Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has discussed Southampton’s issues with their former shirt sponsor LD Sports.
Earlier this summer, the club and the Chinese company parted ways just 12 months into their supposed three-year sponsorship deal (via Hampshire Live).
As stated by The Athletic, the deal was supposed to be a record-breaking one for the Saints and would help the club grow commercially in Asia.
However, speaking to The Athletic, Southampton’s chief executive Martin Semmens admitted the club would be taking legal action against LD Sports and “pursue them to the end of the Earth”.
So, in the latest episode of The Price of Football podcast, Maguire discussed the issues which have arisen for the Saints because of the Chinese company.
He said: “At the time of the deal, all that LD Sports appeared to have was a website which was a work in progress and no products to actually sell.
“They signed a deal for £7.5m a year and they’ve [pulled] out early from that [by] not committing themselves to the next two years which has caused Southampton two problems.
“First of all, there’s a loss of revenue problem. They’ve managed to replace LD Sports with a company called Sportsbet.io, and that’s going to be, I believe, a significantly lower fee, because it’s now a buyer’s market for front-of-shirt sponsorship.
“Also, what are Southampton going to do? Are they going to do the decent thing as far as fans who have bought the shirt with LD Sports on?
“I wouldn’t have mine replaced, I’d keep it – but there is a potential [of] having to sort that out and I don’t know how many shirts they’ve sold to date.”
TIF Thoughts…
As can be seen in what Maguire had to say, he believes that LD Sports have caused two problems for the Saints in terms of revenue and potentially having to replace replica kits for supporters.
If you had a new shirt with LD Sports on the front of it, would you want it replacing?
No, I wouldn't be bothered
Yes, I'd want a newer one
As stated in the report by The Athletic, LD Sports did not have a break clause in their contract with Southampton, so, it will certainly be interesting to see how the legal proceedings unfold.
In his interview, Semmens did admit that any resolution will “take months and not weeks”, though.