November 21 – Manchester United have signed a multi-year partnership with Melitta which will see the brand become the club’s first Official Coffee Partner. No value was announced for the deal which was also announced to Wall Street in the US where the club’s shares are traded.
In an age where transparency in football is the rage and cleaning up financial corruption a focus of the US justice department, one wonders why the secrecy around not announcing the value of new deals to company shareholders, and now taken to the extreme of not even announcing the length of the deal.
They should probably sit down with their lawyers, some governance experts and a cup of Melitta and think this one through because the cynics might suggest there are some seriously hooky deals being done here to con shareholders and talk up the share price with another deal that in reality is of no value and no length – God (and the FBI) forbid that such a thing should ever happen in football.
“Melitta, part of the family owned Melitta Group will be the club’s exclusive coffee partner in Europe, with the partnership covering UK, Ireland and Germany,” said the company press release.
“As part of the agreement more than 200 fully automatic Melitta coffee machines and makers will be installed within Executive Club boxes and hospitality areas around Old Trafford. With an estimated 6,000 Kilogrammes of coffee consumed each season, the famed stadium will provide the ideal backdrop for Melitta to demonstrate its prowess in providing quality coffee products to a mass audience, without compromising on quality and flavour.”
Well, at least there is no compromise there for the Man Utd faithful.
Melitta will be equipping Old Trafford with coffee machines and has already coffee’d up with the refurbishment of the Club’s Red Café. And fans who want to take that Old Trafford coffee experience home will soon be able to buy club branded coffee machines.
Manchester United’s Group Managing Director, Richard Arnold said: “We are very proud to be partnering with this household name and look forward to working with Melitta to further enhance the experience of the hundreds of thousands of visitors we welcome to Old Trafford each season.”
Volker Stühmeier, Member of the Chief Corporate Management at Melitta, was similarly sugary with his comments, saying: “It is a great honour to work with one of the most successful football teams in the world in such a close and trustworthy way. For over 360 days of the year our products will be used in one of the most traditional and iconic stadiums in the world… Old Trafford is an extraordinary showcase for Melitta!”
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