SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster is under growing pressure to solve Rangers’ sponsor snub.
As
Sunsport revealed yesterday
Gers refused to wear the logo of commercial partners cinch in their Premiership opener with Livingston.
And the
Ibrox side failed to declare a cinch-sponsored man of the match, while the car company’s branding was absent from broadcast interview boards.
And the fallout from those shock actions could spark a bitter new war over Doncaster’s role within the Scottish game.
Cinch have agreed an £8million deal with the SPFL due to run over the next five years and have their rights protected in their regulations.
But
Rangers — whose chairman Douglas Park made his fortune in car sales — have blatantly ignored rule G46, which covers logos on shirts.
That rule says that all players should carry the logo of the title sponsors on at least one sleeve.
Gers, whose managing director Stewart Robertson is a member of the SPFL board, claim their lawyers are satisfied they can legitimately refuse to advertise cinch, even though a central deal has been struck on behalf of all 42 clubs.
The online car firm and the SPFL have remained tight-lipped as they plan their next course of action but are understood to be furious at the league champions taking such a commercially aggressive approach.
The league body could hand down sanctions in a bid to force cinch’s name on to the strips and hoardings.
But the Ibrox side are likely to refuse to back down and now Doncaster must react.