'We have reclaimed our history', declared Football League chairman Sir Brian Mawhinney as he aimed to justify the rebranding of the First Division as the Coca-Cola Championship. 'The championship is a historic term dating back to 1888.'
It did seem a bit strange, coming after Mawhinney's statement that his reason for abandoning the word 'division' was because it had become 'a bit outdated'. The alteration in nomenclature has also affected the League's lower two tiers - redefined as Coca-Cola Leagues One and Two - and there is a new logo, too.
The changes are a result of Coca-Cola ending Nationwide's eight-year stint as main sponsor. The building society's bid to extend their £4 million-a-year link-up last February was upstaged by Coca-Cola, who put together their three-year deal, worth £15m, within 48 hours. Steve Cumming, sponsorship manager of Coca-Cola Great Britain, refuses to comment on why it happened so suddenly, but the Football League are not complaining. Commercial director Richard Masters calls it their 'perfect partnership', with advertising a major factor.
Posters go up across the country tomorrow and the famous sign in Piccadilly Circus in London has the Coca-Cola League's name in flashing lights. After consultation with company chiefs in Atlanta, Coca-Cola Great Britain have arranged to produce cans in the colours of every League team at each ground.
With Cumming reluctant to disclose figures, it is difficult to see how such a commitment to the Football League will help Coca-Cola financially, but Roger Titford, a market researcher who specialises in football, sees the sense. 'The benefits of sponsorships aren't often in direct sales but in increasing awareness,' he said. 'They get a lot of name-checks.' The real problem with the deal seems to be appeasing traditionalist fans, though.
'Every fan we've heard of thinks the renaming of the divisions is laughable,' says Titford. 'Football fans are largely conservative, but the League may have another target audience in mind, such as Far Eastern television executives.'
Former Conservative Party chairman Mawhinney was in two troubled ministries during the John Major years in the 1990s - health and transport - when he steered through unpopular reforms, so he should be used to public opposition. However, in this case, he believes that the public are not against him.
'We spoke to fans' groups, did some focus groups and the results were encouraging,' Mawhinney says. When asked about what he would have done were the results not so 'encouraging', he is not in the mood to discuss the issue. 'It's all hypothetical,' he snaps. Mawhinney is the man who masterminded a photoshoot involving him standing, laughing, in front of baked beans with their labels changed to 'Liberal Democrat Half-Baked Beans' and 'Labour Has-Beans'. His unique sense of humour should help him to accept any discontent about the name changes, but he cannot see it happening.
'I'll make you a prediction,' he says. 'Three weeks into the season, nobody will care. They'll be talking about the football.' So why bother changing? 'It encourages the league and clubs to stop being preoccupied with their terrible past and it makes the league a more attractive commercial partner in the marketplace. It provides the ideal triangle between commercial, club and sponsor interests,' he explains.
Malcolm Clarke, chairman of the Football Supporters' Federation, is unimpressed. 'It would have been nice for the Football League to consult the fans,' he says. 'There's a feeling that branding within the game and its increase in commercialisation has led football to lose some of its status and history'.
Aside from the image makeover, the League are also looking to consolidate on their commitment to 'good governance'. They piloted a salary cost management protocol for clubs in last season's Third Division that limited spending on players' salaries to 60 per cent of turnover, and on all staff to 75 per cent of turnover, and it will now be introduced to the two leagues above, too. The League are also targeting an increase in combined attendances to a total of 21 million by 2010, a 30 per cent rise on present support, which would bring an estimated £75m into the game.
Goalline technology is also being debated. There is also the tantalising prospect of even more cash for clubs, mainly from the new £1m 'goal chase' introduced by the new sponsors. If the League teams score 4,500 goals between them - the record since the League reverted to three divisions in 1992 is 4,354 in 2001-02 - they will share the £1m prize kitty ,with the intention of £14,000 being given to each team to fund a young player for a season.
Independent observers will be sent to every League match to assess the noise made by both sets of fans before calling a home win, draw or away win. A league table will be drawn up and the three winners in each division will also be rewarded. The rewards are as yet undecided, but Mawhinney points out the League 'would like prizes to be fan-focused'.
The big financial hurdle will be lobbying football's world governing body Fifa with regards to transfer windows, though. Football League teams have just one more season to continue all-year round trading among themselves before falling into line with the rest of Europe and honouring the rules, as they apply to Premiership teams, which allow transfers to take place only during January once the season is under way.
Irrespective of what the divisions are called, it is issues such as these that will most concern the clubs and fans of what is the largest single body of clubs in Europe. It may be ridiculous that Rochdale, a team so synonymous with the bottom tier, are now a League Two club, but if the money problems that came after the collapse of ITV Digital in 2002 are dead and buried, no one will complain.
Anyway, it may be a while before the new names catch on. Gillingham chairman Paul Scally, at the Coca-Cola Football League launch event, said it all when he commented that the teams he would be competing against formed 'the strongest First Division I can remember for some time'. Old habits die hard.
The Fizzy World Series, Conference One? What the fans think of the rebrand
'It's a while since anything as embarrassingly moronic as "the Championship" was conceived. We'll probably revert to "division two", as though we'd got used to "division one" it's now neither current nor accurate.'
Matt Rowson, Watford
'I'll be going Italian and calling it Serie B.'
Matthew Gabb, Cardiff
'"The Championship" just has to be a joke by Mawhinney - needless to say without any consultation with those who put the most money into the game - the fans. I'm sure most of us will continue to call it the first division.'
Tony Scholes, Burnley
'We'll be calling it the Coca-Cola Pepsi Mastercard Sony Adidas Nike Puma Championship League. That should cover things for the next 10 years until the next idiotic title.'
Tom Lynn, Sunderland
'I think the sponsorship is great for the game as it gives welcome injections of cash to smaller clubs like Argyle. So I'll be respecting their wishes and referring to "the Championship".'
Adam Hyslop, Plymouth
'It's patronising, lame PR rubbish. Rotherham v Crewe on a wet Tuesday at Millmoor - "the Championship"? Who are they kidding? It's division one, two and three. End of story. And I hate Coke.'
Steve Butcher, Sheffield United
'I'm sick of all the name changes - it's becoming a joke. I'm sticking with the old second division. I wish they'd stop trying to make it more attractive with re-branding - everybody knows the football in this league is awful and you get ripped off at every ground... If they want to make it more attractive they ought to slash the admission fees.'
Steven Pyefinch, Derby
'The whole name changing idea is a needless exercise. If the league was in trouble with ailing crowds and clubs going under, then maybe a re-branding would be necessary. But clubs are now showing real signs of recovery after the ITV Digital fiasco two years ago, and attendances haven't been better for years. If it ain't broke...'
Stephen Eighteen, Millwall
'Expect Pepsi sales to rocket in Berkshire.'
Rob Cooper, Reading
'I suppose they had to give it a fancy name now that we're a member of it... Forget the Premiership and Champions League. It's "the Championship" of course!'
Kevin Markey, Leeds
'I'm going with the Fizzy Orange World Series, Conference One.'
Mark O'Haire, QPR
'"The Championship" is just a ludicrous name. I don't know who convinced Brian Mawhinney to do that, but he needs to have a word...'
Graeme Smith, Leicester
'To be honest, sponsors can call the league what they like - I'll be calling it division one.'
Kev Monks, Coventry
'Our eyes are likely to be on the bottom half of the table this season - we probably won't even notice what the name at the top says...'
James Black, Preston
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