Manchester Utd approached Perodua for sponsorship, was rebuffed – P2 prefers local, non-partisan sports

Here’s some entertainment for football fans who so happen are into cars. Sounds bizarre, but Manchester United has approached Perodua for a sponsorship deal. Yes, that once-great football club that dominated English football, approaching the maker of the Nippa for its logo!

If you think that’s some comedown for the Red Devils, guess what, the EPL club’s invitation was rebuffed by Rawang. This was revealed by Perodua chairman Tan Sri Asmat Kamaludin at the launch of the Perodua National Amateur Golf Series at Saujana Golf and Country Club today, reported by NST.

While I wasn’t there to witness what would have been a fun (and funny) press conference, this piece of gold apparently came from nowhere. Asmat was responding to a question about sponsorships for local football teams when he mentioned Manchester United.

“There have been requests, and there’s one team… I don’t know if I should say this, but I received a letter from Manchester United asking if we would put our logo on one of their shirts and sponsor them,” Asmat said.

MU’s commercial department wouldn’t have known that they were approaching a Gooner. “If we do that for Manchester United, then it wouldn’t be fair to my Arsenal, you know?” Asmat said, declaring his allegiance to the North London club.

The P2 chairman said that the carmaker – Malaysia’s perennial market leader and now the No.2 carmaker in ASEAN by sales after Toyota – is open to sponsorship opportunities within Malaysia, but football teams are out of the question.

“If people ask for support, we will consider, especially for Malaysian sports. But we have to be selective. For example, in the M-League, I’m from Johor. If I support Johor Darul Ta’zim, I might lose support from customers in Selangor or Kelantan. So, we have to be very careful about who we support and sponsor,” he said, adding that Perodua prefers to support individual sports such as golf and tennis. P2 has been backing badminton for some time now.

If you’re wondering why Manchester United is going around with cap in hand, you might not realise that the club is a far cry from the all-conquering side (in both sporting and commercial terms) under Sir Alex Ferguson. United lost almost £300 million over the past three years and new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is considering further redundancies at the club after already sacking 250 staff, plus ending Ferguson’s status as a paid ambassador.

Infrastructure wise, Old Trafford, once the feared Theatre of Dreams, has of late made headlines for embarrassing things like a leaking roof and a rodent infestation – all while Ineos raised ticket prices and ended concessions for kids and pensioners. It’s reported that the club might even close their London office in Kensington to cut costs.

It’s not looking good on the pitch as well. After paying Sporting Lisbon £11 million to bring in Ruben Amorim (they also had to pay the sacked Erik ten Hag £10.4 million in compensation) mid-season, the Portuguese coach has won 10 and lost eight of his 20 games at the wheel (anyone missing Ole?). The Red Devils are currently 13th in the English Premier League.

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