Rangers FC is facing paying out millions of pounds in damages and seeing its current kit deal scrapped a year early after losing the latest round in its legal battle with Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct.

The Ibrox side has been heavily criticised in a judgment from the High Court which ruled that the club breached its agreement with Sports Direct by failing to offer the retailer the chance to match its current deal with Hummel.

Judge Lionel Persey QC ruled that Rangers should now pay the retail giant substantial compensation which could run to “many millions of pounds”.

READ MORE: Rangers face paying millions to Sports Direct in latest legal blow 

He also hit the club with an injunction preventing it from continuing in its deal with sports merchandising firm Elite and Danish sportswear brand Hummel.

Fans will still be able to buy kits for the forthcoming season, but for the 2020/21 campaign the judgment suggests that Rangers will be forced to enter another deal with Mr Ashley or seek his approval for an alternative agreement.

The judgment states: “I am satisfied that SDIR (Sports Direct) was not only entitled to match the rights offered to Hummel/Elite but would have done so.

“Those rights were not only not offered to them but Rangers... untruthfully asserted that Hummel had not been granted any Offered Rights and did not provide SDIR with a copy of the Elite/Hummel Agreement.

“The upshot of all this is that Rangers, Elite and Hummel have until now performed and enjoyed the benefit of the Elite/Hummel agreement.

“The 2018/2019 season has been completed and preparations for the 2019/2020 season were well underway by the time of the hearing.

“Had the rights been offered to SDIR then SDIR would have found itself in the shoes of Elite and would have been in a position to make the sales and profits that Elite has made.”

Rangers claimed that the injunction would cause the club to lose significant revenue and risk further claims for damages from Elite.

They also claimed players and fans would be left with no kits and their “ability to function as a football club would be impaired”.

However, the court rejected these claims.

Mr Ashley, who was a former Rangers shareholder, previously held the retail deal for replica kits with the club.

READ MORE: Rangers claim Sports Direct injunction would 'impair ability to function as club'

However, this deal proved controversial as his company took around 93p from every £1 made from the sale of Rangers strips and merchandise.

This led to fans boycotting Sports Direct stores and the sale of Rangers kit.

Judge Persey agreed with previous court rulings that it was “probable” the club and its officials approved of this boycott and promoted it.

The judge also took issue with Rangers’ bid to limit any damages they may have to pay to £1million, which could have huge financial implications for the Ibrox club.

He stated: “SDIR’s losses are likely to be in the order of many millions of pounds.

“Rangers has pleaded that it will rely upon clause16.3 of the Non-Exclusive Rights Agreement to limit its damages to £1,000,000.

“I accept SDIR’s submission that it would be unjust to deprive SDIR of the benefit of its matching right provisions.”

The Elite/Hummel deal is reported to be worth £10 million, however damages in the case will be decided at a later date.

The Herald contacted both Rangers and Sports Direct for comment but neither responded.