For those who are not veteran Ibrox watchers, it is important to point out that the fine fellows at Club 1872 are usually close to the thinking of the Sevco High Command.
Consequently, this officially approved support organisation has the handy utility of putting out a message to the klanbase to see how it is received.
The reaction on Planet Fitba to the Castore catastrophe has been hilarious.
Indeed, things must be bad when Sevco’s low-calorie cousins are extracting the urine.
Given the Castore shitshow, I had been expecting the dignified hand to point to Statement O’clock.
Therefore, the Club 1872 missive is, for now, the closest thing to an official statement on the Castore shitshow.
Dear Member,
Club 1872 has grown increasingly concerned over recent weeks as the scale of the issues with delivery of Castore x Rangers products, and subsequently concerns over the quality of some of those products, have come to light.
Having previously enjoyed a constructive dialogue with both Castore and Rangers on the expectations of supporters around this new retail arrangement, we had hoped to be able to address these concerns directly with them. Unfortunately, although we have had belated contact from Castore today, we have not yet received any response to our specific concerns. Also, despite asking a number of detailed questions of the club, we have received no answers to those questions.
We have sympathy with Castore and Rangers over the tight timescales to produce kit for this season which have been further compounded by the challenges around Covid-19, and we have told them as much. However, those challenges do not fully explain or excuse the poor customer service or lack of reliable communication around the quality and delivery issues that have occurred. It also appears that these issues have been considerably more widespread than has so far been acknowledged by Castore or Rangers. They cannot and should not be dismissed by trying to focus solely on the volume of sales which have been achieved. Those sales are a testament to the incredible loyalty of the Rangers support but they cannot be taken for granted.
Of further concern to Club 1872 was the statement released by Castore, with the assistance of Rangers, on Thursday 20th August, which attempted to explain the differences in quality between two versions of the home replica kit which have been sold to supporters. The explanation given – that some of these tops were “pro kits” released early in error – does not appear credible and does not stand up to scrutiny. We would remind both Castore and Rangers that whilst all interested parties can work together to improve the reported problems with quality, customer service and communication, trust will not be so easily regained with the support if it is lost.
The quality issues, customer service problems and lack of reliable communication from both Castore and Rangers have been completely unacceptable and they should now be honest and open with supporters about what has gone wrong, how they plan to fix it and how they will ensure that we will not see a repeat in future seasons. We firmly believe that all Rangers supporters want to continue to show their financial support to the club through the purchase of Castore x Rangers products but they deserve a proper explanation about what has occurred over the past few weeks in order to rebuild confidence.
Club 1872
Of course, the Unsurpassed Dignity tribe do love a statement.
In fairness, since 2012, they have had little else to celebrate.
I think it is fair to say that The People are revolting.
Meanwhile, your humble correspondent has been trying to piece together this unedifying jigsaw puzzle.
Dear reader, I’m increasingly convinced that the real story is in the provenance of the deal that authorised the Turkish tat.
Who sanctioned the Istanbul Emerald to churn out this shoddy, overpriced shite?
What contract is it covered by?
I have yet to see any evidenced that the Turkish gear has been turning up in the Sports Direct outlets.
Despite all of this the local media have done little else but put out statements from the Ibrox club and their proxies.
It is almost as if they do not want to find the truth.
Imagine that…
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You couldn’t make it up. The Daily Radar is claiming that Police Scotland are investigating Craig Whyte’s current business involvements as a result of a recent ‘investigative’ article in their rag. Wow,wow,wow!
Police Scotland’s time would be better spent outing the liars who presented Craig to the wider world as a billionaire with wealth off the radar. You know who you are
Those responsible for that article are the ones who should be doing jail time.
Don’t they realise that poor Craigie was duped by a Knight Of The Realm who couldn’t wait to get shot of Rangers and thus take up the bank’s offer to buy back part of MIM, his original business, as a reward?
I love today’s attempt by the Daily Record to even things up. They have found one Celtic fan who received a strip with a name error. Incidentally, it was immediately replaced by Celtic.
SeemsCastore’sonthepisstaketheirgearisatrocious.
No income tax no VAT
Just orange walks and bigotry
Craigie White made them poor
So its dodgy strips from Castore
Ahh…well played The Rangers!
It all makes sense now.
Messi has handed in a transfer request, (and seeking a ‘free’).
Now, Morelos puts in his transfer request.
