DAVE KING has revealed Rangers could launch their own kit this season if a compromise cannot be reached in the Ibrox retail row.

The Light Blues board hit out at manufacturers Puma last week after their new home, away and third shirts were put on sale at a number of shops.

Earlier this year, Rangers terminated the IP Licence and Rights Agreement with Rangers Retail Limited and fans continue to boycott official merchandise in protest at the money the club receive from their retail revenues.

Chairman King said: “I think it would be very difficult for the club, practically, to go ahead with an alternative to Puma.

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“I say that because as long as there is a dispute out there – whether we believe our legal merits are strong or not – the fact is we are aware there is a dispute.

“I think it would be very, very difficult for us to go to another equivalent of Puma and ask them to come into that dispute.

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“I just think commercially it would awkward, even though legally I think we’d be entitled to do that.

“So I think there might be another alternative where we just perhaps launch our own kit - if we can’t get a way forward with Puma which is clearly our preference.

“Because Puma really shouldn’t be in the position they find themselves in and we recognise that. We would like to do our best to mitigate their position.”

The relationship Rangers have with RRL and Sports Direct chief Mike Ashley has been one of the main areas of concern for King and his fellow directors since they assumed control at Ibrox last March.Glasgow Times: Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley Picture: Joe Giddens/PA Wire

But the businessman is confident Gers board are on the right track as they look to unravel the complication situation for the benefit of the club.

King said: “We are in a situation where we have made a lot of progress on the legal and commercial front in terms of our dealings with Sports Direct.

“I would say our position now in terms of what I would call the control and ability to influence the outcome of the commercial situations is far advanced relative to what it was three months ago.

“So I am feeling very confident about where we are relative to Sports Direct.

“The complication we have, of course, is Puma. Puma are in the middle of this through no fault of their own.

“So what we are trying to do is get a balance right where we go beyond the mere legal dispute.

“Puma could be drawn into legal dispute with the club but that wouldn’t be fair on Puma. The dispute really belongs between ourselves and Sports Direct.

“So what we want to try and do is find a way forward over the next couple of weeks that possibly accommodates Puma. But if we can’t do that then we will proceed on our own.

“It (whether to buy strips) is a decision supporters will have to make themselves.”

The battle with Ashley and Sports Direct has been a bitter one as King and Co. have taken the fight to the billionaire businessman in recent months.

Ibrox director Paul Murray sits alongside King and Ashley allies Justin Barnes and Nigel Conway and Company Secretary Cameron Olsen at the RRL top table.

King said: “Mike Ashley went off the board. So he kind of cut and ran, I suppose, when the going got tough from their point of view.

“So he’s disappeared. So we don’t deal with Mike Ashley at all.

“He went on the Rangers [Retail Ltd] board to try and impose himself on Rangers.

“He failed miserably and he has cut and run. I guess he has bigger problems in life right now than worrying about the retail relationships with Rangers.

“It’s emotionally easier [to deal with others] because of the nature of the individual. But commercially we have proceeded on a basis we felt was commercially robust.

“We have been consistent. I think I have given same message repeatedly and we have continued on that path.

“Mike Ashley being in there or not in there is more about the energy he brings to it.

“Perhaps that negative energy not being there perhaps makes it easier but his other guys are also tough as well.”