Virgin Money sponsors shirts but stadium still advertises Sports Direct
Posted on January 5th, 2012 | 41 Comments |
As you could no doubt tell by the shirts the team wore last night, Newcastle United have brokered a deal with Virgin Money until the end of the 2013/2014 season. Last night Derek Llambias said:
“We’re delighted to secure this new deal with Virgin Money and we look forward to enjoying a mutually beneficial partnership over the coming seasons. It is an excellent deal for both parties and we’re very happy to have them on board.“
He didn’t add anything about how ‘f****** horrible’ he can be this time.
Virgin, for their part, said:
“Now that Virgin Money and Northern Rock are united as one business, it gives us great pleasure to continue the shirt sponsorship of Newcastle United Football Club.
“The Northern Rock sponsorship started in 2003 and it is an important link to the North East which we are pleased to continue.
“Combined with our sponsorship of the Virgin London Marathon and the Edinburgh Festival ‘Fringe on the high street’, the shirt sponsorship of Newcastle United embeds our involvement in the communities we serve.“
Apparently the first 10,000 supporters with 2011/12 season shirts who bring them to the club shop will receive a free Virgin Money update to their top.
The financial details of the deal have not been revealed, so we can only guess at what it might be worth. The Telegraph reckons it could be worth about £20m, but I reckon it’s more likely to be for around the same amount Northern Rock would have paid if they had remained sponsors, which is £3m a season.
However the stadium remains unsponsored and, you’d think, less likely to attract sponsors now that the shirts deal has been struck with Virgin Money. This adds fuel to the speculation in some quarters that Mike Ashley is simply planning to use the stadium name to promote Sports Direct. I’ve always wondered if that’s a possibility, although in my more charitable moments I’d like to think that Ashley would sell the stadium name for the right money.
In terms of club finances this doesn’t really mean much because we’re just replacing one financial stream that’s dried up with another, similar one. Unless, that is, it’s as The Telegraph speculates and the deal is worth double what Northern Rock was paying. If that’s the case you’d like to think some of that extra money might be available for the team but, well, we know how these things go by now!
Wasn’t it Sir John Hall who said one of the reasons Ashley had bought the club was to use it as a vehicle to promote his cheap T-Shirt business?
Anyway, I doubt he’s gone to the time and trouble of sticking his crappy signs all over St James’ Park and his futile attempt to rename it – just to take it all back overnight and hand the rights to another company.