House of Fraser (Fat Mike Ashley) now taking Pre-Orders for Castore Kits - Do not buy from there

I don’t think we ever categorically said we were or weren’t? I can’t recall exactly.
I get what you mean. The club have maybe been economical with the truth, but ultimately we are clear of matching clauses and Ashley gets a period of selling where I would assume other retailers (outside us and Castore) can’t sell it.
On the face of it, that’s a good deal. But it should’ve been made clear
Given we have been in court with him almost non stop since the new board took over. I don’t think the club want to say anything that might end up seeing them sue us again. I think they have chosen to let our association with him end quietly, and you can’t really blame them.
 
It is not a normal deal as Castore are giving Rangers £3m minimum no matter what happens.
On top of that we get a cut of every sale made and it would appear that the money is distributed on receipt.
If you read the interview from Tom Beahon they are budgeting for sale 500,000 shirts this season which will produce about £30m in revenue.
Presuming RFC cut of these sales is nothing less than 30% we are looking at another £10 million.
As long as there is no difference in the amount returned to Rangers for any shirt sale carried out by any retailer supplied by Castore
I doubt the % the club have get will be that high probably about 10% max
 
The c@nts a millionaire/billionaire forget him he is irrelevant if he’s selling our shirts in his stores all over the uk he making us money!
Not as much if you buy from Castore direct or the Rangers shop. It's common sense.
If it happens to be your ONLY way of getting a kit then fire in
 
Mike Ashley could be personally selling these strips from a Barra for 30 quid. Only someone who's on the glue, and flew in from Saturn would buy anything off the guy. I don't get why some folk find this difficult. The boy from Castore explained the situation. Buy from anyone but Ashley's outlets. It's really that simple.

Not every person is as engaged with this issue as people on forums and social media. The majority of people won't even know Frasers is now owned by Sports Direct.
 
Not every person is as engaged with this issue as people on forums and social media. The majority of people won't even know Frasers is now owned by Sports Direct.

You could have lived on the moon for the last decade and still knew Ashley was a c.unt
 
%^*& Ashley and everything he has ties with. I’ll never buy anything associated with that cant in my life.

%^*& House of Fraser, cruise, Prada and anything else he’s involved with.
 
Rangers/Castore should have been honest about this situation from day one and informed fans this was one of the stipulations to getting out of the matching clause.

By not informing the fans about HOF/SD being able to sell kits and allowing Cashly to troll us like he did a few days back it’s only created a lot of unnecessary speculation.
 
He’s selling them on ours and Castore’s terms.

Just think about that for a moment and let it sink in how far we’ve come.

I'm steaming here and may have completely misinterpreted things but, I read the statement the other day as it doesn't matter where we buy tops from, we make the money regardless

Castore are our kit designers/makers we have a deal with them for x percent on every shirt sold and they have paid us a substantial fee up front

We don't lose any money if someone buys from HOF or direct its just preferable to starve the fat bastard of any revenue at all?
 
To create exclusivity most likely.
only 50k available, crap I better order one in case I don’t get it.

it gets money in the door now rather than in August
Tom Beahon said (along the lines of) 200k more have been ordered to be ready for launch
It creates exclusivity for Ashley who is accepting pre-orders.
 
Not as much if you buy from Castore direct or the Rangers shop. It's common sense.
If it happens to be your ONLY way of getting a kit then fire in
Don't think you're necessarily right there. My understanding from everything I've heard is that we receive bonuses based on sales. Therefore, if we simply get a flat fee per shirt etc., then it wouldn't matter a jot whether they're sold by HoF, SD, the new Rangers store, any of the new castore stores or online. We would be making the same no matter where they're sold and no matter the price. But this is why we need a bit more conformation on the details as there's still some unknowns we need cleared up.

Nonetheless, it's obviously just better and safer to buy from Castore anyway, but we really have nothing to lose and everything to gain by SD selling nationwide and abroad, to a volume of non Rangers fan customers and 'throught traffic' that we and Castore could never dream of reaching. It may leave a bad taste in the mouth that he's still making profits from our merchandise, but he won't be making it at our expense anymore which is the crucial difference; on the contrary we will be making more profit at his. In fact, as he's buying bulk, then I would hope we would be getting paid our dividend on their whole order as soon as it leaves Castores warehouse and before he's even sold them. And whether he sells them or not. That means more money in earlier.

Simple message still is though, everyone buy from Castore, but lets not fret about SD selling extra for us, to those outside our circle. Lets trust our retail partners as the deal is mutually beneficial. If they believe they can sell more this way then let them get on with it and we'll both reap the rewards.
 
It creates exclusivity for Ashley who is accepting pre-orders.
Yeah it doesn’t really, Tom Beahon confirmed an order of something like 200k more to be ready for August 1st launch of the home and away kit and Rangers store.
Ashley isn’t offering it before 1st August.
So anyone with an ounce of common sense and moral fibre would be waiting til August 1st and ordering from Rangers
 
It should be as clear as a bell to every Ranger supporter to go nowhere near Mike Ashley as every dealing with him leads to bad news for the club.