A player swap – with Barca also paying a chunk of money for the younger player.
Sorted.
…however, due to an anticipated technical error, the new Ibrox recruit might have to go by the name ‘Misse’ from now on… 🙂
They’d probably spell it MESSY.
How long is the deal with Castore? Now that we are free of outside influence, SD, when can we go back to Adidas or Puma?
A question posed on Follow Follow which just about sums up the gullabillity of their fan base.
Despite what’s occurred since 2012 a huge rump of their support rely on the Scottish media for their information with the default setting that if it’s not on the back pages then it’s a wind up or a Fenian conspiracy.
How can we forget the media fanfare following Craig Whyte’s takeover and his being mobbed by crowds on Edmiston Drive akin to a Roman emperor returning home after adding another country to the Empire?
The Scottish media eh!
Billionaire with wealth off the radar, an article entirely made up by the DR and their chief football reporter.
A story without an ounce of credibility or basis in fact.
In any other profession or industry lying to your customer base would not be encouraged yet the Record and Jackson are still at it, though perhaps their rapidly diminishing readership has finally sussed them out.
I appreciated the earlier comment from Pat S with the line:
If your shirt frays its wool and it’s from Istanbul, it’s Castore…
Perhaps the second line could be..
If your shorts start to peek and they’re made by the Greeks, it’s Castore….
Any suggestions for the next lines welcome. Hail hail.
If your new gear is gash cos your club has no cash, that’s Castore
You support the Sevco but yer new taps no go, thats Castore
Your club plays at Ibrox, yer shorts have gien you the pox, thats Castore
Brilliant
Yer neck is pure rid cos yer tops gien you Covid, thats Castore
When internal debt mounts but nae sign of Accounts,that ça story
Guys like Union Jack hide instead bum up their side ,Jack-a-nory
Tim’s will sing ding-a-ling-a-ling ding-a-ling-a-ling,about our trebles
Cause the battle was won we defeated the Hun,us the Rebels
In The Sun they do cry cause it’s lie after lie ,at Castore
Oh I would carry on but it’s getting too long ,nae need tae bore ye
If you pay through the nose and you end up with dross, it’s Castore
If your new gear is crap and you feel a right pap, it’s Castore
When you’re frightened to fart ’cause your shorts’ll fall apart, that’s Castore.
Oh th s song it s shi e cause t e words ar n’t right ,bla e C sto e
When yer tap is brand new,
But the wrong colour blue.
That’s Castore!!
Why hasn’t Morelos slapped in a transfer request just like Messi?
If he and his agents know of a €16m euro bid then a transfer request would be forthcoming.
Morelos has nowhere to go to presently ergo cannot slap in a transfer request.
When SEVCO tap up players and want them for a low fee, they encourage them to put in a transfer request. Scott Allan at Hibs anyone? Sevco wanted him for free. Hibs had a £300k price, Sevco couldn’t pay, Celtic bought him.
Morelos should hit SEVCO with their own player destabilising strategy, fax in a transfer request.
Loyalty bonus. If he requests to go then he gets nothing, if the club accept a bid then its them that are effectively ending the contract.
Sevco would welcome a Morelos transfer request then?
Everything this club does commercially seems to weaken their finances or reputation (or both).
Imagine if the playing contracts were managed as well as the kit deals. Another club would be given the right to match any contract that Rangers offered to a player and for every player sold, a sell on clause would send 90% of the money to a different club.
Messi to SEVCO?
Nice squirrel to deflect from CASTORE shambles.
Surely the SEVCO chairman needs to intervene in this supporter rip off?
The Commercial & Marketing Director should be falling on his sword.
James Bisgrove was appointed in March 2019.
Castore was announced as the new TRFC kit supplier in May this year.
Ergo, he takes the fall for the kit shambles / entertainment.
Looking for a quote from him, there is this from the TRFC website, dated July, 1st.;
“…Director of Commercial & Marketing, James Bisgrove, commented:
“The 20/21 Home kit is a significant milestone moment and first step in our exciting new journey with Castore, as the clubs new kit and retail partner.
“We firmly believe the Castore partnership will enable the club to reach our full commercial potential and, in turn, allow us to provide maximum support to Ross, Steven and the first team squad…”
Bisgrove isn’t responsible for the “legacy issues” involving Mike Ashley’s legal action – but the Castore deal seems to be his responsibility.
