THE ELUSIVE SEARCH FOR GOLD

The Times reports that Anson has been demanding as much as £20 million a season for shirt sponsorship but he has been forced to revise such demands downwards.

‘The Barclays Premiership club are in talks with several companies, most notably Etihad Airways, the United Arab Emirates carrier, which is believed to have offered about £8 million — about £1 million less than Vodafone are paying. United consider the offer too low, but many in the industry believe that, with the market a little depressed, the club may have to settle for about £12 million. This is still more than the £11 million a season that Chelsea are paid by Samsung.

Etihad Airways wants to increase its exposure in this country and recently announced that it would begin daily Manchester to Abu Dhabi flights, possibly in March next year. United have been approached by a number of international technology companies, such as Google, Yahoo!, Sony and LG, but Coca-Cola is not interested. The drinks manufacturer, which sponsors the Football League, does not want to alienate other clubs by sponsoring one team, and it already sponsors the World Cup and Wayne Rooney, the United forward.’