SPFL back out of another Ibrox showdown over Cinch deal
Soccer Football - Scottish Cup Final - Celtic vs Motherwell - Hampden Park, Glasgow, Britain - May 19, 2018 Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell (2nd L) and Independent non-executive director Dermot Desmond (C) in the stand Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff
The SPFL has bottled out of another opportunity to punish the Ibrox Tribute Act over their refusal to take part in the Cinch sponsorship deal.
Since the car sales firm became the sponsor of the four SPFL divisions in July 2021 Neil Doncaster has been on the retreat.
A season long defiance of the sponsorship deal brought no punishment for the Ibrox club who claimed that the new sponsorship was in conflict with a previously unknown deal with Parks of Hamilton.
The Ibrox club had boasted of having more than 30 commercial partners but the Parks deal was kept quiet until cinch appeared on the scene.
In a classic Doncaster move a new contract was agreed with cinch with 11 Premiership clubs taking on further commitments while James Bisgrove and the Ibrox commercial team raked in extra cash from sleeve and trackside advertising.
Smelling the fear of the SPFL the Tribute Act has been pushing for their legal costs to be repaid.
Stephen McGowan of the Daily Mail, always close to the action where Doncaster is concerned, reports:
THE SPFL have cancelled a meeting of Premiership clubs scheduled to discuss the league’s handling of a bitter sponsorship dispute with Rangers.
The move came after Ibrox director Graeme Park insisted on attending the summit on behalf of sponsors Park’s of Hamilton despite a threat of legal action against the league.
As Sportsmail first revealed, representatives of all 12 top-flight teams were invited to attend a crisis summit at Hampden on November 28.
The get-together was convened at the request of Rangers to discuss the chain of events which culminated in the agreement of a contentious deal with online car firm cinch in June last year.
Rangers claimed that they were unable to comply with the terms of the contract because they already had a £5million commercial agreement with Park’s of Hamilton — owned by Ibrox chairman Douglas Park — which also deals in second-hand cars.
It seems that the Tribute Act still pick up a full share of the Cinch sponsorship money which is put into the SPFL pot alongside broadcasting fees an other commercial deals then split up dependent on final position in the table.
Back in June Parks of Hamilton raised a court action against the Ibrox club, presumably for breach of contract or non-payment.