Saturday, December 11, 2010

Curioser and Curioser



So, just one week after the strangest few moments in the recent history of FIFA comes the news that FC Barcelona have secured the biggest deal in football sponsorship, £125 million over five years with the Qatar Foundation. When I read about the deal last night I was initially excited, after all until rececntly Barcelona had not had a sponsors name on their shirts and when they did sign with UNICEF, they actually paid the sponsors?

The award of the 2022 World Cup to a country that could be described as a hotbed, albeit not one of the football variety, was greeted with dismay and disbelief. Yes the bid was supervised by Mike Lee, the man who was responsible for London and Rio being awarded the next two Olympics and yes the bid was supported by several football legends, most prominently Zinedine Zidane, Sir Alex Ferguson, Dutch great Ronald de Boer and Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, but was that enough?

Well this latest development is sure to raise more questions about all sorts of things and whilst I am not linking one with the other, beyond some thinking aloud on this page, you can be sure that any future sponsorships will be greeted by the raising of eyebrows.

btw - I've sacked my photo editor, I asked for a picture of muddied waters and I got the great bluesman Muddy Waters instead. Still, what do you expect for minimum wage?


1 comment:

Span Ows said...

Love the afterthought! I was thinking it was a music post of a new album you had procured at first.

Yes re the Qatar thing, I can understand ZZ and the Muslim link and Guradiola now that we know 'why', but Fergueson? Anyway, as you (don't say)...watch this space.