Wednesday 22 July 2015 16:25, UK
Rangers chairman Dave King says he intends to meet with Sports Direct in an attempt to negotiate a new retail deal for the club.
Sports Direct, which is owned by Mike Ashley, has a 75 percent share of the Scottish Championship club's retail income based on contracts signed by those in charge at Ibrox before King and his allies swept to power in March.
There has been a widespread boycott of Rangers merchandise by supporters in protest at these terms but King said the first steps to try and address the issue were taken at a previous meeting with the sports retail group.
In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News HQ, King revealed he is now looking to build on that initial meeting and take his proposals to Newcastle United owner Ashley, who holds an 8.92 per cent shareholding in Rangers, in a bid to restructure the existing contracts and to get supporters buying from the club again.
Speaking to Jim White from his home in Johannesburg, he said: "The issue is in looking at the contract, in terms of the way the retail operations have been structured, in terms of the way the retail operations are performing. It is not working for the club and in my view, it certainly can't be working for Sports Direct either.
"I regarded that meeting as being a good meeting with Sports Direct. One of my suggestions was we should look at a restructuring of the relationship and I indicated I would make proposals. They were willing at least to listen to me. They have not given a commitment one way or another, but they did say 'Dave, you are an important customer of ours. We would like to make the relationship work, please come to us with your proposals'.
"I'm very mindful of the fact that any proposal I give to Sports Direct should be something that works better for the club but also works better for Sports Direct. We are not going to achieve anything unless it benefits both parties."
King said he believes it does make sense for football clubs to hold deals with strong retail partners, but insists the terms must be right for all stakeholders, including the supporters.
And the Glasgow-born businessman is confident fans will start buying merchandise again if he and the board were able to negotiate a more fruitful deal for the club in terms of their retail income.
"The fact is, whether Sports Direct would agree with it or not, the fans at the moment are not of the mind that the current arrangement supports the club," he said.
"Therefore, they are very concerned that buying Rangers replica kit or other memorabilia then they are supporting Sports Direct more than they are supporting Rangers.
"As long as that mind-set continues the Rangers retail operations are going to continue to struggle so I think it is important and in the interest of all parties that we get a resolution to this sooner rather than later.
"There certainly is a belief based on the historical relationship that the agreements are not fair to the club. I think if we were in a position to say that having gone through discussions with Sports Direct we now believe it is in the interests of the club to go forward then hopefully that would change the mind-set of a lot of the supporters."
