Finance guru: Man City have been ‘caught out’ as new sponsor mystery analysed
Man City have been “caught out” with their commercial partnership with Wega.
That is the view of finance expert Doctor Dan Plumley, speaking exclusively to Football Insider‘s Adam Williams about City’s mystery sponsor deal.
City have been partnered with the contactless card payments company since 2015.
But analysis from Off The Pitch last Friday (28 January) revealed the firm has no staff or active products and is being run out of a London mailbox.
This news comes just weeks after City were forced to abandon their partnership with cryptocurrency firm 3Key for similar reasons.
City could be in for some bad press off the back of the latest findings, claims Plumley.
“It’s a strange one,” the Sheffield Hallam University expert told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“After the 3Key deal, there’s a chance for negative PR off the back of this.
“Although, there is a lot of stuff going on at City that would probably offset that to an extent.
“Proper due diligence is probably more important now than ever before, especially in this sector.
“I’d expect more work for legal experts moving forward in reviewing commercial partnerships. Clubs don’t want to miss out.
“If it is going to be a growth area, you don’t want to not be on that train.
“The problem at the moment is that no one knows what the train looks like or where it’s going.
“I’d be amazed if a club like City aren’t doing due diligence.
“But this is another story highlighting that we don’t know enough about these companies, and even the biggest clubs like City are getting caught out.”
City have signed new commercial deals with UAE-based firms Masdar, Aldar and Emirates Palace in 2022.
They posted commercial revenues of £217.6million for the 2020-21 season.
In other news, Kieran Maguire tips Man City to bypass transfer rules after Fifa update.