Rangers alienate their own supporters with Friday announcement days after £225k fine
Rangers released their fourth Castore kit for the season on Friday morning in an unnecessary and tone-deaf move when they are already unpopular with the fanbase.
Trailing in the Scottish title race already, although only by two points now after Celtic’s shock defeat to St. Mirren on 18 September, and suffering three heavy defeats in succession earlier this month, the atmosphere among supporters isn’t exactly sky high at the moment.
They have also been cut adrift from the rest of the SPFL, with Livingston somewhat of a floating voter, as the club’s opposition to the new Sky Sports broadcast deal was roundly ignored when clubs went ahead and got it signed anyway this week [Daily Mail, 26 September].
Also, with the announcement coming just three days after they were fined £225,000 by the Competition and Market Authority for price fixing on previous replica kits [The Athletic, 27 September] it might seem like a good idea not to push their luck when it comes to flogging shirts for extra cash.
But in that context the club still thought it would be a good idea to release a fourth playing kit to try to make more money from their fans.
The Gers have gone ahead and brought out the new black kit, to go with the blue home version, the white and red away alternative, and the orange third kit.
The black one looks quite nice but that is beside the point since it is unnecessary, as if there is ever a game where blue and white are both too similar to the opposition, orange should really have it covered.
Fans like shirts, obviously, and they like to wear the latests ones to display their support of the club, but taking advantage of that by releasing multiple versions when at least two are barely going to see the light of day in real games is money-grabbing.
Chris Jack’s column for the Glasgow Times on Thursday (29 September) made the point that whatever the validity of the Ibrox position on issues currently, their lack of influence within Scottish football currently leaves them “urinating into the breeze” and being ignored.
But if the club are unable to keep their own fans onside then what hope do they have of convincing rivals or the league to listen to them?
Having been thrashed by Celtic, Ajax and Napoli in succession during September questions are already being asked about why the hierarchy haven’t adequately strengthened the squad over the past couple of summers.
And when Stewart Robertson gives an interview to Rangers Review (21 September) disputing the £40million Champions League windfall, supporters are left asking where all money to strengthen with has gone.
A run all the way to the Europa League final before a club-record sale of Calvin Bassey to Ajax, plus Joe Aribo’s exit to Southampton, should have also helped, but the outlay on the summer signings was modest.
The Ibrox decision-makers’ credit is therefore hardly bountiful now among the fanbase, and their reputation within the league generally, and with the authorities on the very specific subject of shirt sales, is poor.
So it is a crass move to release yet another new kit and expect supporters to shell out for it in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.
In other Rangers news, the club no longer have to pay a significant cost over a million after a court ruled in their favour.