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Official: Sportsbet.io New Shirt Sponsor


Saint86
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8631227/15m-China-shirt-crisis-hits-Southampton-main-sponsor-LD-Sports-set-pull-plug-deal.html

I can't say i'm surprised by this. What a car crash of a sponsor from start to finish!

Does this mean we can get shirts without a sponsor on for the coming season? Or, failing that, we can get a different sponsor on the shirt in time?

Assume this is political as well given its impacting several clubs.

On that note, it is an interesting one to be honest, the Chinese are withholding the TV money funds and calling the league's bluff on future payments. That in itself has quite significant impacts due to the funding blackhole. But also relegating it to a sub prime tv channel may damage long term interest? I wonder what the long term financial impacts are for saints as well re ownership. Yes the owner doesn't invest in us anyway (so no loss there) but what if the Chinese government actually instruct owners to start actively damaging managed clubs? Is there a risk there?

 

Edited by Saint86
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2 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8631227/15m-China-shirt-crisis-hits-Southampton-main-sponsor-LD-Sports-set-pull-plug-deal.html

I can't say i'm surprised by this. What a car crash of a sponsor from start to finish!

Does this mean we can get shirts without a sponsor on for the coming season? Or, failing that, we can get a different sponsor on the shirt in time?

 

Wouldn’t be a pre-season without a shirt fiasco. 

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This was an absolute disaster from the word go. It wasn't a valid company from the off, they tried to create content on their website which was a direct copy of our OS.

I have no idea what their purpose as a company was, what they do, what they offer. There were lots of lies and made up bullshit in their pages as well.

The must suss and horrific sponsorship deal we've ever had. We'll probably lose out financially due to this as well, but good riddens to dodgy as hell crap. Hopefully Gao follows, as i'm sure he was involved heavily in getting this deal over the line in the first place.

Edited by S-Clarke
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2 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

This was an absolute disaster from the word go. It wasn't a valid company from the off, they tried to create content on their website which was a direct copy of our OS.

I have no idea what their purpose as a company was, what they do, what they offer. There were lots of lies and made up bullshit in their pages as well.

The must suss and horrific sponsorship deal we've ever had. We'll probably lose out financially due to this as well, but good riddens to dodgy as hell crap. Hopefully Gao follows, as i'm sure he was involved heavily in getting this deal over the line in the first place.

Completely agree. 

Anyone with an ounce of business sense could see this mob were not a real business and hardly a name we'd proudly associate our club with. 

We'll probably never know the real background to the deal but it stinks of corruption like our "owner". 

I'd be happy to leave shirt blank or try and do a cut price deal with Draper Tools to take over the contract. 

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1 minute ago, woodsaint1 said:

Who puts a break clause in a contract? Oh right, the same people who own the sponsor. What a sham. Lets just go sponsorless

Really not a good time to turn away potentially several million pounds for this season!

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Just now, woodsaint1 said:

Who puts a break clause in a contract? Oh right, the same people who own the sponsor. What a sham. Lets just go sponsorless

I didn't ever know where they were getting their money from anyway. They probably knew their entire sham was unsustainable, there was probably some very corrupt reason behind this deal. My hunch is involving some sort of money flowing between countries, hidden inside a sponsorship deal. They did what they needed in year 1, faked it all, and now they can 'break clause'. 

Gao probably knew every single thing about it, It was probably in his benefit. 

Lots of guesses and assumptions there for sure, but it always stunk of a corrupt relationship for reasons not benefiting our club.

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3 minutes ago, Crab Lungs said:

Would be nic for Gao et al to end their associaton with us as well.

Whole situation reeks... 

My hope and dream is that this is now the beginning of the end of any Chinese influence at our football club.

This entire sponsorship and Gao's ownership of us needs to be investigated by the authorities. He owns us for reasons for his benefit, not for us. It needs to be looked into, as it stinks and has done from the start.

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Just now, djharvey said:

You think the income from the deal was fake?

They probably paid us year 1, but I doubt there was ever any intention or substantial finance to fund year 2 and 3. They were a fake company, so I can't see where it would have come from. We were duped by our own owner.

