Rangers not required to display cinch branding after SPFL updates deal

Rangers will not be required to display cinch branding after being excluded from a revised title sponsorship contract with the Scottish Professional Football League.

The Light Blues have been in dispute with the league over the past year since the car retail company began a five-year deal as the main backer of Scotland’s top four divisions last June.

Rangers have refused to showcase the sponsor’s logo within their stadium or on their strips as they claimed it conflicted with a commercial agreement they already had in place with chairman Douglas Park’s firm, Park’s of Hamilton.

The SPFL has now attempted to dilute the saga by agreeing a fresh deal with cinch, effective immediately, in which Rangers are “no longer required to participate by providing the sponsorship inventory that they have so far not provided”.

The league’s governing body says the new agreement “protects cinch’s pivotal investment into Scottish football” and that “the overall income to Scottish football is expected to remain materially unchanged over the original five-year term of the sponsorship”.

The Ibrox club, however, believe the updating of the contract represents an admission on the part of the SPFL that it was wrong to stand against Rangers over the issue.

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster welcomed the tweak to the deal.

“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 the loss of Rangers-related rights,” he said.

“It is testament to the strength of our relationship with cinch, and the high value they place on it, that they