The Herald has broken one of the big Scottish media taboo’s by telling their online readers that ‘Rangers lose latest round of merchandise fight with Mike Ashley’.
Twenty-five months ago Dave King was unanimously declared as the victor in a long running dispute with fans flocking to Sports Direct outlets to snap up end of season Puma kit.
Anyone with the slightest grasp of reality would have wondered about how one of Britain’s most successful self-made billionaires had been turned over by someone described as a glib and shameless liar by a South African judge.
Digging a little below the surface it seemed that King’s bravado and the unquestioning interpretation of the Scottish media may have been misplaced, when the Ibrox company published their annual accounts it revealed that £3m had been paid to Sports Direct to terminate the contract with a replacement deal put in force!
Last summer’s Hummel kit launch turned into a farce, in-between court defeats an online store appeared in September before a city centre shop arrived in December. As the cash came in to keep the lights on of the Gerrard Revolution Ashley and Sports Direct held fire, trusted their contracts and went through the legal process.
A hearing in June heard the final submissions from both sides, tonight the Herald has broken the bad news that a bill rumoured to be worth more than Alfredo Morelos is just awaiting Ashley’s decision on when to send around the Sheriff Officers.
Bosses at Rangers have lost the latest round of a long-running High Court fight over merchandise with Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley. A company in the Sports Direct Group, SDI Retail Services, has said bosses at the Glasgow football club have been in breach of obligations under a deal relating to replica kit.
Judge Lionel Persey finished overseeing the latest in a series of hearings at the High Court in London earlier this year. He said on Friday, at a High Court hearing in London, that he had ruled in favour of SDI after analysing a number of issues in the latest stage of the dispute.
The judge has not yet published a full ruling outlining the detail of that dispute or the reasoning behind his decision.
Since last season ended Mr Gerrard has added eight new players to the payroll with only Lee Wallace and Ryan Hardie quitting the club.
Danny Candeias, Jordan Rossiter and Kyle Lafferty are currently negotiating pay offs before quitting, all three have a year left on their contracts.
CLICK HERE for the full court ruling.