1. You will never stop the supporter who in desperation needs to be wearing that top on the 1st Aug and uses Ashley.

2. You won!’t stop the wife, mum, gran who has heard the supporter saying they couldn’t get the top spotting it in HoF or SD and thinking they are doing someone a favour.

I don’t want ever to hear from Rangers or Castore that they are going to court to get xxm owed by Ashley as part of this new deal. Stinging you once is unlucky, twice was plain stupidity , three times you are in the wrong job,
 
I don't shop in his shops. Not knowingly but it's hard to keep up with what he's invested in as he seems to own parts of most of what remains of the high street.
If people buy our gear from him now we will get a benefit of it so I won't get as worked up about it as I did when people used to be in the shop at Ibrox before the game.
 
Yeah it doesn’t really, Tom Beahon confirmed an order of something like 200k more to be ready for August 1st launch of the home and away kit and Rangers store.
Ashley isn’t offering it before 1st August.
So anyone with an ounce of common sense and moral fibre would be waiting til August 1st and ordering from Rangers
Why not make most of them available for preorder then?

Now parents can only pre order their kids kit from Ashley and they would rather do that than risk not being able to get their kid a kit on the opening day.
 
Why not make most of them available for preorder then?

Now parents can only pre order their kids kit from Ashley and they would rather do that than risk not being able to get their kid a kit on the opening day.
Well, those parents either live on mars or don’t care about the part Ashley played in taking us to the edge of oblivion, basically handing Celtic 9 titles in a row and starving out club of money and generations of fans having the kits of their heroes growing up.

BUT even if they do, we still get our money. They still get their kit but I hope they can do so without feeling sick

as for availability, I’d reckon something called coronavirus might have had an impact on productivity in Castore’s factories as well
 
I dont see thehuge issue with this to be honest

The 4lads interview with castore cleared this all up. The strip is going to be on sale at many retailers including greaves, sports direct Frasers and others


We make money on ALL of these sales. Frasers and sports direct have obviously paid castore X to receive Y strips.


Obviously we make more if purchased direct from castore / Rangers so we just need to ensure our fans play smart


How many people are honestly going to buy strips from House Of Frasers? It will be in the hundreds, if that
Yes we do make money but he should not make a penny from any rangers supporter. Anyone else but him
 
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if anyone on here suggests that Castore are dealing with SD and that the club won't be privvy/have agreed to any agreements then they really need to rethink the whole situation.

i'm pretty sure the club will have been heavily involved in discussions and/or gentlemens agreement, after all it's very much in Rangers interests as its cost us a lot of money in loss of revenue and court cases.

if it's a necessary evil then so be it, would you rather we were in a SDI headlock or that we simply had to allow them to stock the kit?

the only remaining issue is that at the moment Castore are not taking pre-orders whilst pre-orders are available on House of Fraser and SDI (i think?). was this part of the agreement to allow them this 1 month window? it doesn't look like Castore will activating the online web store for pre-orders until the 1st of August?

as i say, it's a necessary evil. if you are Douglas Park and you are given the option of A) being stuck with Ashley, making %^*& all money each year, supporter sentiment being rock bottom and probably some template kit with Ashley's preferred suppliers or B) getting paid a minimum of £3m a year, complete control over kit partner and joining up with a up and coming brand - it's a no brainer
 
Nobody on here knows the deal Ashley/SD has with Rangers / Castore IT MAY SURPRISE SOME what deal SD has with Rangers!!
or it may not surprise. let's be realistic, we were in a pretty water tight legal situation, with SDI being able to match for eternity (or so it was pointing to), if a deal was required to get out of it, so be it.
 
Don't think you're necessarily right there. My understanding from everything I've heard is that we receive bonuses based on sales. Therefore, if we simply get a flat fee per shirt etc., then it wouldn't matter a jot whether they're sold by HoF, SD, the new Rangers store, any of the new castore stores or online. We would be making the same no matter where they're sold and no matter the price. But this is why we need a bit more conformation on the details as there's still some unknowns we need cleared up.

Nonetheless, it's obviously just better and safer to buy from Castore anyway, but we really have nothing to lose and everything to gain by SD selling nationwide and abroad, to a volume of non Rangers fan customers and 'throught traffic' that we and Castore could never dream of reaching. It may leave a bad taste in the mouth that he's still making profits from our merchandise, but he won't be making it at our expense anymore which is the crucial difference; on the contrary we will be making more profit at his. In fact, as he's buying bulk, then I would hope we would be getting paid our dividend on their whole order as soon as it leaves Castores warehouse and before he's even sold them. And whether he sells them or not. That means more money in earlier.

