Rangers and their new kit supplier Hummel on July 4 2018 revealed their new 2018-2019 jerseys. Now it has emerged that Mike Ashley and Sports Direct have been granted an interim injunction to stop Rangers selling their new Hummel strips.
Last year, there were already problems between Rangers and Sports Direct. The result of last year's trouble between the two parties was that Rangers FC did not release a new home kit and that their away and third strips for the 2017-2018 season were released in late 2017, in the middle of the season,
Rangers announced in April that they had agreed a three-year deal with Hummel. Their long-running distribution agreement with Sports Direct officially finishes at the end of this month. Rangers are said to have paid the firm £3million to get out of the deal.
The Ibrox side hope to be in charge of their own distribution over the three years of their Hummel deal. Ashley's company had a deal with a previous Rangers board that saw it take 93 pence for every £1 of club merchandising sold in Sports Direct stores.
Rangers 2018-19 Kits Face Sales Ban From Mike Ashley's Sports Direct
Rangers players debuted their new home kit against Bury on Friday night.
The case between Rangers FC and Sports Direct was heard last week in the High Court of Justice in London and centred on the retail giant's previous agreement with Rangers, which the company claim has been breached.
Sports Direct successfully argued that they should have been given the opportunity to match “some or all” of a third-party offer to sell Light Blues merchandise.
The court judgement said: “It is said that if Rangers is not restrained from doing so by this court its actions will thereby wrongly deny SDIR [Ashley's firm] the opportunity to continue to provide some or all of the services to Rangers after the expiry of the initial term.The case will be heard again on Tuesday when the club will attempt to have the injunction lifted.
Rangers declined to comment on the injunction obtained by Mike Ashley, who held a 8.9 per cent stake in Rangers before selling his stake to Rangers fans group Club 1872 and another investor, Julian Wolhardt.
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