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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Ross Pilcher

Rangers excluded from new SPFL cinch deal but Neil Doncaster insists clubs won't lose cash

Rangers have been excluded from displaying cinch branding as part of the new sponsorship deal agreed by the SPFL.

The Ibrox club have refused to display the car company's logo within their stadium as part of an ongoing dispute with the governing body.

Manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst infamously conducted TV interviews at Fir Park last season in front of a sponsor's backdrop that was covered in masking tape to hide the cinch logo.

The club claim that the previous agreement conflicted with a deal already in place with chairman Douglas Park's firm.

Park won a legal battle with the Scottish FA last year after the SPFL asked them to arbitrate the dispute between Rangers and the league in a bid to find a solution.

Now league chief Neil Doncaster has confirmed that the Gers will not be forced to promote cinch as part of the new deal, while insisting that the amount of cash going to other clubs will remain "materially unchanged."

(SNS Group)

An SPFL statement read: “Under the terms of the revised cinch contract, Rangers are no longer required to participate by providing the sponsorship inventory that they have so far not provided, whilst, crucially, the overall income to Scottish football is expected to remain materially unchanged over the original five-year term of the sponsorship.

“This revised package has now been approved by cinch Premiership Clubs.

“It’s extremely good news that we have been able to work with our partners at cinch to develop an updated sponsorship package which delivers the same level of financial support to Scottish football, whilst providing additional SPFL media assets to cinch to compensate for loss of Rangers related rights. It is testament to the strength of our relationship with cinch, and the high value they place on it, that they have agreed to move forward with us on this basis.

“This deal gives us further confidence that we will exceed our budget and deliver fees to Clubs of more than £27.5 million for Season 2021/22.”

(SNS Group)

Murdoch MacLennan, chairman of the SPFL, added: “This is a great outcome for the entire game in Scotland. Our friends at cinch have been brilliant to deal with throughout this whole process.

“There is so much to celebrate in the SPFL as cinch and our clubs look forward with excitement to the launch of the 2022/23 fixture list this Friday.”

A spokesman for cinch said: “We welcome the evolution of our agreement with the SPFL and are proud of our continued investment into Scottish football across all four cinch SPFL leagues. We are very much looking forward to next season and to continuing the stellar growth of our business in Scotland.”

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