Simple message still is though, everyone buy from Castore, but lets not fret about SD selling extra for us, to those outside our circle. Lets trust our retail partners as the deal is mutually beneficial. If they believe they can sell more this way then let them get on with it and we'll both reap the rewards.
Still not 100% sure though are we?
That's not a dig at you btw
They also have exclusivity over certain products that Rangers allowed them, so this could well be the wallets, scarves, shinpads, kids stationery, tankards, key rings which generate decent money at Xmas. Could be anything, again we don't know?
I completely get the buy, buy, buy! But it's far from cleared up for me. I'm not questioning Rangers don't benefit for a second but I'm about 99% ecstatic about the Castore deal.

What is it they say...I'm not angry just disappointed. Rangers should have trusted the fans on this from the start.
 
Dunno if anyone has mentioned but having a quick look at house of fraser, they don't charge you until your order has been processed, so preorders won't be paid for until 1st August. (happy to be corrected on this if I'm wrong)

You can CANCEL your order before then, wouldn't it be a shame if 1000's were preordered from house of fraser but cancelled a few days before being sent out.

Our would this just be petty???
 
If he hasn't paid up front then I hope we are tough and if he's late paying then stop deliveries until paid.
First time replying to myself.
I used the word we in laziness. If anyone would be putting SD/HOF on hold it would be the company that is supplying the kits to those companies, like in any business contract. It wouldn't be Rangers. It wouldn't be be we the fans.
Hope this helps to explain.
His companies ( I mean ashley ) have a history of paying late.
I just thought it could be a legitimate way of getting the strips out of his shops.
 
Still not 100% sure though are we?
That's not a dig at you btw
They also have exclusivity over certain products that Rangers allowed them, so this could well be the wallets, scarves, shinpads, kids stationery, tankards, key rings which generate decent money at Xmas. Could be anything, again we don't know?
I completely get the buy, buy, buy! But it's far from cleared up for me. I'm not questioning Rangers don't benefit for a second but I'm about 99% ecstatic about the Castore deal.

What is it they say...I'm not angry just disappointed. Rangers should have trusted the fans on this from the start.
i think with everything to do with SDI you have to realise the NDA and public gagging they have imposed on us in the past. they previously banned the club and directors from in any way shape or form speaking out or hinting to the support not to buy from SDI. you also have to remember that SDI held all the cards, a never ending matching clause. who's to say after we signed the Castore deal and SDI didn't match it, that up until a certain point they could actually activate it? any public outcry could have damaged the deal we were about to start.

I always think of it from the board's point of view, people make out as if they are pulling the wool over our eyes. we all pay £600 for our season ticket and £60 for our shirts, but these guys are putting in eye watering amounts of money that was probably meant to be their kid's inheritance money. they would have thought carefully about what information could be communicated publicly, i also think the delay it took to get a statement out the other day signals that they have to tread very carefully about what they say publicly - it made no mention of SDI directly - who's to say there are ongoing negotiations to settle the current court cases easier than court would be?
 
Not every person is as engaged with this issue as people on forums and social media. The majority of people won't even know Frasers is now owned by Sports Direct.
The vast vast majority of Bears know the score, and my auld man, who's never been on the internet in his puff, knows Ashley is a lady's front bottom. It's up to the engaged to keep the disengaged abreast of Ashley's skulduggery.
 
i think with everything to do with SDI you have to realise the NDA and public gagging they have imposed on us in the past. they previously banned the club and directors from in any way shape or form speaking out or hinting to the support not to buy from SDI. you also have to remember that SDI held all the cards, a never ending matching clause. who's to say after we signed the Castore deal and SDI didn't match it, that up until a certain point they could actually activate it? any public outcry could have damaged the deal we were about to start.

I always think of it from the board's point of view, people make out as if they are pulling the wool over our eyes. we all pay £600 for our season ticket and £60 for our shirts, but these guys are putting in eye watering amounts of money that was probably meant to be their kid's inheritance money. they would have thought carefully about what information could be communicated publicly, i also think the delay it took to get a statement out the other day signals that they have to tread very carefully about what they say publicly - it made no mention of SDI directly - who's to say there are ongoing negotiations to settle the current court cases easier than court would be?

I dont think SD would ever have matched the Castore deal, Ashley wants and has had it all his own way paying buttons and raking it in,the Castore deal is much more Rangers friendly with a chunk of money up front each season and a decent/fair % slice of the profit, all of that goes against Ashleys screw them to the floor policy.
 
I dont think SD would ever have matched the Castore deal, Ashley wants and has had it all his own way paying buttons and raking it in,the Castore deal is much more Rangers friendly with a chunk of money up front each season and a decent/fair % slice of the profit, all of that goes against Ashleys screw them to the floor policy.
Aye but there were various legal arguments around what terms of the deal were actually matchable I'm sure. That was SDIs court case anyway. I.e. fans always said, can a company not just offer a massive lump sum up front and he wont match it and others argued it might not be so simple
 
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