Journalist Peter Martin was left fuming after a sponsor was covered with white tape in a post-match interview with Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
On Saturday afternoon, Rangers beat Motherwell 3-1 in the Scottish Premiership, thanks to a Liam Kelly own goal, as well as goals from Scott Wright and James Tavernier. Ross Tierney managed to get equalise to make Van Bronckhorst sweat just before half-time, however, the away side’s class shone through in the end to win the game.
However, one of the main talking points came off the pitch. When the Motherwell post-match interviews were taking place, there was no issue, but when it was time for Rangers boss Van Bronckhorst to step up, someone had covered the Cinch logos with white tape.
This is not the first time this season that this has happened, and Peter Martin spoke on the PLZ Football Show (via Ibrox News), and expressed his thoughts on the matter.
He said: “[It] is indicative of the way our game is at the moment and why we can’t attract big sponsors, and why we can’t attract a lot of money into the game on a regular basis.
“I found it astounding that they interviewed one manager with the sponsorship in the background and clearly someone had gone about with white tape to cover the sponsor up when the Rangers manager was there.
“It tells me that the SPFL are spineless when it comes to standing up to a deal that’s in place that all clubs can’t adhere to. I was gobsmacked to see it.”
TIF Thoughts on Peter Martin’s comments…
Rangers have been covering the Cinch logo in their interviews for the entirety of the season because they do not agree with the sponsorship, and this can be damaging for the league.
It is clear how far behind the Scottish Premiership is to the Premier League – for example, Steven Gerrard had just won the league in Scotland and opted to leave and make the switch to England to manage Aston Villa, who currently sit 15th.
If the league wants to progress and start becoming a more respected division, it may have to start from the bottom, with the clubs coming together and all having the same vision in terms of who the sponsors are.