The new sponsorship deal that spells very bad news for West Ham United

West Ham United still have not confirmed their front-of-shirt sponsor for next season after the one year long association with Boyle Sports comes to an end. Stories have suggested Audi or Thailand as possible shirt sponsors but the club was powerless to tie a deal down until their relegation predicament was resolved: Another area in which their second tier status will hurt, the impact on sponsor income will be huge without the global exposure which the Premier League brings.

Unfortunately, that holds good for player sponsorship too: Top-tier sponsors seek only top-tier associations and Nike are no exception to that rule.

So when Crysencio Summerville reveals his new sponsorship status – as a Nike player – it doesn’t bode well for West Ham or their supporters.

“New chapter, New Level, Same Hunger” Enough said, really.

Any lingering doubt that the winger may stay a season in the second tier of English football must surely have diminished with the news from Summerville that Nike have signed him up: The giant brand will not want an association with anything other than top level talent.`

Summerville will now be under pressure from his management and his sponsors to make the move back into the Premier League at the earliest opportunity.

Which does not bode well for fans with any  optimistic hopes that the Irons might just be able to hang on to the Flying Dutchman in the championship. Nike obviously see him as a rising star and he’ll likely leave little’ ol’ West Ham behind in the rear view mirror soon enough. And why not. Good luck to him.