One of Scottish Football’s most celebrated clubs, Rangers, has been embroiled in financial trouble over the past few years, causing one of the most dramatic falls from grace in recent football history.
But the cash-strapped club received a major boost off the pitch recently after signing a new shirt sponsorship deal with online gambling company 32Red. With the new deal in place, 32Red will succeed current sponsor Blackthorn as the company with its name on the front of Rangers jerseys beginning next season, when the team continues to climb back to the top flight with a season in the Championship.
It’s also a huge next step towards rebuilding the team after it embarrassingly entered liquidation two years ago that saw the club get demoted to Scottish football’s bottom tier. “We are in the process of rebuilding Rangers Football Club and alliances with blue chip companies such as 32Red will assist us on our journey back to the top of Scottish football,” Rangers chief executive Graham Wallace said about the deal in an announcement to the Stock Exchange.
Having a company as big as 32Red by its side will help in gaining respectability for the beleaguered club. The online gambling giant is a well-known and active sponsor in English football with current deals in place with EPL regulars Aston Villa and Swansea. The company is also the main sponsor of English League One team Crawley Town and English League Two side Newport County, as well as Italian Serie A’s Bologna.
For 32Red, the deal is equally well-timed and has the potential to be a bargain if Rangers can continue on its ascent back to the Scottish Premier League. It’s on schedule to return after two more seasons, at which point, the hope is that the club will already be in financially stable conditions to return to its normal perch as one of Scotland’s premier football clubs.
