Why take 60 Minutes when you can say it in 3

Vodafone, who is currently treating their many customers to a special offer where they can talk for an hour and will only be charged for 3 minutes, seemingly took less than 3 minutes to duck out of the final two years of the shirt sponsorship deal with world football's biggest cash cow -Manchester United. Sports and Financial analysts are in a feeding frenzy as to whether United are on the slide, what does these mean for the Double Glazers?

What will likely happen in the forthcoming will be a battle between United Commercial Director and the world's most recognisable marketing names to re-establish Manchester Red as a more valuable property than Chelsea Blue. Chelsea 10 million Man United 9 million it was, until Vodafone upped the stakes on Wednesday.

What a far cry this is, from the dignified absence of sponsorship on Barcelona's playing uniform [cultural translation for Glazer Lawyers, who may find their way to these neck of the woods] Barca have steadfastly avoided such activity for reasons entirely to do with a spirit of football long lost in these parts.

One aspect of Vodafone's rat like departure that I am yet to see highlighted, is whether the smart men at Voda started panicking last summer when high profile United fans where publicly talking of boycotting United plc related brands, Bud, Voda, Pepsi, Century FM. The power of the fans is enormous and acknowledgment, ever so occasionally, is vital to stop those who feed from our fevered consumption of the game taking the micky, as often as they seem to.