The Hut Group becomes the first to pull the plug on their deal with Manchester United, according to a report of The Observer.
The Hut Group Cancels £200m Sponsorship With Manchester United
The protest by The Red Devils fans that caused the match between United and Liverpool last Sunday seems to only be just the beginning of more trouble to come for the club.
United have now missed out on a proposed new training kit deal worth £200m over 10 years with The Hut Group (THG). The Manchester-based company backed down over concerns about the supporters’ campaign to boycott the club’s commercial partners in protest at the Glazer's ownership.
It was planned that THG would have their sports nutrition brand, Myprotein, appear on United's training kit from July 1st. However, after watching the protest and seeing the later backlash on social media against many partners of Manchester United, the firm decided it was not worth the risk.
A Twitter group created by Anonymous United fans called NotAPennyMore launched an online campaign to boycott the club’s major partners such as Adidas, TAG Heuer and Cadbury, etc. The group even wrote an open letter to these companies, vowing to target their products.
The contract between AON and Manchester United expires on Jun 30th. Time is running short for them to find a new sponsor, not to mention matching the same value that was proposed with THG.