Global belt tightening brings mixed fortunes to the big four

Manchester Utd’s £14m-a-year- AIG shirt sponsorship looked to be on rocky ground earlier this week, and the future of the deal looked no more certain as the US Federal Reserve rescued the insurance behemoth with a £47bn refinancing package yesterday: rather understandably, they will no longer consider sports sponsorship a ‘core activity’.

According to this morning’s Guardian, however, the frailty of the American International Group should not concern United as much as the intentions of the Glazer family. Malcolm and co have been forced to spend $150bn on ‘PIK‘ loans in recent months, the interest on which is a hefty 14.45 per cent. A Glazer representative insists that “the investment is for the long term,” although the Guardian strongly suspects ex Football League chairman, United fan and major dealmaker Keith Harris is touting

United fans: your replica shirts could be on the verge of going broke

According to today’s Sunday Times, insurance behemoth AIG,whose logo decorates the shirts of Manchester United, could be the next financial giant to be brought to its knees.

“AIG shares have slumped as the cost of insuring its debt has risen and concerns have grown that the company may be the next big American financial firm to run short of cash,” says the paper, leaving United and their fans with the embarrassing prospect of bearing the stamp of failure on their chests.

West Ham’s shirt sponsor, travel firm XL, went out of business earlier this week, leading the club to suspend all sales of their replica shirts bearing the XL logo while they looked for another benefactor. The Hammers yesterday ran out against West Brom without any shirt advertising.

If AIG should suddenly find themselves out of the insurance business, United will doubtless have little trouble finding some other corporate entity eager to pay generously to sit next to them. On the downside, these financial thunderclaps should come as a warning to bloated Premier League football teams as to just how easily the money pipe can get disconnected. On the upside, for Manchester United at least, they could soon have another whole new set of replica shirts available for their fans to buy.