West Ham’s major shirt and West Stand sponsor Alpari (UK) Limited confirmed today that it has entered into insolvency. In a statement on their website Alpari UK admitted “The recent move on the Swiss franc caused by the Swiss National Bank’s unexpected policy reversal of capping the Swiss franc against the euro has resulted in exceptional volatility and extreme lack of liquidity. This has resulted in the majority of clients sustaining losses which has exceeded their account equity. Where a client cannot cover this loss, it is passed on to us”
West Ham’s sponsorship deal with Alpari is thought to be worth more than £3m per year. The announcement echoes the 2008 collapse of XL Holidays which left West Ham without a major sponsor.
A West Ham insider said “At this stage we are looking into the long term situation and will comment further when the position is clearer”
No one will sponsor us soon,they will think we are a curse.Sponsor West Ham & you will go bust 🙂
Pretty sure when the Alpari shirt deal was announced it was said to be only £1.4m a year. I remember thinking that seemed low and it turned out SBOBET was only £900k a year so a rise of 55% was going in the right direction, Rome wasn’t built in a day, etc., etc.
Everton were around the £4m+ mark and I also remember thinking that we needed to be nearer them.