Aston Villa announce Intuit QuickBooks as new shirt sponsor

If March’s double triumph over West Bromwich Albion didn’t prove which club is still king of the Midlands, perhaps a shirt sponsor has done it for us.

Intuit QuickBooks have walked away from the Baggies after one year, opting not to activate an option for a second year, instead moving to sponsor Aston Villa in a two-year deal.

This is solid news, and, as the header image released by the club would indicate, the logo application looks like it’s being done in a manner that should look pretty good on the kits, which is what we’re going for in the end.

While the club have not released financial details of the agreement, they’ve indicated it’s a £3 million deal, which is both vague and likely short-selling what the club is getting. The Baggies earned £1.5 million this year from the QuickBooks sponsorship, but I find it hard to believe Villa’s taking a significant hit, even if that deal is £3 million per year rather than £3 million over the course of two years.

The Genting partnership that expired two years ago was worth £8 million per year and the Dafabet one from the last two years was worth £5 million per year.

With the added exposure of the Premier League — especially stateside, where QuickBooks do a lot of business — plus the boost in media attention granted by Tim Sherwood, I find it hard to believe Villa are losing money from past deals. Sure, it might be the case, but it doesn’t make logical sense, especially as the club have agreed to a two-year deal; if the club were struggling to find a sponsor willing to pay a proper asking price, they’d have likely taken a one-year deal from someone, and tried again next year.

If you’re someone who really likes to read into everything, the sponsorship deal is with an American company, as Intuit are based in California. Perhaps it offers a bit of insight into which group has been chosen as the preferred bidders in the takeover, and perhaps it really doesn’t. Time will tell.

Regardless, Villa finally have a sponsor I don’t have to Google to figure out who they are, so that’s a plus. Intuit are a big company too, with over $4 billion in revenue each year, while the Quick Books brand, which offers accounting services for small and medium-sized businesses, has as much as 90% of the market share in North America.

In addition to just being the shirt sponsor, QuickBooks comes on board as the club‘s main commercial partner, meaning we’ll see the logo most notably around Villa Park.

And as one last shout, the club’s released promotional image could hand a look into what a bit of next year’s home kit will look like. Unlike the last two years, the promotional shot lacks any type of design on the body of the home shirt — the 2013-14 shirt featured sublimated pinstripes while this year’s featured blue ones — meaning we could be in for a classy, back-to-basics kit.

It also figures to be Macron’s last kit on the current contract, meaning the Italian sportswear provider may be keen to put out their best work yet in an attempt to prove their worth to the club.

Time will tell, however, as the new kits are set to be launched in early July.

(P.S.: If you’ve somehow got access, a nice leak before then would be much appreciated.)

Feel happy the club’s ditching the grimy hands of casinos for an accounting software? Simply happy the club have secured a new sponsor? Let us know in the comments!