A £2m provision for a potential fine from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for price-fixing on replica football shirts counts as small beer at JD Sports, a FTSE 100 company worth £6bn even after a halving of its share price in the past eight months. But it all adds to the sense of distrust around the corporate “king of trainers” after last month’s messy exit of long-serving executive chairman Peter Cowgill.
Indeed, the alleged larks with Rangers kit represent the second run-in with the CMA in a matter of months. The last episode involved a £4.3m fine and an illicit meeting in a car park between Cowgill and the boss of Footasylum, a business JD was supposed to be holding at arm’s length until the takeover got regulatory approval (it didn’t in the end).
