Mr Justice Peter Smith says the sports retailer has been ‘abusing processes of the court’ after withdrawing claims for damages against the football club

Sports Direct has “abused” the legal system, according to a high court judge presiding over the embattled retailer’s bitter legal battle with Rangers football club.

The latest denunciation came as the Sports Direct founder, Mike Ashley, said he would be inviting MPs to visit the company’s depot in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, following the barrage of parliamentary criticism in December in the wake of a Guardian investigation. It found that the retailer was effectively paying thousands of temporary warehouse workers below the minimum wage.

In the high court on Tuesday, Mr Justice Peter Smith took the surprising step of registering his disapproval of the company’s approach in its fight with Rangers, after Sports Direct withdrew its claim for damages in the case. Previously, the sportswear chain failed to have the football club’s chairman, Dave King, sent to prison over allegations that he had violated a gagging order.

King has been accused of breaching a confidentiality agreement between Rangers and the FTSE 100 group after giving an interview to Sky Sports in July, during which he mentioned meetings related to contracts Rangers has with Sports Direct.



Ashley, who owns 55% of the retailer, had claimed in his witness statement that the damage of the alleged breach and others ran into “millions of pounds”. The company then claimed £200,000 in damages, a level that ensured the case would be heard in the high court, before reducing the claim to £50,000 and then withdrawing it on Monday. Sports Direct is now asking for injunctions on the disclosure of its commercial deals with Rangers.

After being told by Sports Direct lawyers that the company was no longer seeking damages, Smith said: “The whole way that the claimants have been conducting themselves [in relation to the damages] … shows that they have been abusing processes of the court.”

Smith also struck out sections of Ashley’s witness statement that dealt with the alleged damages, which he said were not supported by a “statement of truth”.

William McCormick QC, for Rangers, told the judge: “They [Sports Direct] simply will not deal with us on a proper basis. I am sure it is not the lawyers. It must be because they are held by their instructions.”

The retailer’s claim that King breached the confidentiality agreement will be heard in February.

In December, when Sports Direct failed to have King sent to prison, Smith queried whether Ashley was interested in having a “sensible” business relationship with the Rangers chairman “or grinding him into the dust”. The judge added: “Maybe he is interested. I don’t know.”

Gordon Dinnie, the chairman of the Rangers supporters trust, said: “We are delighted with the comments of Mr Justice Smith today. Sports Direct and Mike Ashley have been a malign influence on Rangers since they first became involved. Their treatment of the club and the fans has been nothing short of a disgrace. The type of abuse which Mr Justice Smith spoke about is precisely our experience.”

The high court comments follow the company being widely chastised by politicians, businesspeople and unions following the publication of the Guardian investigation last month.



The coverage led to an urgent question and debate in parliament, calls for an investigation by HM Revenue & Customs, and criticism from the Institute of Directors, which described Sports Direct as a “scar on British business”.

Toby Perkins, the MP for Chesterfield, which is about 10 miles from the Shirebrook warehouse, tweeted a copy of a letter he received from Ashley, inviting him to discuss the recent controversies over working conditions at the plant. The MP later removed the tweet.

The letter said that “a small number” of other MPs who have written to the tycoon would also be invited, although Dennis Skinner and John Mann, two of the local MPs most outspoken on Sports Direct, have yet to receive an invitation.

On New Year’s Eve, Sports Direct pledged £10m for a pay rise for staff from the start of this year. Ashley has also promised to lead a review of all Sports Direct’s temporary staff terms and conditions.

The retailer did not comment.

