On the 6th of June most Scottish publishers told their readers that there would be a ruling later in the day on the latest dispute between Sports Direct and the club from Ibrox.
Daily Record readers were promised ‘Rangers v Sports Direct court ruling due in row over club merchandise sales’.
Over at The Sun the same Press Assocation report read ‘Rangers and Sports Direct await judges ruling on latest merchandise sale battle after accusations of kit deal breach’.
Two weeks later their readers are still waiting, it’s been more than radio silence it’s been a complete blackout of news.
PA may have sent out the expected follow up, even just to say that the ruling has been delayed.
Internet bampots know when things aren’t quite right, when news is being manipulated and shown in a fresh light such as a moonbeam to borrow a catchphrase from a disgraced Captain of Industry.
There are places to look for this sort of news, England and Wales High Court (Commercial Court) Decisions is the place to go, on Saturday June 15 they duly published the ruling from Judge Lionel Persey QC.
This document isn’t the minutes of an alleged Scouting Report published alongside a badly attacked thumb on message-boards and spread across social media.
The ruling is from a Government website intended to provide transparency, allowing ordinary punters to read through and get an understanding of how the law of the land operates.
There is no headline figure with the report but on every single count the argument put forward by Sports Direct International was backed. King’s tactic of ignoring company law has backfired, if he had an SPFL title to celebrate he might have got away with it but once again the Blue Room is bare for the bears.
As their annual losses explain attempting to live with Celtic has been cripplingly expensive for King’s company.
Recruiting Steven Gerrard allowed for another summer of hype bolstered by a reasonable level of spending adding further to the wage bill. Most of the transfer fees were sent to Croatia but it’s the wage bill, running costs that needs serviced on a monthly basis.
‘Where are they getting the money from’ is the question from many Celtic fans, the answer last season was from the online retail operation and the city centre store. At Ibrox the Megastore run by Sports Direct gets little custom and is now reduced to opening on matchdays to flog rubber ducks and teddy bears.
Put bluntly the retail money that should have been Sports Direct’s was used to pay the player wages.
The ruling from Judge Lionel Persey QC.has effectively killed off that revenue stream for the season ahead, only ticket income will be coming in with seven Europa League gates badly needed before Christmas to keep the lights on.
It seems that the bill for damages and costs could drop at any point, if there is any delay in paying Sports Direct International another court appearance is looming.
Today readers of the Record and Sun can read about the exciting signings of George Edmundson and Joe Aribo, from the the third and fourth tiers of English football.
There is a pack of elephants in the room that no one dares to address, the company is in grave danger, the Sports Direct International bill could drop at any moment with the only certainty is that when it does the bewildered people will return to a phrase popular in 2012 when it all went wrong for a billionaire from Motherwell- ‘but naebdy tellt us’.
CLICK HERE to read the full ruling.