Article Taxonomy: Shirt Sponsorship

Unusual kit sponsorship deal

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Kettering Town are in a financially precarious position and Betfair have come up with an unusual sponsorship deal to help them out.   They are sponsoring this Saturday’s match against Stockport County, but players must take to the field in complete 1970s replica kit, including vintage-style shirts and the ‘short shorts’ which were typical of the era.


The sponsorship commemorates the fact that the Poppies were the first English side to have a sponsor’s name on their shirts.

Standard Chartered mollified by Liverpool

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Liverpool’s sponsors Standard Chartered have made it clear that they are not happy about the way that the club handled the Suárez affair.   The bank said, ‘We were very disappointed by Saturday’s incident [at Old Trafford] and have discuss our concerns with the club.’   An ‘inisder’ is quoted by The Times as saying, ‘It was a very robust conversation.’

New kit deal boosts Liverpool

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Liverpool have been boosted by their £150m six year kit deal with American company Warrior.   Current manufacturers Adidas had claimed that the club was asking too much and had priced themselevs out of the market.


This is the first season since 1999/2000 that Liverpool have not competed in Europe but managing director Ian Ayre believes that the club’s global appeal gives them the financial muscle to absorb revenue lost from missing out on European football.

Branson dons the shirt

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The iconic appeal of a top club’s shirt was evident when Sir Richard Branson donned one in Newcastle yesterday for the launch of the rebranding of Northern Rock as Virgin Money.  For it quickly became apparent that Branson, who said that he now supports Newcastle United, has limited knowledge of football.   He referred to the club’s ‘three love’ win against Manchester United and his ball control skills in a photo stunt appeared clumsy, leading bystanders to express the hope that he handled the business better than the ball.

Marketing Barcelona

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The former vice-president and general manager of Barcelona, Ferran Soriano, has written a book entitled Goal the title of which is clearly designed to appeal to football fans, but the sub-title reveals its real intended market Management Ideas from the World of Football.    Moreover, the book is published by Palgrave-Macmillan, the publishing house I primarily use, but we took The Transformation of European Football to Manchester University Press who are building up a list in the area.

United show their marketing savvy

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The significance of Manchester United’s £10m a year training kit deal with DHL is undelined by the fact that it represents half the value of the club’s sponsorship contract with insurance company Aon.  The DHL deal is worth more to United than the shirt sponsorship deal the club signed a decade ago with Vodafone.


The four year deal is a pioneering form of sponsorship for an English football club.  It is borrowed from the US where players wear sponsor-branded training apparel to maximise commercial opportunities for their teams.

United get training kit deal

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Manchester United are to become the first club to have a sponsor just for their training kit.  This week they will announce a £4m a season agreement wuth logistics company DHL.   This means that in effect the space on Wayne Rooney’s training bib is more valauable than that on the first team shirts of twelve top flight rivals.

The Arsenal stadium mystery, Part 2

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For a Premiership neutral, many of the big questions about the forthcoming season relate to Arsenal.  It could be a make or break season for them and Arsene Wenger.   I like the kind of football that Wenger provides, but at that level of football, it is also important to win trophies.   Should Arsenal fail to qualify for the Champions League next month it will leave a gap of around £25m in their finances.

Evo-Stik moves south

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After two years as the Zamaretto League, the Southern League has recruited Evo-Stik as its new sponsors.  They already sponsor the Northern Premier League where their deal is reportedly worth £150,000 a year.  The Southern League will receive an estimated £100,000, a great improvement on the £35,000 a year provided by Zamaretto.

Liverpool urged to sign Asian players

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Liverpool FC have been urged to sign Asian players by their sponsors Standard Chartered.   Their sponsorship chief Gavin Laws commented. ‘One appearance from a player, say from Dubai in the Premier League, and you’d have the whole of Dubai watching it.’

Although Standard Chartered is based in London, much of its income comes from the Asian market.  Laws felt that the exposure would be commercially beneficial to his company.