Kieran Maguire: West Brom have struck new sponsor deal at ‘just the right time’
West Brom have chosen “just the right time” to announce a sponsorship deal with a trading firm.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the Baggies’ new deal with Trade Nation.
Albion announced the partnership with the London-based stock trading platform last Thursday (17 February).
The club posted a loss of £20.7million in the last recorded financial year, with commercial income accounting for £8.3m of total revenue.
Trading firms such as Trade Nation, eToro and various cryptocurrency companies have made huge inroads in football sponsorship in recent years.
And Maguire claims that the enhanced competition in the sponsorship market will have helped boost the value of the Trade Nation deal.
“With the increased competition, this is just the right time to do this sort of deal,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“There is a lot of competition for the spare money of people who are not necessarily overly familiar with the nature of what they are buying.
“But you can certainly see why West Brom would want to pick this up from a revenue generation perspective.
“There are concerns about the direction of travel about traditional gambling, so clubs are looking for the next best thing. This is gambling in all but name.“
The baggies are currently 13th in the Championship after six games without a win.
Steve Bruce’s side face Swansea City at the Hawthorns tomorrow (28 February).
In other news, Maguire claims West Brom will be ‘delighted’ after ‘£12.5m’ FFP boost confirmed.