Scottish clubs wait for guidance as SPFL board meets to discuss Rangers situation over cinch sponsorship

Scottish football clubs are awaiting an update from the SPFL board over the stand-off between the game’s governing body and Rangers over the league’s cinch sponsorship deal.

The SPFL found a new sponsor with cinch.

The Scottish Professional Football League agreed a deal with online car deal cinch earlier in the year, which is worth £8million to Scottish football.

However, there are fears that the new investor may pull the plug on the deal after Rangers refused to recognise cinch in Saturday’s opening Premiership match against Livingston, deciding not to display the firm’s logo on their shirts, on advertising hoardings around Ibrox or award a cinch man of the match.

Rangers, who have long-standing sponsorship deals in place with other companies, believe they have found sufficient loopholes not to show the cinch branding despite the SPFL’s insistence that rights and obligations are fulfilled, with the Glasgow club’s argument being founded on Rule 17 in the SPFL’s charter. The regulation says clubs are not “obliged to comply with this rule if to do so would result in that club being in breach of a contractual obligation entered into prior to the Commercial Contract concerned”.

The Sun also reports that Rangers claim the SPFL did not formally communicate to clubs before they reached an agreement with cinch.

It means that two parties are in dispute, with SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLennan writing to its member clubs to offer an update.

A leaked letter stated: “Dear all. You will all be aware that earlier this summer, the SPFL signed a title sponsorship contract with cinch.

“This contract is, by value, the biggest single sponsorship deal in the 131-year history of the league.

“In the context of what is, by any measure, a challenging economic environment, our Chief Executive and his commercial team deserve huge credit for delivering this deal.

“It is therefore very disappointing that one of our clubs has not felt able to deliver inventory to cinch.

“Your Board will be discussing this situation later this week. I will of course be in touch thereafter to give you a further update.”

The SPFL is expected to offer an update to its members before this weekend’s round of fixtures.

A message from the Editor: Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.