Wonga sponsorship deal: Virgin were never offered chance to match it

Ashley Snubs Branson!

Taken from http://www.newcastleunited-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/ashley_snubs_branson_785346/index.shtml

Sir Richard Branson has raised questions over Newcastle United's sponsorship deal with Wonga, saying Mike Ashley didn't give him the chance top match Wonga's bid.

The Virgin Money boss has said he was not even given the chance to bid to keep the partnership with NUFC going.

Sir Richard Branson: “Yeah, we would love to have stayed in touch with the club and the players.

"It was a great time, the timing was perfect when we took over, we became Virgin Money on the day they beat Manchester United, a great start for us.

“The club in their wisdom did the deal with Wonga without talking to us, whether we would have matched that who is to know. These things happen I guess.

“We will definitely still sponsor sports, we are still involved in major events, we will still keep an open eye one this.”



I'm trying to analyse this over here now....

Was the deal profit-motivated :
If so, why wasn't Virgin told to improve/match it, and trigger a bidding war

Was there something Virgin did that made Ashley make this a spiteful move :
Branson said that they would have loved to keep in contact and would have really considered matching it, so could there be any reason for this?
Considering the lack of communication as mentioned by Branson, maybe it really is so?


Conspiracy Theory put forth by Abc Cissescurriedgoat Abc:
Don't tell me that there are some under-the-table dealings going on.............................................................

 

Branson seems to have left the door open.

 

Who is the founder of Wonga? Just sounds to me like a deal between pals more than anything else

 

I feel sad every time I remember that Wonga is going to be disgracing the shirts next season

 

Would rather have Branson backing us than Wonka's.

 

The blue of Wonga goes well with the B&W stripes and I couldn't careless how Wonga operate.

Not really bothered who we are sponsored by as long as they pay a decent amount for the club to use to progress.

 

What, so we're treating what Richard Branson says as gospel ?

One of the few things I have no doubt about when it comes to Ashley is that he got as much money as he could. IF Wonga's offer wasn't put to Branson it will have been because Branson had already indicated how high he was ready to go. It's like when a club says "No offer has been received for . . . " whichis technically true even though they've been talking money for weeks. Until something comes in saying "We hereby offer £X " you can continue to trot out that line