular tactics of using a threat of committal is something which the courts should deplore.’
The company and Mr Ashley, the owner of Newcastle United, had already failed in a bid to persuade the judge that Mr King should be jailed over the issue.
After the latest ruling, the judge ordered Sports Direct International (SDI) to pay Mr King’s legal costs on an indemnity basis – the
‘Designed to intimidate’
highest scale possible – ‘as a mark of my disapproval of the way in which the claim was brought’. He also ordered an interim payment of £70,000 to be made to Mr King.
The legal battle is estimated to have cost about £400,000 so far.
The judge observed: ‘It seems to me SDI regards the committal application as merely another method of enforcing bargains.
‘There is clearly some animosity between Mr Ashley and Mr King.’
The dispute goes back to the retail agreement which Sports Direct entered into with the Glasgow club’s previous board.
The new board has said before it would like to renegotiate the deal.
Mr Ashley’s firm won a court injunction preventing Rangers, and anyone on the new board, from revealing details of the agreement.
Sports Direct alleged that Mr King breached this injunction during an interview he gave to Sky.
The firm claimed Mr King was in contempt of court because he revealed the existence of discussions related to contracts between both parties. Mr King said he had no recollection of whether or not he said the words complained of.
Lawyers for Sports Direct argued the court was entitled to draw inferences against Mr King to the criminal standard required for an individual to be jailed for contempt.
However, Mr Justice Smith dismissed the company’s motion that Mr King should be jailed.
While he ruled there had been no contempt yesterday, the judge refused to dismiss the possibility the court might find Mr King breached the gagging order when the matter is tried next month.
He added: ‘Even assuming he did breach the June order as alleged, it is inappropriate to police those breaches with the heavy hand of committal proceedings.’
was obviously aware of Rangers’ interest. The boy had a big decision to make. ‘But obviously you only get to speak to a player if clubs agree a fee. ‘We agreed a fee, so that’s why we could speak to him. ‘It’s taken a little while to get there but I’m delighted we’ve got there. I’m grateful to the owner Massino Cellino, who has made this happen. ‘I wanted to build. I thought we wouldn’t get there so I was pleased to get it over the line. Diagouraga was up there with my top targets. ‘We have got a boy who is 6ft 2in tall, he is a Patrick Vieira-type player. He brings real quality to our midfield. He’s signed for a giant in English football.’ It remains to be seen if Rangers can deliver the new face fans have been craving by the time they make the trip to Greenock on Monday night. St Johnstone winger Michael O’Halloran was the subject of two bids by the Ibrox club earlier this week but the second offer — which was believed to be around £150,000 — was nowhere near the Perth outfit’s valuation. Sportsmail understands that 25-year-old O’Halloran’s personal terms have been agreed in principle — but that will count for nothing unless Rangers now dig deep for the former Bolton player. It remains to be seen whether O’Halloran will line up for the Saints for their clash with Celtic at Parkhead today. Tommy Wright left him out of his team last weekend as he feared talk of a move had affected the player. Warburton has already brought in Polish keeper Maciej Gostomski and Doncaster midfielder Harry Forrester on deals through to the summer, with Accrington Stanley pair Matt Crooks and Josh Windass secured on pre-contracts. Following the failure to snap up Diagouraga, and with the O’Halloran deal still up in the air, it is possible that Rangers will now contact Accrington to accelerate their arrival.
MARK WARBURTON’S rebuilding plans were dealt a hammer blow yesterday when top target Toumani Diagouraga l eft Brentford to join Leeds United.
The Frenchman, a holding midfielder, was viewed by the Rangers manager as an integral piece in his Ibrox jigsaw.
Warburton had said he was ‘very hopeful’ of having a new face on board before Monday’s league game against Morton at Cappielow, but his hopes of that man being his former Bees player were abruptly ended when Leeds moved in to cl i nch a £600,000 deal.
Andy Halliday has filled the holding midfielder role for Rangers this season as they bid to return to the top flight, but Warburton had identified 28-year-old Diagouraga as a natural fit for the role.
Last night, Leeds United manager Steve Evans declared: ‘I think it was a big decision for the kid. I