Sports Direct have got a seven year grip on the lucrative Sevco merchandising contract.
As a counter proposal to MASH (Mike Ashley Holdings) request for transparency and accountability over the club being booted off the Alternative Investment Market and the £1.5m loan from the ‘Three Bears’ the club is attempting to trash all deals with Sports Direct.
Shortly after announcing the June 12 EGM the Daily Record has claimed that the Sevco/Sports Direct merchandising deal is on a seven year rolling contract. Former Record supremo Jim Traynor now heads up PR for the troubled Ibrox club.
Since Dave King, who was recently described as a glib and shameless liar by a South African judge, came to power in March various stories have appeared that have portrayed Sports Direct in a poor light despite Mr Ashley keeping the club afloat.
In January the kind hearted billionaire provided a £5m interest free loan to the club, at the start of February five young starlets from Newcastle were loaned to Sevco for a token £1,000 a week.
Any attempt to trash Mr Ashley is likely to have only one winner with the sportsware supremo employing the top legal minds in the world to draw up his merchandising deals.
Coming to a compromise is unlikely to appeal to big Mike as confidential details of his contracts are constantly leaked out.
The merchandising deal was struck with Charles Green in 2012 when the newly launched club were seeking funding in their bid to reach the group stages of the Champions League.
Without the backing of Mr Ashley there would have been no back-to-back lower division titles or runs to the final of the 2014 Ramsden Cup.
While others kept their hands in their pockets Mr Ashley invested upto £1m and agreed a deal that sees club merchandising available in Sports Direct stores and online.
As well as the merchandising deal Sports Direct have a separate contract for stadium advertising which was agreed after handing back naming rights to the iconic stadium.