Liverpool Football Club's shirt sponsor, Standard Chartered, has defended its record-breaking partnership with the beleaguered soccer club.
In September 2009 the bank signed a record US$132.6 million sponsorship deal with Liverpool, a club that is currently languishing in the lower reaches of the Premier League table. "To have attracted a partner of the calibre of Standard Chartered Bank says everything about where we are trying to take this football club," said Liverpool's managing director, Christian Purslow, at the time of the deal.
Since that time Liverpool Football Club has endured a lengthy and controversial sale period and, despite being successfully taken over by New England Sports Ventures (NESV) earlier in the month, the team has suffered its worst start to a Premier League season for 57 years.
However, speaking at the Brand Finance Forum 2010 in London, Standard Chartered's group head of corporate affairs, Gavin Laws, has defended the decision to enter a four-year sponsorship deal with the English soccer club.
Adopting the 'any publicity is good publicity' approach Laws has announced that the deal has paid a "significant" role in improving the bank's exposure, particular in its Asian-targeted markets where Liverpool has a large fanbase, declaring that the first US$33.15 million installment has already been recouped through media exposure.
Laws added that it was, "almost a shame that [Liverpool] had sorted out the ownership issue, as they're no longer on the front page of the Financial Times."
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