Rangers chiefs lose latest round of court battle with Sports Direct and Mike Ashley over merchandise

[Bill 13,717]

4 minutes ago, pete said:

If the supporters had just accepted Green and his buddies and bought strips from Ashely then we would still be in a lot worse trouble. I agree with a lot you say but I have to disagree here. Voices from the shadows can change things. It was the supporters that helped drive the spivs out. I agree we couldn't have done it without King the three bears but the supporters played a big part in the proceedings.

Yes but that was then, this is now. The situation is different, the players are different, unless you think we need to be applying pressure to get rid of King. Seriously, don't you think King has already made it abundantly clear the current commercial framework is unacceptable?

[Bill 13,717]

9 minutes ago, cooponthewing said:

I appreciate everyone’s point of view and I’m pretty much just in the camp of what can we do about it? I’m lost on all the legalities; does anyone know or can they explain what they think the board can do to rid us of this horrible lard ass? Once we are rid of this reptile we can dissect what went on..

Unless you think we need to get rid of King and his colleagues or you have a credible plan to get Ashley off our backs, I really think this is not a matter for the support and is something only the board itself can address.  

[rbr 1,247]

57 minutes ago, Bill said:

As I said, we don't disagree on the importance of the commercial handcuffs or the need to remove them. Where we disagree is that you're still repeatedly describing the problem while I think you should be describing the solution - and you can only speculate on that because only the board and their professional advisors can formulate any meaningful strategy.

And since its the board and their professional advisors that have gotten us deeper into this mess then I cant see any way out , without it costing us serious money , Ashley has absolutely no reason to walk away , he has won every case brought to court , in fact not only has he won these cases they have actually strengthened his position .

[cooponthewing 1,139]

27 minutes ago, rbr said:

And since its the board and their professional advisors that have gotten us deeper into this mess then I cant see any way out , without it costing us serious money , Ashley has absolutely no reason to walk away , he has won every case brought to court , in fact not only has he won these cases they have actually strengthened his position .

I hope I’m not being obtuse rbr, I’m just not up on this? The deal we have at the moment with the wee Gers store and online, do the club get all the money from that? If so, will that still remain the same as we are stick with Jabba selling from the megastore?

[pete 2,499]

5 minutes ago, cooponthewing said:

I hope I’m not being obtuse rbr, I’m just not up on this? The deal we have at the moment with the wee Gers store and online, do the club get all the money from that? If so, will that still remain the same as we are stick with Jabba selling from the megastore?

Ashely doesn't have the rights he only has the right of getting the chance to match any bids that come in.

[pete 2,499]

When I first moved to Holland the price of a flight to Scotland was almost 800 guilders. Once you bought the ticket you got 400 guilders back to supposedly book a hotel. Nobody did of course. I would have thought we could get something like that worked out that someone puts in a massive bid which Ashely won't match and get paid back in another way.

[rbr 1,247]

4 minutes ago, pete said:

Ashely doesn't have the rights he only has the right of getting the chance to match any bids that come in.

As Pete says,  his deal states SD has the right to match any retail offer we get ,( there are 3 separate deals he wasnt given sight off ) , not only has he won every case , the judges in question have stated that the cap on damages are not sufficient,  also we have been told to cease dealing with Elite sports .

 

The fact Hummel refuse to sell to SD is neither here nor there , it's a complete mess as we may be liable to damages from Elite and Hummel should this go totally south .

[Gaffer 1,665]

2 hours ago, rbr said:

And since its the board and their professional advisors that have gotten us deeper into this mess then I cant see any way out , without it costing us serious money , Ashley has absolutely no reason to walk away , he has won every case brought to court , in fact not only has he won these cases they have actually strengthened his position .

I thought I understood this but perhaps I'm wrong.  Can you explain why we are in a deeper mess now?  That just doesn't seem to match with my understanding of where we are now.  I understand the renegotiated position but if we agree to SD's matches offer then there is no problem is there?  Had we continued previously they would have continued to take 98 pence in every pound.  How can the current position be worse than that?

 

What the board has done is allowed us to create partnerships elsewhere and profit from them, albeit SD has the right to match any bid.  I don't want to give them a penny so I'm quite happy for us to continue to push boundaries here, but if we gave in we are still financially MUCH better off, and in fact there's no comparison.  Am I wrong?

Edited July 20, 2019 by Gaffer

[rbr 1,247]

We are in a bigger mess because we basically owe SD damages for not allowing them to match the “offer” , we have also entered into another contract with Elite sports which is against the deal we struck with SD , every single judge has thrown our arguements out of court , we have lost every point we have argued .

[Gaffer 1,665]

19 minutes ago, rbr said:

We are in a bigger mess because we basically owe SD damages for not allowing them to match the “offer” , we have also entered into another contract with Elite sports which is against the deal we struck with SD , every single judge has thrown our arguements out of court , we have lost every point we have argued .

Maybe you're exaggerating for effect, but that's nowhere near as bad as where we were.  I explained the tactics earlier and I'm quite happy that we continue to push this.  This new board has been doing a great job on and off the park and I can't see what they've done wrong here.  Our current situation with SD is about four million times (almost exactly in financial terms) better than before, and I'd expect a lot more court appearances before a conclusion is reached.