Rangers fans will not be able to purchase the replica kit that Mark Warburton’s side will wear during their Premiership title challenge next term.
The Light Blues returned to pre-season action at the weekend and will head to Charleston next Monday for a training camp ahead of the opening fixture of the new campaign against Motherwell on Saturday, July 16.
But Herald Sport understands supporters will be denied the chance to pull on their own version of the Puma-design kit that the Gers will wear in action in the coming months.
Read more: Former Rangers star Fernando Ricksen to launch Motor Neurone Disease fund
The long-running feud between the Ibrox board and Sports Direct chief Mike Ashley took another twist four weeks ago when the merchandise deals with Rangers Retail Limited were effectively ripped up as Rangers served notice terminating the Intellectual Property licence and rights agreement with immediate effect.
It means that items featuring registered trademarks – including the famous Rangers badge – are unable to be sold once the current stock has been shifted.
Chairman Dave King has repeatedly tried to renegotiate the deals, which were struck with Ashley during the Charles Green era at Ibrox, but he has been unable to reach a compromise agreement with the billionaire businessman.
As tensions have escalated, supporters have staged a series of protests at Ibrox and Sports Direct shops in a bid to highlight the deal that sees Rangers receive around 4p from every pound spent on official merchandise.
Read more: Former Rangers star Fernando Ricksen to launch Motor Neurone Disease fund
Many fans had hoped that they would be able to end their boycott of the Rangers Megastore ahead of the new campaign and purchase replica kit and other memorabilia this summer.
But it is highly unlikely they will get the chance to part with their cash in the coming weeks to snap up shirts and scarves ahead of the big kick-off.
Defender Clint Hill was pictured with the new blue home shirt when he was unveiled on Friday afternoon, while Warburton’s side had fresh Puma training gear with the logo of sponsors 32Red on the front at Murray Park on Saturday.
Read more: Former Rangers star Fernando Ricksen to launch Motor Neurone Disease fund
On Monday, captain Lee Wallace wore the chequered design home kit as his new Ibrox deal was announced by the club.
But fans will not get the chance to follow in the footsteps of their Gers heroes and get kitted out for the new campaign this summer.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel