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For decades Liverpool and Manchester United have jostled for supremacy on and off the pitch.
The Erik ten Hag era at Manchester United gets underway this weekend with much optimism among United fans, but near on a decade of regression has taken its toll, United slipping well behind Liverpool and Manchester City competitively and, while it took some time, ceding ground on their main rivals when it comes to the power that they wield in the sponsorship market.
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The announcement of an extension of the front-of-shirt sponsorship deal that Liverpool have held with Standard Chartered since 2009 provided the numbers for the first time that show that Liverpool have finally cracked both the on and off field battle with United, outstripping their Old Trafford rivals in what their shirt deal value delivers for the very first time.
But the end of the Sir Alex Ferguson era at Old Trafford left United without a defined strategy, his departure coming three years on from Liverpool coming under new ownership in the shape of Fenway Sports Group.
For much of the 1990s and 2000s such was the dominance competitively and financially by United that the gap had widened significantly and, with the United behemoth scoring legions of fans in key overseas markets it showed little sign of slowing down.
It is a virtuous circle where success underpins financial performance to a large degree and financial performance supports what Jurgen Klopp is able to achieve on the field.
The Standard Chartered deal is worth more than what debt-ridden Barcelona were able to glean from their Spotify deal, while it pushes ahead of United, who have had TeamViewer as their sponsor since last season, thanks to a £10m-plus uplift annually in the value of the deal.
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