SPFL clubs face seven figure legal bill after caving in over Cinch dispute

SPFL clubs could be hit with a seven figure sum over their cinch sponsorship deal.

After two years without a main sponsor Neil Doncaster cut a deal with the car firm that is believed to be worth around £2m a year to be split among member clubs.

Around the same time Spurs agreed a £10m/year deal to carry the cinch logo on their sleeve.

With bad blood flowing from Ibrox to the SPFL hierarchy the Tribute Act refused to add the cinch logo to their kit with no sign of cinch on track-side advertising or backing boards.

Rather than punish the offending club the SPFL avoided the issue then struck a new deal with cinch that required the 11 other Premiership clubs to give more coverage to the SPFL sponsor.

In the background the Ibrox club were running up legal costs with The Sun reporting on the prospect of the SPFL being hit by a bill worth 50% of this season’s SPFL pay-out.

The well connected Stephen McGowan of the Daily Mail reports:

Scottish Premiership clubs will hold crisis talks at Hampden next month over the SPFL’s handling of a long-running sponsorship dispute with Rangers.

Twelve top-flight clubs will attend a summit at the National Stadium on November 28 after the Ibrox club requested the meeting to address the events leading up to the signing of an unexpectedly contentious sponsorship deal with online car firm cinch in June last year.

News of a date for the meeting comes after Scotland’s 42 senior clubs received a warning from Stewart Robertson of Rangers that lawyer’s costs of £150,000 relating to the dispute are likely to rise further still.

Speaking at an online general meeting yesterday, the Ibrox Managing Director claimed that the figure of £150k only related to the period leading up until the end of last season.

With the final bill set to be paid from SPFL income, clubs were warned that the final tab could come close to seven figures if Rangers and fellow litigants Park’s of Hamilton secure an apology from the league and the award of their own legal costs.

The cinch row erupted last season when Rangers claimed that they were unable to comply with the terms of the contract because they already had an agreement with Park’s Motor Group – owned by chairman Douglas Park – which also deals in second-hand cars.

The SPFL referred the dispute to an independent arbitration process, with lawyers called in to pursue the process. Despite the league negotiating a revised deal with cinch, which placed no obligation on Rangers to display the firm’s branding, attempts to draw a line under the matter have been unsuccessful.

Doncaster was the architect of the Five Way Agreement of 2012 that provided the Tribute Act with their own set of rules.