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1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

They probably paid us year 1, but I doubt there was ever any intention or substantial finance to fund year 2 and 3. They were a fake company, so I can't see where it would have come from. We were duped by our own owner.

Pretty expensive 1st year for a fake company then! 

Lets hope we get something reasonable to replace them!

I wonder if the peeling sponsor logo is meant to be also? 😆

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Was very suprised there wasn't more made of LD Sports in the local media at the time - but I guess they are afraid to rock the boat.

Strange to go through all the shirt production this summer though only for this to happen.

Not a good time to be losing income, although you have to wonder how a company with no customers can pay £7.5m a year to sponsor something!

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15 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Looks like the sponsor logo falling off the shirt first wash was a blessing in disguise.

Perhaps it was all planned as part of a phased changeover. If you wash the shirt a second time you get an advert for ‘shots for £1’ in Orange Rooms.

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33 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I didn't ever know where they were getting their money from anyway. They probably knew their entire sham was unsustainable, there was probably some very corrupt reason behind this deal. My hunch is involving some sort of money flowing between countries, hidden inside a sponsorship deal. They did what they needed in year 1, faked it all, and now they can 'break clause'. 

Gao probably knew every single thing about it, It was probably in his benefit. 

Lots of guesses and assumptions there for sure, but it always stunk of a corrupt relationship for reasons not benefiting our club.

Absolutely, Hope this heralds a swift exit for Gao. DJ Harvey - it’s only a loss of income if it’s a genuine firm and can can pay the money. Happy to have Virgin again or anyone legit really. Which isn’t Gao. Gao out and clear decks with KL as well. 

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3 minutes ago, saint1977 said:

Absolutely, Hope this heralds a swift exit for Gao. DJ Harvey - it’s only a loss of income if it’s a genuine firm and can can pay the money. Happy to have Virgin again or anyone legit really. Which isn’t Gao. Gao out and clear decks with KL as well. 

If we can't/don't replace them it's a loss of income whatever!

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17 minutes ago, djharvey said:

If we can't/don't replace them it's a loss of income whatever!

Don’t worry, we will. The only time we nearly didn’t have a sponsor was at the height of the Branfoot protests when Dimplex stepped up late on. Different situation now with respected manager and improving team. Gao is a problem but I think most of the Chinese ‘owners’ will be told to sell clubs and he’s been looking to for a while anyway. Having a bone fide sponsor, which we will get, is better for the brand than a questionable one/nonentity. 

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16 minutes ago, Suhari said:

"As long as the money ends up in the bank."

(Don't remember the actual quote.....)

Something like that wasn’t it. It was obviously dodgy from the start which most people called. You have to question any country whose biggest export is a deadly virus

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It is understood the LD Sports decision has been influenced by the political situation between China and the UK, plus investment concerns due to ongoing uncertainties due to COVID-19.
 

This must surely stoke the fire of the club being up for sell rumours too. I do hope this means Gao will sell up soon. Obviously hope we can get a decent sponsor but a new decent owner would be even better.

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3 hours ago, Saint86 said:

On that note, it is an interesting one to be honest, the Chinese are withholding the TV money funds and calling the league's bluff on future payments. That in itself has quite significant impacts due to the funding blackhole. But also relegating it to a sub prime tv channel may damage long term interest? I wonder what the long term financial impacts are for saints as well re ownership. Yes the owner doesn't invest in us anyway (so no loss there) but what if the Chinese government actually instruct owners to start actively damaging managed clubs? Is there a risk there?

