NEW SPONSORS

Manchester United yesterday announced a £56.5 million record-breaking sponsorship deal with American insurance giant AIG and then took a sideswipe at Chelsea by telling them they cannot yet match their global appeal.

United's four-year contract is worth £3.1 million more a year than Chelsea's previous British record deal with Samsung. It is also the second largest sponsorship contract in world football behind Juventus's £15 million-a-year deal with Libyan oil company Tamoil.

United's commercial director, Andy Anson, said: "It's satisfying to beat Chelsea's deal. But I would expect it is because Chelsea are not yet a global brand. There are certainly countries where success in the Premiership is very important, such as Korea and Japan.

"Around the world there's a depth of feeling for United. That's grown up over years and it doesn't go away overnight. For me, this deal confirms that. Having gone around the world meeting so many companies it became clear that the gloss of United is as bright as ever."

The AIG agreement comes three days after online gambling company Mansion accused United of double-dealing after their decision to pull the plug on a £70 million agreement with them. The deal appears to vindicate that decision because, though the value is £13.5 million less, it is not as potentially damaging to United's brand.

The Daily Telegraph revealed yesterday how United directors were concerned about signing a deal with a gambling company and expressed doubts about Mansion's financial connections to Sampoerna, Indonesia's biggest cigarette manufacturer.

The contract also dispels the doubts over United's commercial appeal since last May's £790 million takeover by the Glazer family.

Anson says that he spoke to 100 companies during the search for a sponsor to replace Vodafone, whose £9 million-a-year deal comes to an end this summer.

He added: "AIG are hardly known in Britain but they're one of the five biggest companies in the world. That will help our global reach."

Anson was singled out for criticism by Mansion chief operating officer David Kinsman earlier this week after United pulled out of the deal with the online casino operator.

Bryan Glazer, one of the three Glazer brothers on the United board, was at Old Trafford yesterday for the announcement but he watched from the front row of the press conference, flanked by two security guards, rather than take a seat at the top table.

The Independent seems to think that Money will keep us all quiet.

Manchester United rejected the biggest sponsorship deal in world football to embrace an agreement that will not only promote a healthier image in America and Asia but, club officials insisted yesterday, usher in a new era of acceptance for the Glazer family at Old Trafford.

The price of avoiding controversy was put at £10m as United signed a four-year, £56.5m sponsorship deal with the insurance giant American International Group (AIG) just four days after withdrawing from negotiations with an online gambling company who had offered £65m-£70m to become only the third name on the club shirt. Mansion, backed by the Indonesian billionaire and former tobacco tycoon Putera Sampoerna, was deemed too risky a proposition by a club that is anxious not to alienate its support following the controversy of last summer's takeover by the Glazers, and so a company ranked third in the Forbes 2000 list won the right to replace Vodafone from next season.

"Let's be clear," the United chief executive David Gill said. "We passed up the opportunity to do the world's biggest shirt deal to do the right shirt deal, one that is right for Manchester United and one that underlines our position as the world's leading club." The contract may be worth less than the £15m-a-year Juventus receive from the Libyan oil company Tamoil but, at £14.125m a year, it represents the largest secured in English football, eclipsing Chelsea's contract with Samsung.