41 Sponsors

"So, what's the situation?" John asked Sean while they were sitting in his office.

"There are two final offers for sponsorship." Sean said as he started explaining the offers to John.

"Walkers want to continue to be Leicester's shirt sponsors and they are willing to provide a fix amount of 1 million pounds in four installments through the season." Sean said.

"The second offer is a bit more complicated. It's from another local business, Topps Tiles, but they are only willing to commit a fix amount of 500,000 pounds." Sean stopped for a bit.

John just waited for Sean to explain. John knew there has to be some merit in the second offer for Sean to consider it.

"But they are willing to provide bonuses acc. to where we finish in the table at the end of the season." Sean continued, "They have proposed an amount of 300,000 pounds if we finish anywhere from 12-20, an amount of 600,000 pounds if we finish in positions 6-12."

"And if we qualify for playoffs they are willing to provide a bonus of 1 million pounds." Sean said.

"Both of these offers are for 2 years." Sean finished.

"What if we achieve promotion?" John asked.

"Well, there haven't been many talks about it, but they are willing to double the sponsorship money for the next year if we achieve promotion this year." Sean said to John.

John mulled over the offers. The Topps Tiles offer was a gamble to be fair because even though John had created a squad with many talented players, they haven't been in action yet. But they will only be losing 200,000 pounds at most because John was sure that they won't be relegated at the very least. They were also willing to double the sponsorship money if Leicester were promoted and their bonus was generous if Leicester made it to top six.

Leicester's upcoming season was difficult to predict even for John because even though they had a talented squad, he still has to see how they gel together. They had the potential to achieve promotion while they could also end their season in mid-table obscurity.

John was willing to take that gamble. He had trust in Simeone and the squad he had built. There was still room for improvement and they still needed a starting caliber midfielder acc. to Simeone's demands.

"Sign the contract with Topps Tiles then." John confirmed.

They had already completed almost all of their transfer target bar a midfielder and they had spent less than 4 million pounds of their initial 10 million pound budget. So they still had money to spend and attract experienced players to carry the squad. Though John wasn't willing to spend too much on the veterans, one or two players were still fine.

"The kit supplier deal is pretty straightforward on the other hand." Sean said to John, "Jako are willing to provide all of our kit supplies such as our technical kit and training wear for the next two seasons. They have proposed to give us an amount of 500,000 per season."

"That's alright" John replied.

John knew that sponsorship deals were based on the popularity and visibility of the club and Leicester, being in Championship club, weren't that popular outside of Leicester. Their situation wasn't even clear with a new management at the helm. That's why no one was willing to give them a long term sponsorship due to the fear that they could take a nosedive despite spending money.

It worked in John's favor though, he had no intention of signing long term sponsorship deals even if given the option. John knew the discrepancies between sponsorship money given to Premier League clubs and Championship clubs and he was confident in leading Leicester to top tier football in the next two years. So, the length of these sponsorship deals was perfect for him.

John didn't own the stadium yet, so that was all the money he will be getting from sponsorships.

"What about the transfers?" John asked Sean as he was the one responsible for the outgoing transfers.

"Yeah, Simeone had given me the list and I'm working on it. But I've met some difficulties." Sean replied.

"What is it?" John asked.

"Due to our aggressive moves in trying to sell players, other teams have already found out that we're planning to clean house. So, now they are stalling in order to drive the price lower." Sean replied.

John knew that it was bound to happen but he didn't figure it would be this quick. They were competing each other after all and one team's loss was other's gain. If they could get a player they wanted for cheaper from one of their competitors, they would have more money to spend elsewhere to try and get ahead of the competition.

John could stall too in an attempt to extract more money from the transfers but he was trying to complete all the transfer operations before June 17, when Leicester's squad returned so that players could focus on the preparations for the upcoming season rather than worrying for their futures. It would only create setbacks if the players were focused somewhere else than their game. It was already 7th June, so John would prefer if all the transfer operations were completed in the next 10 days even if they have to sell low.

"Sean, try to complete the deals in the next 10 days, even if we have to sell below the market price." John came to a decision.

"Are you sure?" Sean asked John to confirm.

"Yes, we have to sell them quickly so that the players can focus on the upcoming season instead of transfers." John said to Sean.

"OK" Sean replied before leaving.