A home-made flag will be unveiled at Ibrox tomorrow as SPFL sponsors cinch miss out on more exposure.
Hearts, Partick Thistle and Queens Park have all unfurled cinch branded flags in recognition of winning their leagues last season.
At Ibrox they like to do things differently, pandering to the extremists among their support Sunday’s flag celebration won’t involve anyone from the SPFL.
The Sun reports:
NEIL DONCASTER and Murdo MacLennan will NOT be at Ibrox when Rangers unfurl the Premiership flag.
And SunSport understands Gers have commissioned their own special standard to mark the occasion — one which WON’T carry the name of league sponsors cinch.
Ibrox chiefs sparked fury among the league’s governing body when they refused to advertise the car dealer in their opening Premiership game against Livingston. cinch penned a record deal with the SPFL worth around £1.6million per season.
However, Rangers argue they don’t have to honour aspects of the contract if they will negatively impact their own pre-existing sponsorship deals. A bitter row has been simmering ever since — with the SPFL asking the SFA to intervene.
The irony of this shouldn’t be lost, alongside Stewart Regan and Peter Lawwell, Doncaster did as much as anyone to create the Continuity Lie in 2012 and allow the new club to recreate the Old Firm business model.
Deals with cinch and Sky Sports all evolve around creating four Glasgow derbies per season- regardless of whether or not it complies with the rules observed by other member clubs.
Having missed out on exposure from five fixtures so far with the SPFL appearing powerless to enforce their rules there is every likelihood that cinch could walk away at any stage leaving a £1.6m gap in SFA funding.
Despite their multitude of sponsors there is no sign of Parks of Hamilton anywhere as an official partner or sponsor of the Ibrox club. Tomorrow at Livingston Celtic will continue to endorse and promote Parks of Hamilton.
Ibrox CEO Stewart Robertson remains on the board of the SPFL.
