Kieran Maguire: Rangers in ’embarrassing’ legal scandal as £2m sanction on cards
Rangers will be “embarrassed” to be accused of illegally fixing the price of their replica kits.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about accusations levied at Rangers, JD Sports, and Elite Sports.
A Government press release on Tuesday (7 June) revealed that the trio had been provisionally found guilty of breaking competition law between September 2018 and July 2019.
The report explains that all three parties can expect fines for their role in the price fixing scandal.
The Scottish Sun reported on the day of the announcement that JD Sports had set aside £2million for future sanctions.
Rangers’ kits were manufactured by Elite Sports brand Hummel at the time of the alleged offence, and they have now switched to Castore.
Maguire insisted that the Glasgow giants will have been left red-faced by the provisional findings of the competition watchdog.
“The reason behind this is to try and match the revenues and monies for all parties involved,” he told Football Insider.
“We don’t know who was the ultimate driver for this, but it is embarrassing for all involved. It’s not something they will be happy to have to deal with given the success they had in getting to the Europa League final.
“Rangers merchandise flies off the shelves. However, if other retailers want to sell it at a discounted price, they should be able to do so.”
Rangers commercial chief James Bisgrove has publicly targeted annual sponsorship and merchandise revenue of £27m.
Maguire told this site last month (27 May) that he expects them to announce record-breaking total revenues of over £90m for 2021-22.
In other news, pundit suggests Rangers about to suffer “massive blow” as key Ibrox departure on the cards.