Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Shirt sponsors

Charlton have just signed a very drab sponsorship deal with an air conditioning company. The logo looks like it belongs in the Conference South. It got me thinking, who were the worse sponsorships of all time?

I found a top 10. Here they are, and one will be very familiar to some of you..

10) AC Milan: Pooh

The sponsors: 1960s band Pooh were dubbed 'the Italian Beatles' before a quick-thinking jeans company squeezed in to nick the name. Their tie-up with Milan, which began in season 1981-81, is commonly reckoned to be the world's first shirt sponsorship.

Impact on the club: Hardly flushed with success. MIlan didn't win a thing of note until switching to the disappointingly normal Opel in the 1990s.

9) FC Nurnberg: Mister Lady

The sponsors: Fittingly for Nurnberg, being sponsored by a clothes shop with teenagers proved a bit of a trial.

Impact on the club: Relegated and promoted under Mister Lady in the last two seasons, the club is now backed by energy firm Areva.

8) Denmark: Dong

The sponsors: The energy firm has sponsored the Danes since 2004, though their contract expires next season.

Impact on the team: FIFA world ranking drooped from 15th to 38th under Dong, though has recently recovered to 26th.

7) Roma: Wind

The sponsors: Italy's third-largest mobile phone company trumped rivals to become Roma's backers in 2007 and will carry on until the end of the season - when it will be Gone With The Wind.

Impact on the club: Have been Serie A runners-up and Coppa Italian winners with the Wind at their backs (or fronts) but are currently in mid-table.

6) Clydebank: Wet Wet Wet

The sponsors: Hairgel-loving local soul/popsters the Wets backed the Bankies from 1993-1997, the period which saw them spend 15 weeks at No.1 with Love Is All Around - eventually deleting the single to give someone else a chance - while frontman Marti Pellow developed a nasty heroin addiction.

Impact on the club: Spent much of the sponsorship in the doldrums, then recorded a record low attendance of 29 in 1999 before going out of business in 2002. Now reborn in the lower leagues.

5) Brighton: Nobo

The sponsors: Cocky suppliers of flip-chart easels and office products. Once had a board at the ground reading 'Nobo Supports Brighton'; cheeky rivals allegedly added the letters d and y to the sponsors' name.

Impact on the club: Relegated to Division Three in the second year of the sponsorship and remained there throughout, losing in the Wembley play-off final as Nobo shrunk away.

4) Club America: Bimbo

The sponsors: Bimbo was the first Mexican firm to introduced sliced bread, which is colloquially known as 'pan Bimbo' in the country. They've been backing Club America since 1995.

Impact on the club: Though they're Mexico's richest side, Club America are decidedly not the best thing since sliced bread - they've not won the title with 'Bimbo' on their shirts.

3) Oxford United: Wang

The sponsors: Computer firm sponsored Robert Maxwell's side from 1985-1989. The Us then wore the name of Maxwell's academic books company, Pergamon, until the Fat Man went swimming in 1991. Wang fared about as well, filing for bankruptcy protection in 1992.

Impact on the club: Won the League Cup as a promoted side in the first year of the sponsorship but, once Maxwell had lost interest having bought Derby County, were relegated in the final season.

2) St Johnstone: Bonar

The sponsors: A local weaver of yarns for the carpet trade, the unfortunately-named Bonar backed the Saints to celebrate their diversification into artificial turf. They've recently supplied useless NFL team the St Louis Rams with a new practice pitch.

Impact on the club: As you'd expect from getting a Bonar, things went upwards for the Saints. They won the Scottish First Division in the first season of the sponsorship and reached the Scottish Cup semis (no giggling at the back) in its final year.

And the most embarrassing shirt sponsor of all is...

1) Lyon: Le 69

The sponsors: They might be all but killed off Liverpool's Champions League hopes, but at least if the Anfield club had to sport their local dialling code on their shirts it'd only say 0151. In Lyon's case, things were slightly different in the early 1990s...

Impact on the club: Despite their sniggersome sponsors, Lyon were promoted and consolidated in Ligune Une under handballer's pal Raymond Domenech - possibly because opponents were transfixed by their kit.

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