Bisgrove’s job would be on the line in any other business but after the SD/ Hummel/ Elite shambles not one of the big sports merchandising company’s were going to take the chance of seeing their names dragged through the Ibrox mud, hence Castore has the gig.
It was always a hallelujah call for the Scouser brothers and a steep, slippy learning curve.
They have taken it on without the infrastructure to support the demand, meet quality standards or handle the flak being aimed at them by a fan base not known for their patience.
We are a long way down the road from Castore being hailed as the next big thing by the Scottish media as they were just a few short weeks ago.
Who said there’s no such thing as bad publicity?
I don’t know why it should bother us what is happening with Sevco’s kit suppliers. I know we had quality problems ourseves about twenty years ago and we were slagged off for it, but we should rise above that now and not get involved in a “Tat for Tits” scenario.
You’re right Johnny and we were quite rightly slagged off for it, it was all over the media, papers and TV. That is the big difference in this, if it wasn’t for the bloggers and twitter, no-one would be any the wiser.
You’d know when you saw three of them walking down the street wearing the same strip………and they were all different.
Firstly, this is site is not officially tied to a football club and is not accountable to anyone. Second, there is a long list of things that get reported here that the Scottish football press tend to ignore. The ‘Kamara to Juventus’ and ‘megabucks Chinese offer rejected for Morelos’ stories in the tabloids also demonstrate the value of research and truth in the media, something that cannot be questioned here.
Tat for tits, Brilliant!
How can this be that the most successful team in Govan find themselves involved with one of the biggest global sporting brands, a brand who can offer the same money as Adidas but can’t get the colour of a top right, surely not, is this more lies from the “timmy” press?
I am at a loss as to how the Liverpudlian blues brothers touted as stratospheric super heroes of the rag trade find themselves in a position where they have to address the paying peasants who are now questioning their methods and products, oh the indignity of it all.
How can it be that those who were trumpeted as plying their global influence across the various sporting strata to meteoric heights with kit which promised to give those wearing it super human abilities second to none are not really the new Nike in the making……
Amazed to see the shit storm brewing for these global players who at the flick of their wrist can transform an almighty mecca of a supers store into a “super-duperwearethepeoplefuckthepope” store, with rangersness all over it, damn it even incorporates genuine loyalist lamppost wrapping to amplify the exuding of a winning mentality for the “New Era” . How can the wheels be coming off this already?
I have the feeling that sinister forces are at work here, forces with such awesome power to derail such a leviathan and its superhuman effort can only be the work of “The Unseen Fenian Hand”.
What other explanation can there be for the disaster that has befallen them, no other, not even Fu Man Chu could fuck them up to such an extent, unless it’s an inside job….
Could it be that these guys are imposters who are in over their heads?
Could it be they were blinded by the vision of making global megabucks?
Could it be that they sold the Govan massive a pig in a poke?
I do hope it’s an onerous contract, just to keep continuity in these matters.
Now that the fan and the shit are about to meet up properly you have to wonder if they know what will come next, do they know of the emails, the presents in the post, the threats, boycotts, and the rubbishing of their identity in the process. Time will tell….Oh my and to think this is all happening while Celtic is ticking along just nicely….
Great comment
The Castore guys have reached for the stars and instead have fell flat on their Scouser faces.
The Rangers feck up will impact on their original core business and the brothers may well regret reaching out to the Ibrox club as their first step into football merchandising.
The fact that Sports Direct appear to be the only mainstream sports company on the High Street selling Castore’s gear seems to have passed without comment from the Scottish media.
Now where’s that article claiming that SD have been vanquished and have no longer have an interest in the Rangers business?
That lengthy Club1872 statement could be condensed into one sentence;
“Why are the fans being ripped off – and so blatantly – by the club?”
[Is it because there is nobody left – other than the fans – who can be parted from their cash so easily by the Blue Room?]
I hear that Castore are going to make Sevco tops out of natural fibres. It will make it easier to pull the wool over their eyes!
I was in the Dundee Sports Direct today, just for the sake of research – no sign of ANY Rangers gear anywhere.
Hi Phil, I speculated in one of your earlier blogs that big Mike would have the good gear and other outlets the inferior. If this is confirmed it would be damning for castore and sevco for letting this quality lapse happen without recourse. Park seems to have done a Boris.
Next I am hoping the Glib one is a shadow investor in Castore with some sway. That would be the cherry on the icing on the currant bun.