Liverpool to play in S'pore
LIVERPOOL, the record 18-time English league soccer champion, will play in Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong at the end of the season, Bloomberg News reported. The club also renewed a sponsorship deal with Bank of America Corp.
The Reds, who have millions of supporters in Asia, haven't been as active as Manchester United and Chelsea in touring abroad. United will return to the region for a fifth time in 10 years in July, while Chelsea will take part in the Barclays Asia Trophy that same month.
'If you are going to build a business overseas a key part is to allow people to touch and feel the product on a regular basis,' commercial director Ian Ayre said in an interview with Bloomberg News yesterday. 'What's clear is that there's an opportunity for Liverpool to do much better than they had in the past.' The team intends to continue climbing up soccer's rich list, said Mr Ayre, 45, who is a candidate to replace outgoing chief executive officer Rick Parry. Mr Ayre joined the club two years ago.
According to a Deloitte report released last month, Liverpool is the seventh-richest club in the world with revenues of 210.9 million euros (S$409 million). The third-place Premier League team gained one place from the year before and Mr Ayre says sponsorship gains made in the past 12 months mean he 'would be shocked if we didn't climb further.'
The Bank of America sponsorship will last four years and is worth 5 million pounds (S$11 million). The American bank can use the five-time European champion's logo in its branding and gets access to corporate seats at Anfield stadium, Mr Ayre said. Other transactions are under discussion.
'We are in very, very late stage discussions with two or three very big sponsors,' he said, without giving details. He said they were in the consumer electronics, gaming and automotive sectors.
Mr Ayre wouldn't comment on speculation about him replacing Parry, who'll step down at the end of the season. The director, who ran Asian operations of satellite dish maker Pace Micro Technology, is close to Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks, who described his appointment two year's ago as 'heaven sent.' 'At this stage I am just committed to driving forward the commercial operations of this football club,' said Mr Ayre.
Liverpool owners Hicks and George Gillett have squabbled since they bought the club in 2007. The pair has four months to refinance a 300 million-pound loan with Royal Bank of Scotland Plc and Wachovia amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
They remain in talks with Kuwait's Al-Kharafi family, an American group and another one in the Middle East to raise private funding that according to British media may lead to Gillett's departure.
Manager Rafael Benitez is also stalling on signing a new contract after turning down previous offers, saying they failed to meet his demand for greater control over transfers.
Source:
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_345757.html
wonder if sunderland will come n pack A380? :embrass:
