Walterbear

Until the board advise you that the ‘new’ contract does not include a rolling matching deal no one should buy a kit. The judge clearly stated that the 2017 contract was valid with the exception of the price being subject to counter offers. How much time do you have to spend on notice boards to understand that fact? If before the final hearing yesterday Rangers and SD agreed something different then we need to know. The silence from Rangers is deafening and the facts as we know them until our Board state otherwise are that we are in this ridiculous rolling matching deal. To be clear in 2 years we will not receive any counter offers because no other distributor will compete in this loaded market.

The current (2017) contract is the massive problem. We have paid £3m for it. It has a provision that allows SD to continue in perpetuity if they so desire and if their terms match other bidders. Why make a decision to buy kit based on feelings when the evidence is we are being screwed and not consider other ways to give money to Rangers. I dont buy kits (except retros) but even I will put £20 into a fund designed to take money from SD. That £20 will be the equivalent of dozens of kit sales based on what we know about SD.

I agree the Board will be aware. Legal teams deal with the actual law and commercial teams construct contracts and obligations taking account of legal advice. All of this is based on what the clients want. There is no doubt in my mind that the Board will have been advised of the clauses relating to matching terms and the rolling contracts when they paid the £3m to terminate the previous deal. They have either failed to grasp what is going on, or understood and accepted because they have done the sums, they have been conned, or they have a cunning plan. My bet is a combination of being conned and a failure to grasp. Don’t forget it was SD which went to court not Rangers. SD had this sussed we didn’t. There will be no end of spreadsheets evaluating different scenarios on which the decisions have been made but without any comment from the Board on this new deal it looks like we have failed to release ourselves from this rolling matching contract which is a disaster in terms of optimising revenue from kit sales. I wonder if we shouldn’t just tell SD ‘sorry we’re not producing any kit this year’. I can’t understand why we want a deal on these terms. There must be a way to get the tens and hundreds of £s our fans would spend on kits redirected elsewhere. Do we really need kits resales? ManU or Real Madrid might benefit by selling massive numbers but I wonder if this few pence in a £ is right for us. It’s just not worth it unless we get a better deal. £50 or £60 a shirt is a lot of money and the club gets peanuts. Spend the money elsewhere. That needs to be the strateg until SD go away.

If we could get away with it I’d just tell him to do one, give him his £1m damages, do an extended deal with JD and use revenues from that to pay the damages. If it wasn’t for the rolling deal it would be bearable for another 2 years but if the cost to terminate it is £1m so be it. Probably an over simplification but how there is no remedy for a contract stitch up by men put on the Rangers board by Ashley purely to screw us is incredible. I get why we paid the £3m but not why we paid it to end up with this rolling matching deal. We might have been better just to run down the original 7 year deal. Monumental feck up unless DK can explain otherwise. Incidentally SR doing his invisible man trick again. For 2 years on the trot the M.D. takes his a/l at the start of the season which is often such a critical period for several reasons.

Folk who dont want to buy a kit with SD should have a means through Club 1872 to give them just as an example £15 per top they would otherwise have bought. Club 1872 should find a way to ringfence and to assist funding aspects of the club. You don’t get a top but you save £35 (on a £50 top so more cash for the kids Xmas) and you are supporting the club more than if you bought a top based on the typical share clubs get, and best of all Ashley gets nothing. I’m saying that of course with no knowledge of 1872 or any volume commitments we have to Hummel or SD (why we should have any such commitments is beyond me incidentally as they are the ones who should have more incentive to market). No no doubt someone can advise on why that is not a feasible initiative!

The fact the judge thinks anyone can make peace with Ashley suggests he hasn’t been listening.

By matching JD offer I wonder if this includes termination clauses. I understood under the revised arrangement with Ashley which cost us £3m we have a rolling obligation to give SD first refusal whenever contracts expire. If that is true it’s not good as no one will bid in future knowing their terms are available to Ashley. Groundhog Day. JD hopefully won’t expect wasted bid costs but I’m sure they will think about it. And how SD lawyers spent £350k is another mystery.

I think the fanzone is worth a reasonable amount of money to Rangers. I’m sure a revised proposal could be made which enhanced the playing facilities with floodlighting for example to offset when they would not otherwise be used, or provide good equipment such as goals, balls, coaching staff. I don’t know the exact solution as I’ve thought about it for 5 minutes and don’t have access to data indicating current usage etc but the guy randomly dropping in and conflating Sky TV with burgers as if these things don’t happen elsewhere suggests there is room to manoeuvre. Rangers could even contribute hard cash to community projects encouraging the uptake of sports. Btw is this the bit of land opposite the main stand that used to be our training pitch? Never realised we had even sold it

They have proved they are a danger to our fans and their players cannot behave either. A ‘reasonable’ allocation for them would be zero.

