Did I read that right? Five-year deal worth up to £20m with Lotto Italia?
Shrewd, shrewd business. This is the type of business acumen that we craved but could only dream about in the past.
I like performance related deals. They add greater rewards for success, even though I don’t think they should be the incentive for achieving success. That should always be down to ambition and desire before financial incentive.
If our progress goes according to plan, this deal could be worth enough to cover the outlay on all the transfer fees we’ve spent this season and their salaries to boot! That would be a smart and tidy return, or it could be worth enough to pay off the remainder of the ABC loan, or perhaps if we’re lucky, both!
It still remains to be seen as to who will be the actual kit sponsor next season and this could lead to further revenue coming into the club, so congratulations to the Board for securing the most lucrative commercial deal in our history!
But it’s easy to get carried away by all the hype and gawk at the figures here. The real pleasing aspect for me is that there is now some sustained and substantial income for the club over a period of time, and that provides us with further financial stability.
On the other hand, I’m excited about the new kits and merchandise planned for next season because I feel a lot of the existing stuff is quite tacky. There’s been many times when I’ve gone into the club shop really wanting to buy something but finding that nothing stood out for me and screamed “I’ve got to have that”.
