A lawyer for Chris Ronnie has hit out at allegations being made about the former JJB chief executive, who was named on Thursday by his former company as part of an investigation into possible fraud in the sports retail market.

Tony Barnfather said his client was being made a “scapegoat” in the investigation, which centres on possible price fixing between JJB and its rival Sports Direct at a time when Mr Ronnie was in charge at JJB.