By Ray Livingstone

10th Nov, 2020 | 5:10pm

'Never been done' – Castore opens up on unique deal that could net Rangers even more cash

Rangers are the first football club to have their kit made by Castore but they’re not going to be the last.

The Rangers deal, worth an estimated £25m, is the first of many that Castore hope to strike as they look to disrupt the kit industry and take on big hitters such as Adidas.

And Rangers could end up earning even more because of the unique deal that was struck with Castore.

Talking to Forbes, Castore co-founder Tom Beahon claims the deal that was struck with Rangers is different to any other on the market.

“Rangers over the last 15 or 20 years have been with all of the major brands. I can’t speak for them, but I suspect that they’ve received very similar service product offering from those guys,” Beahon said.

“The opportunity to try something different, I think, really appealed to them.”

The first point of difference was speed with Beahon saying, “We developed and delivered [the] product in less than six months… We’ve got a different supply chain, which is European-centric rather than Far East-centric. [So] we could do something in a far more agile and responsive way than the big brands aren’t capable of.”

This led to some early problems with Rangers fans complaining about quality control but they seem to have been ironed out now.

The deal that Rangers struck also enables them to take advantage of the huge worldwide fan base, and could net the club even more money from Castore.

“In a traditional [football] partnership deal there’s an upfront fee the brand pays the club,” said Beahon. “Then the sponsor sells the product and maybe pays a flat royalty on [it].

“Where we[’ve] looked to do things differently is by essentially sharing the benefits of the growth that we both believe is achievable through an ascending royalty rate. So as agreed revenue targets are hit the club receives a higher royalty percentage.

“That’s something that, as far as I’m aware, has never been done previously.”

Breath of fresh air

Rangers fans have snapped up the new Castore designs and after the huge problems with Sports Direct, it seems that the new partnership is going to be a success.

There have been issues with quality and when some fans noticed some kits had been made in China and some in Turkey.

However, there were always going to be teething problems and Castore seem to have dealt with them well.

A club like Rangers could command one of the top kit manufacturers but would never have gotten an elite-level deal.

The change that Castore brings is a breath of fresh air for a club who has a massive fan base – and one that’s going to carry on growing with Gerrard at the helm.

Castore want to announce two Premier League deals next season and that would show how ahead of the curve Rangers have been.

In other Rangers news, Ally McCoist has brilliant reaction when asked if Rangers have already won the Premiership