Manchester United offering shirts off backs

Already massively indebted, Manchester United faces the prospect of starting next season without a shirt sponsor.

Vodafone's deal with the club, worth £9 million ($26 million) a year, comes to an end this season. Management has been seeking a new backer but has failed to secure a deal.

Football clubs have a tight timetable when negotiating with sponsors, usually needing to agree to a deal by the end of March to give kit firms time to produce the replica strips.

A Manchester spokesman insisted the club was not constrained by deadlines, noting that Italian club Juventus' £15 million-a-year deal with Tamoil was not finalised until June.

However, Manchester has a bigger brand than its rivals and supplies a lot more replica kits, which are sold throughout the world.

"If you are West Brom, you don't have to produce as many shirts as Manchester United," said one industry expert. "There's more pressure for them, and the end of March is pretty tight. The number of people that wear their shirts is just huge compared to everyone else."

A shirt sponsor is usually a club's most lucrative commercial deal. Chelsea recently signed a £11 million-a-year contract with Samsung.

Manchester was taken over by US tycoon Malcolm Glazer and his family in 2005, and its debts now total around £235 million.

But it is understood that the club is prepared, if necessary, for its players' shirts to be logo-free.

"The team will go out without any sponsor if the right deal cannot be found," said a source close to Manchester.

- INDEPENDENT