Liverpool tops the league...in shirt deals

By Ifeanyi Ibeh


October 9, 2010 07:01PM


Liverpool are on the wrong end of the English Premier League table and languishing in massive debt but they remain top of the table as far as income earned from shirt endorsement deals are concerned.


Without a doubt England's most successful football club and one of the biggest sides in the world, Liverpool's performance as far as the 2010/2011 season is concerned has been one not befitting of a club with such a proud history.

Although they have not won a league title for close to 19 years, they have added a host of other titles to their long list of honours, and even won the UEFA Champions League for the fifth time in their 118-year history as ‘recently' as 2005.

But they are currently in the relegation zone on the Premier League table and, worse still, could suffer a nine-point penalty if their present owners' holding company is put into administration.

Previously, it was believed that Liverpool will not be penalised if Kop Holdings, the company owned by Tom Hicks and George Gilliett, were to be put into administration but now a nine-point penalty is reportedly becoming a serious threat especially if Hicks and Gilliett continue to block the proposed £300 million takeover by New England Sports Ventures (NESV) and do not pay off their £280m debt by October 15; a situation that might force the Royal Bank of Scotland to put Kop Holdings into administration.

Premier League rules state that because Kop Holdings is solely focused on the ownership of Liverpool and football-related matters, a nine-point penalty is a possibility.

West Ham United were in a similar situation when their holding company Icelandic Bank Straumur became insolvent, but they escaped a point deduction because Straumur had financial interests in other ventures, not just a football club, unlike Kop Holdings.

Pick of the pack

But the Reds, irrespective of their current travails, are right there at the top when it comes to shirt endorsements along with bitter rivals Manchester United who, like Liverpool, were purchased by an American investor.

Although the disparity between the top teams and the bottom is wide, all the 20 Premier League clubs can boast of shirt deals that are comparable with those of some of the world's top football leagues.

In total the Premier League clubs have signed shirt deals worth £403.9 million, with durations ranging on the average between one and four years. And on top of that list are Liverpool and Manchester United with deals worth £80 million, about £20 million annually.

Globally, only two other clubs have shirt deals greater than those of these two. They are Spain's Real Madrid and Bayern Munich of Germany, both with annual figures slightly under £22 million.

Chelsea and Tottenham follow suit behind the fierce English rivals with shirt deals that annually rake in £12 million and £10 million respectively for them. Manchester City follows next before the duo of Aston Villa and Arsenal follow suit.

Although Arsenal's deal with Emirates only rakes in around £6 million annually, the United Arab Emirates-based airliner's deal with the London based club signed back in 2006 saw Emirates doling out £100 million for a 15-year period, along with the right to the name of their current home ground.

Back in 2006, the deal was considered outrageous by industry watchers as it was unprecedented. But just four years down the road, what was then considered the most expensive sponsorship deal ever is proving to be quite small compared to existing contracts with other clubs in the same category as the Gunners.

Worse part of it all for Arsenal is that they still have another 11 years to go before the end of their deal with Emirates.