PUMA Statement on new Rangers strip

[Tannochsidebear 2,406]

Taking that on one step Boabie, after being sued by Rangers, RR goes into administration/liquidation, meaning Rangers have no contract with RR to supply any merch at all and Rangers are therefore free to arrange a new deal with another supplier (probably not SD!)

[craig 5,199]

PUMA won't be getting a penny of my money until this is resolved.

 

I don't often do it, but I emailed their European/UK offices :

 

Sirs,

 

I note with disappointment and frustration that PUMA have released the official Rangers Football Club kits to be sold into the marketplace. As PUMA will undoubtedly be aware there is ongoing legal dispute between Rangers and your major retailer, Sports Direct. Rangers receive pennies from the sale of kits being sold for £60 which is in itself a disgrace by Sports Direct and its major shareholder Mike Ashley. Not only is it a vice-like grip on the Club’s retail operations but it also ensures that Rangers are unable to compete financially given the ridiculously low return they are making on the sale of merchandise.

 

You should be aware that Rangers fans are being urged by supporters groups to boycott the purchase of any official merchandise as almost 100% of profits line the pockets of Sports Direct and Mike Ashley. This is a preposterous position for all 3 parties to be in. It is well known that Mike Ashley doesn’t care about the welfare of Rangers Football Club after he was out-manouvered by Dave King and his fellow Board members in the power struggle for the Club. However, what is shocking is that PUMA have willingly and wantonly taken the Sports Direct side in this. PUMA claim, in its official statement that it “understands the rich heritage that is intrinsic to Rangers Football Club” and “we with the team the very best of luck in hat is set to be an exciting season for both the club and the fans”.

 

A TRUE partner would make the effort to realise a win-win-win situation for all concerned. All it would take would be for Mike Ashley to re-negotiate the merchandising contract to one which is more in-line with a proper merchandising contract whereby the entity providing the customers (Rangers) get a much fairer distribution of profits than is currently the case, Sports Direct (providing the retail outlets) get a reduced share but still fair and PUMA get their product on shelves. If Sports Direct and Mike Ashley re-negotiated to a “fair” distribution Rangers fans would be buying the PUMA official kit in their hundreds of thousands (lest we forget that only a few short years ago Rangers sold more official kits than any other UK team aside from Man United) which would result in higher profit distribution to Sports Direct, higher profit distribution to Rangers and, undoubtedly, higher merchandise sales by PUMA.

 

Yet PUMA decide to side with Sports Direct and effectively alienate the Rangers support. This action sees Rangers fans boycott the products on offer which is not in the best interests of the PUMA shareholders. A terrible decision.

 

From my personal perspective I have purchased the Rangers kit annually for both myself and my 11 yr old son (since his birth) and in most years I have purchased my son at least the home and away and in some years even the 3rd kit. Further, as myself and my son have Arsenal as our 2nd team I have also purchased him, annually, at least one of the Arsenal official kits too, as well as myself – I have last season’s away top as well as two training tops whilst my son has last season’s home and away top and a training top. However, until such time as Rangers Football Club get a far more reasonable share of the profit distribution on its deal with Sports Direct I will NO LONGER be purchasing ANY PUMA products. And whilst my individual spend on PUMA products may not be much in the grand scheme of things I will be recommending to every single person I know to also boycott every single PUMA product until this ridiculous merchandising deal is weighted in a more balanced, fair and reasonable fashion.

 

Yours in disgust

Edited August 4, 2016 by craig

[MacK1950 2,376]

Well done Craig but I have no doubt it will be filed under "BIN" as the SD morons no doubt have more clout with Puma than we are led to believe.

[Darthter 542]

what do folk realistically expect Puma to do????

 

They have received an order/agreement from RRL to produce replica kit - while they were still authorised to do so. Puma have actioned that order/agreement & now have stocks of replica kit to shift.

One big question is.....Within the agreement/order from RRL, was there ANY stipulation on WHO was allowed to retail the replica kit???

 

Essentially, Puma have produced kit UNDER LICENSE, and are now looking to move the products on.

 

Another question which needs answering: Now that RRL are no longer authorised to license official merchandise, is the agreement/order with Puma still binding/enforceable???

[craig 5,199]

Well done Craig but I have no doubt it will be filed under "BIN" as the SD morons no doubt have more clout with Puma than we are led to believe.

 

I agree Mack. But at least I get some small personal comfort from letting them know that they wont be getting any of my cash until resolved.

 

Puma's loss will be Lionbrand and Founder's Trail gain !

[Bluedell 5,624]

After spending a couple of days doing a lot of online searches and discussions with other bears, here's my take on what will happen next - when the strips go on sale, Rangers will sue Rangers Retail.

Puma obviously have an airtight contract with RR. King wearing his Rangers hat and attending RR meetings will be saying that Rangers own the copyrights and Puma do not have the right to manufacture or distribute kits bearing any of Rangers image rights. Consequently RR are breaking the law and not Puma.

How are RR breaking the law if they entered into the contract with Puma when they still had the image rights?

 

SD hold the majority vote within RR and all King has to show is, wearing his RR hat, he was/against the deal with Puma.

I thought Rangers held the majority vote, excluding financial matters. It depends on what falls into that description, I guess.

[der Berliner 3,744]

IMHO, the whole affair between RRL and SD is a scam and should by chased through the courts at the earliest opportunity, also cutting this rubbish 7 year notice period, which should be just the icing on the cake of any law case attempt.

[colinstein 294]

Puma goods should be boycotted and they should be told why.

[boabie 230]

How are RR breaking the law if they entered into the contract with Puma when they still had the image rights?

 

 

 

RR held the image rights until SD received their 5 million back. Rangers now hold those rights.

Rangers are free to renegotiate any deal involving those rights.

The above nods at any previous shady deals done beforehand, but not knowing the fine detail of the contract, I'm puting my own spin on things.

King certainly keeps making the point that we own the rights again. My suspicion is that fat Ashley didn't care less about his 5 million as he never expected Chucky or his doubtful pals ever to pay it back and was only looking to tie things up while he had the image rights and the distribution deal sewn up.

[BEARGER 1,830]

On PA wires: Rangers could ditch controversial Puma strip released without their consent and replace it with a new kit midway through season