The fallout from the failed attempt to get the European Super League off the ground last month has but ownership of the clubs involved under more pressure than ever before.
While Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur may have renounced the competition since their horrendous miscalculation several weeks back, such has been the impact of the proposals that the likes of Fenway Sports Group have never seen their stock so low among fans.
FSG principal owner John W. Henry was fairly swift in trying to put the fire out, his video apology to fans 48 hours after the proposals were first made public at least demonstrating a level of contrition, while the Glazer family's silence in the aftermath only served to exacerbate an already toxic situation with regards to their relationship with United fans.
Liverpool had a sponsorship hit that was directly related to the Super League plot, with Tribus Watches removing themselves from their partnership with the Reds in the hours that followed last month's announcement of the intention of 12 'founding clubs' to breakaway and form their own competition.
Since then, while the anger remains among some Reds fans, there have been some strides forward with the supporters' group Spirit of Shankly meeting with Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan to discuss how trust can be rebuilt and demand more supporter representation at board level, giving them a say in key matters that relate to upholding the traditions of the football club and its place at the heart of the community in which it resides.
It has been a case of absentee ownership at Old Trafford in recent weeks, with the Glazer family facing calls to sell up as fans went on the offensive, with protests finding their way to the Old Trafford pitch and causing the postponement of the clash with Liverpool.
Thursday's rearranged fixture had threatened to offer more of the same as fans gathered once more to vent their anger at the club's US owners.
United fans have moved to try and hit the Glazers in the pocket in order to force them to sell the club, targeting their sponsors and commercial partnerships as part of their #NotAPennyMore campaign.
And sponsors could be facing millions of pounds of digital overspend as a result of the campaign, with the volume of United's global fan base mobilising to try and get their message across loud and clear.
Global brands like Adidas, Chevrolet and Tag Heuer are being dragged into the #NotAPennyMore anti-Glazer fan campaign, and fans have been urged to click multiple times on any of United’s 50 listed sponsors’ Google Ads. The action of clicking on the online ads immediately threatens to rack up worrying bills for the club’s sponsors, which one digital specialist says could very easily run into ‘millions of pounds.’
United have already seen a potential £200m, 10-year deal with The Hut Group that was set to be inked pulled away in recent days as a result of the protests, although they have managed to secure a new global betting partner in Hua Ti Hui (HTH) in the past week, with branding appearing on the Old Trafford LED advertising boards around the pitch during the 4-2 loss at home to Liverpool on Thursday evening.
Analysis from digital marketing agency Mediaworks points to hefty overspend that sponsors will have to meet, something that will damage their relationship with the United brand itself.
CEO and founder at Mediaworks, Brett Jacobson said: “When looking at the digital evidence, it’s very easy to see how this could very quickly start costing Manchester United’s sponsors a lot of money. This could easily run into sums comfortably into the millions.
“We’ve already seen one major sponsor pull back from a new deal this week and this move by the fans to light the match on some digital dynamite as a means to remove the Glazer family as owners of the club has every possibility of having the desired effect. There could be some very awkward boardroom conversations between United and their sponsors if this plays out as the fans hope.”
Digital specialists at Mediaworks have evidenced more than 51,000 uses of the #NotAPennyMore hashtag on social media platforms, with daily use rocketing 62% to peak at more than 7,000 mentions a day.
At the same time, assessment of Google Trends data suggests that popularity of searches for just five of Manchester United’s key partners – Adidas, Chevrolet, Tag Heuer, Kohler and AON - have doubled in the last 48 hours just in the UK alone.
Using freely available Google Ads data to calculate what that could mean to advertising costs for these brands, Mediaworks says it paints a bleak picture for the marketing budgets of those in the firing line.
Jacobson said: “We’ve looked at the top end cost per click data for just those five brands, a price they could reasonably expect to be charged by Google for this type of fan activity. Generously assuming that only one quarter of those choosing to look up these sponsors in the last 48 hours decide to click just once on their Google Ads, that could be an eye-watering bill in excess of £1.2m they could be collectively facing this month alone. And that figure could easily skyrocket.
“Manchester United has 50 listed key partners and sponsors that the #NotAPennyMore activists claim they’ll target. As Glazer’s Stateside accountants might be nervously whispering right now, ‘you do the math’.
“With The Hut Group withdrawing from a rumoured £200m, ten year deal to join the list of sponsors for the club for fear of the negative associations, you do fear that this is just the tip of the iceberg for the Glazer’s fan troubles.”
