Daily Record outs itself in new Ashley attack
Barely a question has been raised about the over investment, suitability, wealth, honesty and comments of South African based criminal Dave King while Mike Ashley and Sports Direct have been hounded at every opportunity.
Unlike the BBC the Record are entirely funded by advertisers and paid for readers to report in whatever way they wish, no one pays for a Record licence with the content designed to suit their readership.
In June the Record revealed that a seven year notice period existed between Rangers Retail and Sports Direct with the sportswear giant going to court to ensure that no further details about the deal were released.
Yesterday’s AGM was an occasion of unbridled joy despite the new regime performing an unexpected u-turn by deciding to repay MASH the £5m crisis loan that saw the club through to the end of last season. At an EGM in June shareholders voted 55% to 45% against repaying that loan.
Referring to Mr King’s contempt of court charge on December 9 the newspaper reveals that the club will attempt to overturn the injunction which prevents details of the merchandising deal surfacing.
It explains: “The Record has accessed the papers, which reveal the club’s anger as King hosted yesterday’s AGM at the Clyde Auditorium.
Rangers claim:
Records relating to the original confidentiality agreement signed by Somers and Easdale don’t exist
Somers sought no legal advice from the club, no meetings were in his Rangers diary and he had no authority to sign a confidentiality agreement
Easdale was acting as leader of a shareholding bloc and not a company representative when he agreed to the deal.
“Central to the case is a Record article in May in which we revealed there is a seven-year notice period in retail contracts between Rangers and Sports Direct.
“Rangers categorically deny leaking any such info and we would never reveal our sources.
Later on the article, explaining the club’s defence, it adds: “Had they wanted to stoke up hostility for Mr Ashley, they could have provided this information to the Daily Record.
“The fact this information is not in the article is evidence that Rangers were not responsible for any disclosure made.”
On March 6, the day after the glorious revolution that earned Paul Murray a blazer the Record quoted the former borders banker saying: “I would personally like to take the opportunity to thank the Daily Record for its courageous journalism over the past four years – and officially confirm it is no longer banned from Rangers FC.”
