Letter from America

... or from Flint to Foster City (or thereabouts)

Greetings from America, a land where the name of Manchester United is known and that of Wrexham is not. With the recent announcement that US baseball giants the New York Yankees are teaming up with Manchester United in what's widely been described as 'the biggest joint-marketing deal in the history of sport', it really makes me wonder what future small-town clubs like Wrexham have in a sport increasingly driven by money. The irony that on the very same day Hull City of the Third Division were facing a High Court winding-up order (due to debts totaling £1 million) was not lost on me. Neither was the fact that Yankees infielder Derek Jeter earns around £10 million per year!

It seems that the business element of sport is increasingly taking over to the detriment of the sport itself. A prime example of this is an American acquaintance of mine called Buz who in recent years has stopped going to see the Oakland Raiders so regularly because of too many breaks in the play for TV. Where will it all end I wonder? Well, I'm sure that with the multi-million pound deals organisations like Sky, NTL, and the like are doing with both football clubs and the sport's governing bodies, British football will not be far behind. I'm looking forward to the day when all the players' kits are so full of advertising logos that they start using their exposed body surfaces to carry sponsors' logos in the form of tattoos. Imagine how much revenue Kevin Russell's bald head could generate from sponsorship of this kind. Imagine the scene as the ball glances off a cranial advertisement for 'Voodoo Lady' by Crème Brulee straight past the outstretched arms of a helpless Walsall keeper. It could happen.

I'm sorry to say that in a global marketplace where Manchester United are a 'label', a 'product', their name has become ubiquitous even in the States. A couple of weeks ago I was in my local bar and I saw a red 'Vodafone' shirt. My heart sank when I realised that yes, even Manchester United are making some inroads into San Mateo. The lad wearing the Manchester United shirt kept passing me to get to the bar and kept on making remarks about Patrik Berger. For a while I was puzzled by this, then I suddenly realised that he must have been under the impression that I was a Liverpool fan. I said 'I'm not a Liverpool fan!' and he said 'Isn't that their shirt you're wearing?' I said 'No!' and he said 'Which team is it?' So, incredulously, I pointed to the Wrexham Lager logo on the front of my shirt and said: 'The clue is written in two-inch high letters across my chest.' Anyway, it transpired that he supported Manchester United because 'they are the best'. One thing we did agree on however was that Lionel Bienvenu, the host of Fox Sports World's English Premier League show, is bit of a wally. Still, Fox shows Sky Sports' Football Tonight (or Sky Sports.com TV, or whatever you want to call it) everyday, so at least I get to see all of Wrexham's goals every Saturday. Which reminds me...what a cracking goal by Waynne Phillips against Swindon last Sunday.

Well I'll bid you adieu and say that I'm really looking forward to my trip to the Walsall game on the 24th, followed by a good old-fashioned West Midlands' Balti.

Cheers

Gareth Collins