Why do they care? We’re a new club but they are desperate to come to our stadium? Beat it scum.

Did the first competitive game for SG in front of 50,000 fans get a mention on BBC website? Doesn’t appear to have done so or they have sneakily installed an anti-Rangers software filter on my phone. Celtic beating some Asian team came up as the 4th story 2 days ago. Now I honestly don't care but with one slight caveat. I am paying for their wages and their broadcasting infrastructure as a public broadcaster so I should not be seeing very clear bias towards one Football Club and a deliberate marginalisation of another equally important club. So for BBC people who I am sure look into these forums I would like to remind you that you are engaged in a public service not some personal broadcasting fifdom.

Some Rangers fans will not buy from Ashley so that may reduce revenue however I don’t think it affects signings and investment too much as we know we will get a deal from one or other and can get soft loans on that basis for a bit longer if Directors are willing. Longer term it will be harder to get other suppliers to bid as this they may not trust us in respect of what might be under the covers in terms of our dealings with Ashley. I imagine some of this came as a surprise to JD for example so it damages our reputation. If they lose out and were not advised by us appropriately or mislead they may have a case for compensation. Its not good news as we could end up with Ashley on a rolling basis with no alternatives so he can screw us on future terms. It looks as if the judge is certain there is a matching offer requirement but uncertain about how the provisions apply. I can’t imagine the Offered Rights clauses were intended as a strict contract framework but more as guidelines to allow Ashley a shot at retendering for some or all components if future contracts were drawn up in that way.

Shaming this guy in public because of his appearance and possible health and weight issues is as low as it gets. Even if Spiers is unaware of the guys death it’s not acceptable for a high profile media person and journalist to publically mock someone they have never met based on their appearance. If he wanted to criticise his membership of the OO then he could have done that but this tweet demonstrates Spiers is an attention seeking coward and a bully who is using his privileged media profile to pick on someone because they are fat. He then maximises the attention after this tweet by advertising Edinburgh fringe tickets. Apparently he’s got something interesting to say. Presumably about his disdain for fat people and why it’s all their own fault. Spiers is a nasty self-righteous bigot who has nothing of value to say.

Looks a decent prospect but wouldn’t go further than that at this stage. I think he will benefit from being around players as experienced as Alves. A step up from Bates for sure.

48k Rangers fans have just coughed up money which Pena earns in less than an hour. His attitude including the shorts incident suggests to me he should be nowhere near the club. I honestly wouldn’t want SG to waste more time in him. I also think Pena has been working an exit strategy for some time and the rehab and shorts incident is part of that. If the Board have learned a valuable lesson and DoF enforces and proper governance applies through the club it’s the best likely outcome. If we can settle at 50% of his contract that will also do me. A good HR person can make that happen. There’s no way he wants to come back and that’s the lever we have.

Aye it’s a bit of a hike. Used to have a seat in GF3 about half way up and I’d love to get back there one day. Great views not too low not too high and got a bit of atmos from away fans too. At least my altitude training will stand me in good stead for this one. I was lucky to get it tbh as it just appeared so someone else’s purchase must have fallen through during the web process. If you kept emptying your basket and going round the seat selection loop different options appeared as others presumably timed out. Was a bit risky as could have got nothing so all in all happy. Until I have to explain it to other half that is hence a tipple required.

CD3 RTB. Row Y which is a bit high but probably as good as I could have expected. Feels like Xmas. Just need some players now ?.

After 5 hours got a ticket Could be a wee bevvy on the way.

The whole thing stinks.

Agree. I’d trust him and his agent as far as I could throw them.

The SPFL need to demonstrate transparency not DK. They need to confirm with evidence that Maclennan disclosed his association with a company that Desmond has a major shareholding in. They could have put this to bed easily but instead have waffled out a statement which offers no further clarity.

He is an absolute chancer. He has no character and he’s playing the system. He’s robbed Rangers fans to finance a lifestyle of delinquency and laziness. Its so obvious. His agent talking about a pay off is predictable. Do a deal and get him out by all means but there are far far more worthy causes for peoples sympathy.

Great article. If every Rangers fan does some small positive thing over and above what they do already it will have a significant impact.

Agree with half that sentiment mate but plenty of decent Irish folk out there.

Nothing.