Adidas couldn’t meet Liverpool’s kit valuation

The worth of a brand depends on the guaranteed level of appeal and the level of the appeal does not always solely depend on the current success of that brand. In relation to football, Liverpool Football Club 2012 is a great example. 
 
Some brands do not have to be successful to appeal and some sponsors and advertisers, although recognising the lack of current success or even, in the case of football, future success, will still throw as much money as possible at that brand to win the rights to pin their badge on it. Again, using football, David Beckham is the greatest example. A player who was bombed out of Old Trafford in 2003, largely because he was unprofessional and into a period from 2003 – 2011 which seen him win one trophy, playing the second half of the season the last time Real Madrid won the league. 
 
Yet still, up until 2011, Beckham was the highest paid footballer in the world, earning even more than Lionel Messi, but with a just a tea spoon of Messi’s success individually or as a part of a team. Yet one sportswear manufacturer came to the obvious conclusion that although Beckham had become a dead duck on the pitch since Ferguson showed him the door in 2003, they recognised that current success on the pitch, (and in Beckham’s case, almost any success on the pitch), was not always the sole factor when bidding for the rights to promote a brand. Step forward, Adidas, a company who has not paid out record amounts to a player who has continually won almost nothing since he left Old Trafford, except for his Joe Dolce moment for Real Madrid in 2007. 
 
Adidas may have continually called it right in paying Beckham more than anybody else, I have not got the statistical evidence to argue otherwise, but the fact that Herbert Hainer, of Adidas, can state that the reason Adidas did not compete for the kit rights to Liverpool Football Club is because of a lack of success on the pitch, gives us the chance to ask the question again, does David Beckham really not understand his low standard of worth as a footballer since he left Old Trafford? Consider the Manchester F.A Cup game two weeks ago, Ferguson quite obviously and astutely knew he needed an experienced midfielder and so decided to ask a player to come out of retirement to help him out until the end of the season, Paul Scholes. But what about Beckham, also an ex-United player, also experienced, also around the same age and continually stating in the press that he could not play for anybody in England other than United. The rejection was written all over Beckham’s face, but at least he has finally accepted how Ferguson sees him and has re-signed for ‘The Galaxy’ who, like Adidas, know exactly what they are getting for their money and that Beckham’s contribution is certainly not on the pitch. 
 
Beckham is employed by football clubs to sell shirts, by Adidas to promote their brand, he is not paid for his current or potential achievements on the pitch, if Hainer does not recognise this, then he is thicker than the people who buy into the Beckham brand.   
 
Steven Charles, Liverpool

Adidas were right by the way. We’re an awful team. Dalglish should resign ASAP to prevent any further damage to his reputation and status as a legend.