Rangers fans fume after club’s disappointing announcement

The Rangers kept up their performances on the pitch with another poor showing on Sunday in the PR stakes.

They got their fans all excited about an impending announcement timed for 9 a.m. and then with imaginations running high, then flopped out the kit story again.

Celtic fans continued the trolling from a week ago when the kit news first broke. But even Rangers fans were hitting back at their club (or company) this time.

Many light blue follow followers were expecting new news, more momentous perhaps, like the signing of Hagi for around £4m. Though none stopped to think about how they’d finance that.

Over at Ibrox they were winding up the tension and anticipation in advance. Announcement they shouted, coming soon, a little graphic told supporters to set alarms for early Sunday morning with a Rangers announcement time for 9 a.m.

Now everyone else knows Sunday’s at 9 a.m. wouldn’t ever be prime time for a PR launch. Goodness, most of the Rangers fans who were actually up would still be finishing off their Eggs Benedict breakfasts or maybe porridge like true bears!

So by the time their new kit supplier Castore had confirmed their part in this by email and online ahead of the Rangers releasing the kit supplier news at 9 a.m. as promised, many of the Ibrox faithful were angry and astonished. Some had set alarms, some had expected much, but a bit like post Dubai on the pitch, it all fell a bit flat. Many choose to hit back with a range of angry and frustrated messages on social media:

You’d have to wonder if, perhaps, it was all rushed out to deflect from other news expected this week. Would it be enough to hide and cover up a nine in a row triumph perhaps? Not a chance, but they seemed to think it was worth a try.

But hey what about the kit deal and the announcement? What’s new from last week? Well it’s confirmed it’s Castore.we learned little more though. It’s huge! shouted the Daily Record, without any real facts or figures to back that up. It must be off the radar huge perhaps.

What else didn’t we learn and what questions remain?

We heard nothing about the kit itself other than Castore are a premium brand charging premium prices for high quality clothing. Can they competitively price new kit for the Rangers fans to buy? Will there be an orange kit? And is XL really the largest size Castore provide clothing in?

We heard nothing about exactly what has happened to the deal with Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct and the impending court judgement on costs.

We heard nothing about how such a small business as Castore can actually step up and deliver to a larger scale. There is plenty around about the two brothers who have started what looks like a very good business. It’s not clear what the financial structure of their business looks like or who else might be involved other than Andy Murray as a shareholder.

So much remains unknown that even those of a light blue persuasion who weren’t annoyed at the lack of new news were beginning to ask some questions themselves. Many others though saw it as the big ‘we’re back’ statement. There’s usually at least one of those each summer. It’s the start of their close season off the pitch triumphs in their eyes.

By comparison,  Celtic’s deal with Adidas remains historic in its size, it’s a great pairing and the hoops fans are looking forward eagerly to see the new designs. They’ll have three stripes,  loads of hoops and a nine in a row trophy to celebrate over the summer.