Man United sponsors to add 'serious clauses' due to fans causing trouble
Manchester United fans' planned boycott of the club's sponsors could have a hugely damaging effect in the long term.
That is according to former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that the "divorce" between the club and the fans will cause major issues when the time comes for sponsors to renew their deals.
The Red Devils' fans are planning to boycott the use of any companies that sponsor the club in an official capacity, plus any companies owned by either Sir Jim Ratcliffe or the Glazer family.
Wyness believes that the boycott could potentially hurt United's global appeal as a club, which is set to have sponsors "watching very closely."
The supporters are aiming to oust Ratcliffe and the Glazers from the top of the club, amid another difficult start to a season.
Wyness expects their efforts to have little impact in the short term, but potentially huge ramifications if they sustain it over a wider period.
Man United sponsors to rely on 'serious clauses'
Everton’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that United's sponsors will aim to add more "serious clauses" in their deals if the relationship between the club and its fans continues to worsen.
The Scottish businessman expects businesses to start including more simple exit clauses, plus more milestones that would need to be achieved for them to invest in full.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, Wyness was in no doubt that the fans' actions could be extremely damaging later down the line.
"The impact is minimal in the short term in the sense that most of the sponsor deals are on fixed-term, multi-year contracts and they're fixed prices," he said.
"The big problem United have got is at the renewal time. Because United's biggest asset is this massive global fan base. If there is a divorce between the fans and the club, then those sponsors are going to start demanding much more serious clauses in their contracts.
"They'd make them much more flexible, with more milestones and different things that have to be achieved.
"The fan bases are clever now, and they know where it's going to hurt, and it's going to be at those periods of renewals. Now we've seen the sleeve sponsor and the training kit have not been as quick as they would have been before. So maybe those things are starting to bite.
"Sponsors are looking at this very closely, believe me. And when it comes to renewal, that's the time that these issues will come out on the table."
Man United plan legal action against Man City
Football Insider revealed earlier this week that several Manchester United staff members are planning to take legal action against Manchester City after they were found guilty of 114 financial breaches.
The United employees believe that they have a case for lost earnings, having missed out on win bonuses and other incentives across the nine-year period when City were breaking the rules.
Sources say that some employees could stand to earn as mich as £20,000 if they successfully argued their case.
This comes amid the news that several clubs are also considering taking legal action against the Citizens, with a legal web set to emerge in the coming weeks.