United extend Vodafone deal

Manchester United have extended their sponsorship with mobile phone giants Vodafone, agreeing a new four-year deal worth £36m (€51.7m).

Their current £30m (€43m) agreement, signed in June 2000, was due to expire at the end of May next year.

In addition to the sponsorship deal, United have entered into a new business relationship with Vodafone to roll out a wide range of club content, including results, news, still and video images, ring tones and games, to wireless devices around the world.

A press conference to unveil the new agreement will be held at 10am this morning at Claridge’s Hotel in London.

United chief executive David Gill was delighted to have secured a better sponsorship deal for the club, although he said it had not been decided how the extra cash would be spent.

“It is a 20% increase over the previous deal and indicates that in a generally depressed market, Manchester United is a good product,” he told Sky Sports News.

“This [money] will go into our pot of revenue and then we sit down with the manager and decide what needs to go into the team.”