Liverpool FC – StanChart: penalty fees

John Foley Football and finance have a mixed track record in partnership. Undeterred, Standard Chartered has signed a £20m-a-year deal to sponsor UK Premier League soccer team Liverpool FC. The deal is ostensibly about the emerging-markets bank cashing in on the increasing popularity of football in general, and Liverpool in particular, in Asia. Past Premiership associations bode ill. Northern Rock, the UK lender that exploded in 2007, sponsored Newcastle United. AIG, the bankrupt US insurer, b...