Rangers held talks with sponsor cinch to rename Ibrox stadium
The Court of Session heard Rangers held talks to change the stadium’s name to cinch Ibrox
JANE BARLOW/PA
Rangers FC’s parent company held talks to explore renaming Ibrox stadium with a firm that secured an SPFL sponsorship deal, a court has heard.
Lord Keen of Elie QC said executives at Rangers Football Club Ltd had discussions with an online car retailer about rebranding the club’s stadium as cinch Ibrox.
The advocate spoke during a Court of Session hearing in which the Scottish Football Association was granted permission to appeal against an interim interdict which forced the SFA to comply with its own guidelines on arbitration.
Rangers are refusing to allow branding on team shirts or an advertising hoardings by cinch, the retailer which signed an £8 million sponsorship deal with the SPFL.
Douglas Park, the Rangers chairman, believes that the deal breaches acommercial agreement which has been made between his company, the motoring group Parks of Hamilton, and Rangers FC.
However, today Keen said his legal team had received a heavily redacted document which claimed to be a contract signed in May 2021 between the club and Parks.
Keen, who is acting for the
Scottish Professional Football League Ltd, said his colleagues had been told the redactions were due to “commercial sensitivities”.
The QC told Lord Braid that Rangers Football Club Ltd had also been involved in negotiations with cinch.
“The fact is that right up to June 7, Rangers Football Club Ltd was negotiating with cinch to sell them the naming rights to Ibrox so it became the cinch Ibrox stadium and of course that was a proposal of considerable value to Rangers Football Club Ltd,” he said.
“We do have considerable doubt about the way in which this document has been produced and redacted and we would invite your lordship to direct the petitioners to disclose the full contract to your lordship in a sealed envelope in order that the purported redactions can be examined and the issue of commercial sensitivity determined, as it is a matter under the court.”
The SFA’s lawyer, Roddy Dunlop QC, asked Lord Braid for permission to appeal the interim interdict to the Inner House of the Court of Session. Dunlop, the dean of the Faculty of Advocates, said legal tests showed that the SFA had the right of appeal.
He added: “There is an urgent need for a swift decision.”
Braid granted permission for the SFA to appeal against the decision. He said that because he had granted the SFA’s request, there was no need for the unredacted document to be given to the court.
He added: “For these reasons, I do propose to grant leave to reclaim. Given I have granted leave I do not propose to make an order for Lord Keen’s motion.”