Pop Icon Ed Sheeran Maintains Shirt Sponsorship of Premier League Newcomers Ipswich Town
Pop sensation, Ed Sheeran, has confirmed he will be Ipswich Town’s front-of-shirt sponsor for a fourth successive campaign. Sheeran made the announcement informally earlier this month when interviewed at the Miami F1 Grand Prix.
Sheeran was unable to be present for Ipswich Town’s promotion-winning game with Huddersfield on the final day of the 2023/24 Championship season due to work commitments. However, Sheeran said to Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz that he had “signed on” to sponsor the team again for the Tractor Boys’ first season back in the Premier League in 22 years.
Giving back to the community that helped make him
Sheeran, who hails from the small market town of Framlingham in Suffolk, started to sponsor his hometown club for the 2021/22 season. The aim being to promote his global tour across the men’s and women’s jerseys. He reiterated that the club and the local community “mean a lot to [him]”, as Sheeran made his name busking and gigging in the pubs and clubs of Ipswich in the mid-to-late 2000s. It’s fitting that since Sheeran’s come on board at Portman Road, Ipswich have enjoyed a meteoric rise from the third tier of English football.
Ipswich’s regeneration has been masterminded by former Manchester United assistant coach, Kieran McKenna. The Northern Irishman joined Town in December 2021 as the unanimous choice of the club’s new American ownership group to replace Paul Cook. Since then, the club has been on a continuous upward trajectory. McKenna and his backroom staff have adopted the mindset of a burgeoning poker player, laddering up from micro levels to low stakes action with a consistent approach of endless improvement. It’s not easy for poker players to graduate from micro to low-stakes poker tables. Especially as the quality of player at lower stakes has risen through the years. Those who manage it easily are those who continue to prepare for tougher competition by working on their game and strategy without worrying about the calibre of their current opponents. McKenna’s adopted a similar mindset, ensuring his humble, hungry squad have never stood still and continue to eke every drop of potential from themselves, both individually and as a team collective.
Town’s chief executive, Mark Ashton, recently disclosed that the club had shifted between 50,000-60,000 2023/24 jerseys among fans with Sheeran’s global tour emblazoned on the blue-and-white home shirt and the orange away shirt. Ashton said that these commercial figures would be highly competitive even at Premier League level, demonstrating the potential of the Tractor Boys given that Suffolk is a one-club county.
Just a few days after Ipswich secured automatic promotion to the Premier League, Sheeran invited the Town squad on a night out in the small Suffolk town of Halesworth. A local sports bar was hired out for the entire afternoon and evening, with Sheeran and the players serenading one another with songs from Sheeran’s back catalogue. Videos have done the rounds of social media, showcasing the genuine connection between Sheeran and the squad.
This friendship between Sheeran and the club is the prime example of how local talent can piggyback off one another for greater exposure. Of course, Sheeran already enjoys global status, but he’s certainly being talked about more frequently in football circles than prior to his Ipswich Town sponsorship deal.
A new contract for McKenna sets up Town for a survival bid
Ipswich Town have been working hard in May to convince their manager to sign a new long-term contract at the club. Established Premier League outfit, Brighton and Hove Albion, made advances for McKenna after Roberto De Zerbi left the Seagulls’ hotseat. Despite initially looking likely to depart for the Amex Stadium, McKenna had a change of heart, resulting in Ipswich offering him a new lucrative four-year contract, tying him to Portman Road until the summer of 2028.
McKenna had also been strongly linked with the vacant manager berth at Chelsea, after the Blues fired Mauricio Pochettino. Meanwhile, former employers, Manchester United, have long held a candle for him and view the Northern Irishman as a long-term managerial prospect in the years to come.
The first thing on Ipswich’s mind will be survival in the Premier League in 2024/25. Their revenues are likely to soar by £120 million-plus next season. Avoiding relegation would boost their revenue by a further £135 million-plus, as it would give them greater parachute payments in the event of future relegation. With multiple clubs rumoured to be on the cusp of pre-season points deductions over Profit and Sustainability failings, Ipswich could begin the campaign with a leg up anyhow.
Images: Unsplash
