Scotland's cash strapped clubs fear they could be hit in the pocket over the ongoing dispute between Rangers and car dealers cinch.
Record Sport can reveal concern is growing that the SPFL ’s title sponsors may refuse to stump up a huge chunk of the whopping £1.6m which is due to be shared out across all four divisions at the end of the current campaign.
The long running feud took another twist on Saturday when cinch’s branding was covered by masking tape as Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst conducted a post match interview with Sky TV following his team’s 3-1 win at Fir Park.
We understand, for production reasons, it was the broadcaster’s decision to cover up those logos in a specially modified studio inside the stadium rather than conduct the interview track-side.
They feared Rangers’ PR department would not allow van Bronckhorst to appear before the advertising backdrop unless all cinch branding was blacked out.
Record Sport also understands the Ibrox club have been holding discussions behind the scenes with league chiefs in an attempt to defuse the stand-off which began at the start of the season, shortly after the £8m five year partnership was first announced.
But even if an unlikely peace deal can be brokered, cinch may still feel short changed after nine months without their branding being displayed at the home of the current top flight champions.
And that has led to fears that the online firm may be unwilling to pay out in full when their first season in Scottish football reaches its climax next month.
As part of the agreement, which was hailed as the most lucrative ever sponsorship package in the SPFL’s history, a total of £1.6m is due to be paid up in a series of instalments over the course of every campaign before being distributed across all 42 clubs.
It’s unclear at this stage if those payments are fully up to date but some clubs are already bracing themselves for bad news when the cash is shared out at the end of the season.
And there are fears too that cinch could even pull the plug on the deal completely unless the situation is resolved to their satisfaction before the start of the next campaign.
Both cinch and the SPFL declined to comment.
