Manchester United miss out on £200m kits deal
Manchester United have missed out on a £200million sponsorship deal due to the fall-out from their failed bid to join the European Super League.
Pressure from protesters against all the club’s commercial partners has forced Manchester-based The Hut Group to withdraw from an agreement to sponsor the club’s training kit.
They were due to replace AON with the words MyProtein, a firm owned by THG, on the tops in a ten-year deal.
But United will now look for a new sponsor and are feeling nervous about how toxic their brand may be, with a huge part of their income coming from sponsorships.
A fan group calling itself Notapennymore has launched a social media campaign aimed at the club’s main sponsors – which include Adidas, who sell United kits around the world, Cadbury and more.
They issued an open letter to all the commercial partners claiming their products would be targeted causing The Hut Group to pull out.
This happened a week after protests at Old Trafford and the club’s Lowry hotel base forced their home game against Liverpool to be postponed.
There was already a huge dissatisfaction with the owning Glazer family – who have cost the club £1.5billion in servicing the debt they lumbered the club with during their 2005 takeover.
They had not engaged with fans in their sixteen years in charge. Co-chairman Avram Glazer has not been to Old Trafford in four years while Joel Glazer has not been for two.
