Rangers could take advantage of ‘error’ in SPFL resolution over cinch stand-off
Rangers believe they can take advantage of a potential “error” in the wording of the new league resolution on sponsorship, according to The Athletic.
The club had refused to participate in the Scottish Premiership’s £8million deal with cinch due to chairman Douglas Park’s own Parks Motor Group being a market competitor.
The league announced on Wednesday (15 June) that a new agreement had been reached that allowed the Gers to be excluded.
But the revised resolution, which was passed by 41 of 42 league clubs, including Celtic, carries an ambiguous sentence that the Ibrox club now feel permits them “free rein” to pursue their own agreements outside of league-wide ones.
The sentence in question is, via The Athletic: “The SPFL shall not grant (or permit the grant of) the Rangers Related Rights (or any similar rights) implying any sponsorship of or similar association with the SPFL, the League or the Divisions to any third party at any time throughout the Remaining Term.”
Sources have reportedly said that they feel most clubs missed the issue this has brought up, and lawyers agree it looks like an “error” in the resolution’s drafting.
A Premiership board member, not from Ibrox, told The Athletic: “That’s the million dollar question. I think it’s been an oversight and they have been so desperate to get it over the line that they have missed nuances.”
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What looked like the ending of an issue that had dragged on for months now appears to have simply now thrown up a new one.
While lawyers have suggested that the club are not party to the contract between cinch and the league and therefore it doesn’t give them permission to do what they please off the back of it, it is unclear enough that it is sure to lead to further disagreements.
If Rangers go ahead and start agreeing deals on their own it isn’t hard to see them being challenged and similar bad feeling to that which built during the 2021/22 season resurfacing.
The club had felt vindicated by the updated agreement, but the ambiguity arising from it means it is unlikely to be possible to draw a line under it yet.
The fault lies with the league for having it drafted without clarity, and indeed with all those clubs who ratified it without noticing.
But it is sure to be the Bears who will be the target of ire if they seek to take advantage of its wording, so the previous issue is now at risk of just being recycled into a new one.
In other Rangers news, the club have been alerted to the possibility of a free agent signing with a top European prospect attracting major interest after becoming available in unusual circumstances.