Rangers have launched a legal bid to claw back more than £2.8m from Hummel in a row over replica shirt sales.
It comes in the aftermath of the Ibrox club’s court victory last month in the latest round of a legal fight with Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct over the terms of an injunction.
Now, the Glasgow giants have revealed they have served proceedings on the sports brand to get back an eyewatering £2,840,236, plus interest and expenses.
A club statement said: “The Rangers Football Club Limited (Rangers) has served proceedings on LBJ Sports Apparel Limited trading as Elite for payment of the sum of £2,840,236.75 plus interest and expenses.
“The payment relates to sums that require to be paid to Rangers by Elite in terms of the Agreement between Rangers, Elite and Hummel A/S for the manufacture and supply of Rangers Kit and other products.”
In January, a judge confirmed the Light Blues were entitled to be paid outstanding cash owed by kit supplier Hummel and their brand partner Elite. At the time, Rangers said they were “pleased” with the decision.
The official judgement confirmed the club were due £960,000 when the injunction was slapped on them in July last year, racking up an additional £1.47m in sales since then.
Judge Lionel Persey QC explained that, “Rangers will not be in breach of the Injunction should it seek (whether by court action or otherwise) to recover sums said to be due to it under the Elite/Hummel Agreement.”
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SDI Retail Services, part of the Sports Direct Group, had complained about Rangers breaching their contract under deals relating to replica kit by signing a deal with Hummel.
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Elite have only paid a fraction of the cash owed to the club following a court-imposed injunction aimed to prevent any further breaches.
But following the judge’s ruling that their current deal could continue, the club have been told that they are entitled to receive the Hummel payments.
Lawyers representing Rangers said SDI should pick up club’s legal bills for the latest round.
SDI lawyers agreed in principle because the Gers had won but they said the club had spent too much on lawyers - saying Rangers’ legal bills, which totalled around £100,000, was double what would be a reasonable figure.
Judge Persey split the difference and said SDI should pick up £75,000 worth of the club’s legal fees.
Under Rangers’ kit deal with Hummel, the club receives a base annual fee of £2million for the purchase of 1-100,000 units.
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The club claim they were owed over £960,000 when the injunction was implemented - and they are due a further £1.47million under the deal since then.
Elite had paid some money to Rangers during this time, but the club claim the vast majority of the £2.5million is still outstanding.
The injunction should not have stopped Elite paying the Ibrox club the money owed, nor prevented the club receiving cash from the deal throughout the current season. The court ruled Rangers will not breach the injunction to claim back the vast sums from Elite.
Hummel have been contacted for comment.