RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Burnley's opening Championship fixture is against West Ham on Sunday [Getty Images]
It is not very often that a club are forced to change their sponsor just as the new season is about to kick off, but that is exactly what has happened to Burnley.
On Friday, Burnley ripped up their deal with Finotive One, which describes itself as a 'trading ecosystem', just 42 days after it was signed.
While the club have not responded to specific questions about the how and why, it is likely to come at a considerable cost.
Full refunds or exchanges have been offered to fans who have bought the 2026-27 home and away shirts with Finotive One on the front.
Only two weeks ago, the new cream away shirt had been unveiled to huge fanfare via a star-studded promotional video.
It featured former NFL player and minority investor JJ Watt, ex-England cricketer James Anderson and even Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The promotional video is now obsolete, while shirts have been taken off the club's website and they will not be available at the shop before Sunday's season opener at home to West Ham United.
Maybe some will keep their shirts as a collectors' item, but most will likely take up the offer of shirt adorned with new sponsor, UK-wide car dealership Vertu motors.
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Eagle-eyed fans were already joining the dots on Thursday after Sky Sports' promo for Sunday's match showed Kyle Walker in a Burnley shirt without a sponsor.
Why would that be? After all, Burnley had played throughout pre-season wearing kits with Finotive One across the front.
Even last Saturday, as Burnley hosted Notts County in the first round of the Carabao Cup, the logo was emblazoned across the jersey.
Then it was noticed that all news stories relating to the Finotive One deal had been removed from Burnley's official website.
And on Friday morning, Burnley confirmed the deal had been scrapped "to protect the club's interests, and those of our supporters".
It is not the first time the Lancashire club have faced problems with their shirt sponsorship.
LoveBet, an Asian betting brand, signed a three-year deal but was replaced after just two years after running into financial difficulties.
That happened just after the club had been bought by AIK Capital in December 2020.
Facing criticism about an association with gambling, new chairman Alan Pace wrote on X that it would be looked at "as part of the overall commercial strategy for the club".
He added: "There may be some historic contractual obligations, but it's an issue I'll be reviewing with my team for the long-term."
But throughout AIK Capital's ownership, betting has dominated the club's sponsorship deals.
In fact, bar a one-season deal in 2022-23 with Classic Football Shirts, every front-of-shirt company in the AIK Capital era was related to gambling until this season.
LoveBet was replaced by SpreadEx - a fixed odds and spread betting company.
After Classic Football Shirts came Philippines-based gambling company W88.
In 2024, Burnley signed a controversial two-year deal with 96.com, a betting website run by TGP Europe.
Last year, the Gambling Commission warned Burnley and three other clubs over their links to sites run by the company, which had surrendered its British gambling licence.
An investigation found TGP Europe had failed to "carry out sufficient checks on business partners" and breached "anti-money laundering rules".
In trying to find a replacement for 96.com, Burnley went down an unconventional route.
Finotive One is a Cyprus-registered company which describes itself as an "all-in-one ecosystem" built for traders. Little was known about how it operated and who its customer base was.
Vertu motors, which has had a sponsorship arrangement with Burnley since 2022, stepped up to fill the void.
In replacing the sponsorship at the last minute, it is unknown what the terms are with Vertu but Burnley would not have been in as strong a negotiating position.
The Finotive One deal would have appeared the most lucrative one on the table a few weeks ago.
But, after just six weeks, the deal has ended, causing them embarrassment.
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