Court hears how cinch ditched Ibrox naming rights deal to go with SPFL

Douglas Park was negotiating naming rights for Ibrox with cinch before the car trading firm decided to put their budget into a five year sponsorship of the SPFL.

The incredible details emerged in court today as the SFA attempted to resolve the issue of the Ibrox club refusing to take part in the sponsorship deal.

Claims of a conflict with Parks of Hamilton have been cited by the usual suspects as the reason for the stand off but it seems that if the price had been right Steven Gerrard’s side would have been playing home matches at the cinch Arena this season.

The Sun reports:

RANGERS held negotiations with cinch to RENAME Ibrox before their row with the SPFL over the company’s sponsorship of the SPFL.

Advocate Lord Keen of Elie QC said bosses at Rangers Football Club Ltd spoke to chiefs at online car retailer cinch about renaming the club’s stadium.

The lawyer told the Court of Session on Wednesday that the organisations explored the possibility of calling the club’s home ‘the cinch Ibrox stadium.’

Lord Keen spoke during a hearing in which the SFA succeeded in a bid to gain permission to appeal against an interim interdict which had been granted against it earlier this year.

With a £1.6m a year sponsorship deal at stake for all SPFL clubs there should be fury that the so-called principled stance from Ibrox is simply bad blood over having their own deal scuppered as cinch looked elsewhere for blanket exposure across Scotland.

Six games into the season the cinch logo hasn’t appeared on the Castore kit of Gerrard’s side, at Ibrox there has been no trackside or backing-board recognition for cinch.

The car trading firm would be perfectly entitled to bin their deal at any time after the SPFL failed to deliver on their side of the bargain but for now they are getting plenty of exposure caused by Dougie Park taking the cream puff.