Have Our Sponsors Gone Too Far

Mr Sands spoke to Ian Ayre about see the conduct of our players off the pitch, citing the situation with Andy and his problems with drink in the past.  What he wanted to know was, that if perhaps Andy slipped back into his old ways, would the club take any action against the player?  Now to me, that is a matter for the club and none of Standard Chartereds business.  If Andy or any of the other players come to that, have a night where for example they are celebrating the birth of a baby and they have a little too much, then it is down to Kenny to decide what the punishment will be. His colleague Mr Laws talking to another reporter said that they were in fact relaxed about the situation.

Mr Laws went onto say that they would like Liverpool to look at bringing Asian players into the squad as this was the area of the world that Standard Chartered tend to concentrate on their business. He pointed out that Ji Sung Park had become a success at Manchester United - I am sorry but that lad is there purely to sell the clubs merchandise to the Far East, these days he very rarely kicks a ball.  This I guess also applies to the situation at Liverpool, as sponsors they are looking to sell as many shirts with their name on as possible.

When asked about the possible lack of European football next season, Mr Laws did say that they were not really worried about that, after all Asia is asleep when those matches are being played. 

I suppose the one thing that they did get right was stating that they hoped Kenny would be handed his permanent contract.  Again being businessmen I suspect this was done from the business point of view rather than the football side.  I am sure they see Kenny as their main asset, when they try to sell the club abroad after all he was the person alongside Ian Ayre who approached Standard Chartered about the deal in the first place.

Towards the end of the interview they were asked about FSG and what they felt about the prospect of either a new stadium or a redevelopment.  Where FSG are concerned, they are pleased that the right people appear to be in charge of the club, although both Mr Laws and Mr Sands both said that the chaos surrounding Liverpool at the beginning of their sponsorship, gave them all the publicity they needed to push the brand forward.  They both also feel that the club are leaning towards a redevelopment, which would please them as it appears their Asian clients visit Anfield because of its quaintness.  It appears they prefer that rather than a big stadium like Old Trafford.

There were also reports being published in the press on Tuesday that Liverpool were looking for naming rights.  Whether these will eventually be given to Standard Chartered is another question of course, but until the club issued a statement later that evening, people not having read the reports properly assumed that Anfield would be renamed if re-developed.  This of course could never happen, Anfield is Anfield and will always be known as such - anyone that dared to change the name would be risking not only his business but his life.  A new stadium of course is another matter and as buying naming rights is another form of sponsorship, then it can only help and I am sure if and when it happens, they will take the thoughts of us the supporters into account.  An example of a name I feel could be something like The SC Bill Shankly Stadium.  Now I don't think anyone would argue with that.

In the meantime though, Standard Chartered needs to just work on the business side and leave the footballing side to Kenny and the rest of the staff at Liverpool Football Club