Kieran Maguire: Rangers have failed to ‘do their homework’ as cover-up revealed
Rangers failed to “do their homework” on former partner SportemonGo – but they should be applauded for giving fans the chance to remove the firm’s branding from their 2022-23 shirts.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the Ibrox club’s doomed relationship with the NFT trading platform.
Rangers announced a two-year back-of-shirt sponsorship deal with SportemonGo in October last year.
But the company ceased trading in May this year, leaving Rangers at a loose end until they partnered with electrical equpiment brand Socomec last month (21 June).
However, SportemonGo branding still features on the retail version of the home shirt that was unveiled last Thursday (23 June).
Rangers offered to cover up the company’s logo and replace it with Socomec’s on a shirt-by-shirt basis in a footnote alongside the release.
Maguire argues that the Glasgow giants at least deserve credit for giving fans this option.
“I think this can be seen as a positive because Rangers could have easily left fans with the old logo,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“However, I think the fact they are willing to replace the shirts is a good thing. It’s the right thing to do in terms of where they are at the moment.
“But it does seem that they were in too much of a hurry with regards to doing their homework on the original sponsor.”
Rangers could sport the home shirt for the first time when they face Sunderland in a friendly next Saturday (9 July).
Ibrox commercial chief James Bisgrove has said he is targeting annual sponsorship and retail revenue of £27million.
In other news, Alex McLeish claims Antonio Colak could “explode” at Rangers as “special” verdict issued.