 

Wouldn’t be surprised if the reason that Live Premier League on Chinese TV being sidelined to a lesser platform is down to falling viewing figures, a 4pm kick off here is 11pm there, Final whistle is 1am in the morning. If you walk into most restaurants in China at 8pm at night they are quiet because the majority have already eaten and gone home. Go to any big city in the world and at 11pm there is still a hubbub of activity most nights of the week, stand in Guangzhou, Chinas 3rd biggest city with 13,000,000 inhabitants, and its remarkably quiet at 11pm, look out of the hotel bedroom at the high rise apartment blocks around and most of the lights are out, so aside from the earlier kick offs most live games are at a very unsociable hour. Chinese are materialist they like their nice things they, like their money to buy the nice things with, sitting at work on a Tuesday morning with matchsticks propping your eyes open because you got up at 3am to watch Crystal Palace v Burnley ain’t helping your productivity to earn more. 
Buggering up Chinese owned PL football clubs from within serves no purpose,
 

You might find eventually that this business with Man City and UEFA regarding the revenue streams from Golden Season Tickets ,over priced stadium naming rights etc, might have seen people poking around in the shadows looking at football clubs and their sources of income. Within minutes of the LD Sports announcement the sleuths on here had already found enough to go Hmmmmmm. We “had a break clause  in the deal after a year”, that was likely the first thing to be written down when putting the deal together as the ejector seat should the detail be inspected by an outside agency. The big 6 are coated in Teflon with a razor wire fence round them - Saints by contrast would be a big enough club to make a visible example of, but insignificant enough for the vast majority of football fans to not give a tinkers cuss about the ramifications of whatever sanction is dreamed up for us.

Still gives us something a bit more meaty to ponder, than threads asking “If you bought a Dog which Saints player would you name it after?” To while away the days to the 12th September.

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Guess that money ain't hitting our account "in pounds sterling" then - nor any other currency Gao would care to mention. 🙄

That he unambiguously stated his willingness for the club to accept money of 'unknown' origin (hmm...) probably says a fair amount about the man's moral fibre. 

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4 hours ago, CanadaSaint said:

How the hell is the average fan supposed to keep up with this shit?

First we need velcro on the back for the player's name, and now we need it on the front for the sponsor.

Maybe we could be sponsored by Velcro........Oh no, that's a rip off too. Sorry!

In all seriousness, who pays for the many thousands of shirts that have been manufactured that now won't be sold. 

No doubting it is a shambles. Many of us mere mortals smelled a rat at the time of the sponsorship deal. How come our highly paid executives and decision makers didn't. Or maybe they did and had no choice but to  bite their collective lips because it was coming from the very top that this would be the deal. Maybe if/when our owner goes, the truth will be revealed in time. 

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The story is a bit dramatic (daily mail surprise surprise!)

It would only leave us £15M down if we didn’t have a sponsor for the next two years which is obviously not going to happen. It might see us not receive as much much would imagine it’ll only be £5M short over two years. 
 

Also if the club have known about it and have been looking for a new sponsor do you think they would have sold shirts with their logo on knowing they will have to replace them if the sponsor changes?

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Totally agree, Saints are well rid of LD Sports. To say they lacked substance is an understatement.

However worth noting that £15,000,000 is no trifling amount. Not far off income from season tickets.

I suspect our view on dodgy sponsors would soften if faced with a doubling of season ticket prices.

Not a good time to be looking for new sponsors. I doubt there are many legitimate companies looking to spend that sort of money, at the moment. However Saints remain a decent brand so hopefully someone will step in.

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The shirt having Chinese characters on it that Hampshire people can't read felt odd at first for a team based in Southampton, but it's a reminder that the Premier League is a  competition between international companies using the names and colours of what used to be English football clubs..  As fans, we are here to finance the gravy train by being encouraged to pay for TV packages; through match day fees and by buying merchandise, including overpriced shirts.

Unfortunately football is a drug that we get addicted to.  We carry on paying, even when we don't like who owns our club or how it is run. Am I right in thinking that no German club could be Chinese owned? 

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Just bought £173 worth of shirts for my grandsons which are about to be posted to Belgium and South Africa !

If they pull the plug on this, I'll be about £200 down and lumbered with out of date products !

I wonder what they'll do to compensate ??

Watch this space..... 

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I think a few of you need to read the article in more detail.  It is not about LD Sport being a dodgy company,  Two Premier League clubs with Chinese sponsors are affected and one Championship club.  It is entirely political / economic.  The club are already looking at ways to support fans who have already purchased shirts.  Ownership is unaffected.

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