Rangers to launch legal action?

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Rangers to launch legal action?

A couple of days ago Rangers confirmed the ‘Eusebio Cup’ friendly with Portuguese giants Benfica had been scrapped due to a withdrawal on the Estádio da Luz side’s part for reasons unknown.

Rui Vitória’s men have since claimed it was the ‘organisers’ fault’ stating thus:

“The 2017 Eusebio Cup scheduled to be held with Glasgow Rangers was not possible because of a breach of the contractual commitments established by Elite Soccer Entertainment, who promoted this game, within the terms and deadlines set.”

In other words, Benfica reckon ‘Elite Soccer Entertainment’ violated something within the contract of the conditions and gave them valid reason to pull out.

There are a couple of problems with this:

Why not inform Rangers privately of the exact reason, rather than just withdrawing? To do so was a bizarre lack of courtesy and respect for us, leaving us in the dark and having to release our own statement saying so.

Secondly, what on earth was so awful by the organisers that Benfica felt they could not carry out their obligations?

In truth, this friendly really was a nonsense – a team, like Leipzig, that would likely have absolutely hounded Rangers, and a morale-busting scoreline was not what Rangers require at this time – a more modest opponent would have been far better advised.

Furthermore the hundreds and maybe even thousands of Rangers fans who had booked flights and accommodation now find themselves out of pocket and without the ability to get refunds is a disgrace – it is fine for those Canadian fans who could have travelled locally, but for global ones who had to prepare a long-haul trip it is extremely poor.

And it was not even likely to be a big money-spinner for the club either; with it being overseas, Rangers would only have likely received a cut rather than all the proceeds for hosting it.

Naturally we are far from putting any blame on Rangers’ doorstep here, Benfica and the organisers are at fault and Rangers have every right to launch legal action against potentially both for the disruption and financial burden this has caused.

A good gesture from the club would be, if legal action is indeed launched, and Rangers win, to refund all fans with the compensation where possible. That would be a really decent gesture and one that would gain serious credibility with the club among fans who would appreciate it.

The board have announced they are seeking legal advice before commenting further so it is evident that channels are being sought and well they should; this is a poor episode and a much-needed chunk of match action (even if the opponent was too strong) for the players within the international break has been denied.

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8 COMMENTS

  1. Legal action? Will we never learn? The law is for the lawyers to make money, not to get justice for aggrieved parties. Ask yourself the question. Administrators, Green, Craig Whyte. What happened to all of them? Their lawyers made money as would ours. And what did we get . Justice? No. Compensation? No.
    Rangers should ask all fans to submit claims based on now not going to Canada and pay them. It won't be a lot. If the fans do go it will be a holiday for them in any event.Litigation lawyers are not, in the main, ethical people. Let's get on with football. Hibs and Celtic dropped points on Saturday. Aberdeen dropped points at home against bottom team the week before. All to play for. 2nd in league this year and Cup in cupboard is my prediction aided by a couple of new players in January plus a few breaks from refs. This time next season we will be much stronger. More money will be coming in. Sports Direct will have gone . Get behind team now..

    • Sensible response Alan, apart from refunding all the out-of-pocket Rangers fans, most of us would like the club to pursue the organisers and Benfica to come clean, whoever is responsible to make a formal apology and take full responsibility. If the offer of compensation is offered, take it, if not, let it go. An honest answer and explanation would be sufficient.
      I do have a concern that Benfica might have found a loophole to avoid playing us, they are in turmoil, recently sacking their manager and taking a humiliating loss in the Champions League.
      Agree that grabbing 2nd place in league and win a Cup is our main target for this season and although 6 points adrift, we are still capable of doing that.
      Footnote: We don’t often get the rub of the green, or plastic pitches, from referees but I though Dallas Jnr. let us off the hook early on with not sending Pena off, had he done that and the Jack double yellow cards we might have lost the game. He called most things right, should have sent the player off who fouled Holt and was conned with Hamilton’s penalty, but overall an improvement on Thompson against Celtic and Beaton against Hibs.

    • I somehow suspect their humiliating loss had much to do with cancellation. Wait to see but going down legal route will be waste of resources and a diversion. I have seen the Pena video a few times and can't see that it merits a yellow. He was grabbed from behind. All handbags but if he gets yellow so should Accies player. But it was nothing. Press blow everything up.

  2. Here’s a novel thought: rather than getting the lawyers involved, why not change the venue to Portugal or Ibrox? Surely more tickets will be sold, and it would give one group of supporters for a holiday. We could even do a return trip in the spring or next year. The truth is our players need this game to challenge themselves beyond the level of the SPL, and quite frankly, some of them need it for fitness reasons as well! Even if the score is lopsided, we can still take something from the game.

    To do this event in Canada, in October, when hockey season is gearing up, was madness. Toronto is a hockey town, and their season starts this week. They could put Barcelona vs Real Madrid together and it wouldn’t sell out. Soccer, as a sport, ranks third in Ontario where only one sport gets media attention.

  3. hi heard less than 2000 tickets had been sold.
    Benfica's players will all be on international duty so it would have been rangers against benfica's reserves. Think dalcio ! Who wants to watch that.
    Another shambles to go with all the other shambles of the last 5 years

  4. I don’t believe Rangers were notified so late, but yeah, it’s because the organisers could barely shift tickets so they will have cancelled meaning they only lose the deposit on the venue as opposed to being even further out of pocket with it going ahead.

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