SFA faces new search for Scottish Cup sponsorship

WITH the tangerine ticker tape having been cleared away from Hampden at the conclusion of a memorable Scottish Cup competition, the SFA must turn its attention to securing a new financial backer for its flagship tournament.

Saturday's final between Dundee United and Ross County signalled the end of Glasgow businessman Willie Haughey's two-year support of football's oldest trophy.

In association with the SNP administration at Holyrood, the former Celtic director funded a deal worth in excess of 1 million a season to the SFA.

Haughey's philanthropy spared the SFA from the prospect of a lengthy spell without a sponsor for the Scottish Cup.

After brewing giants Tennent's called time on their association with the tournament in 2007, having contributed more than 20 million since beginning one of sport's longest running sponsorships back in 1989, the SFA was unable to find a replacement.

It meant the association had to dip into its own funds to pay its member clubs' participation and prize money for the 2007-08 Scottish Cup, which ran without a sponsors' name attached to it.

In October 2008, Haughey's intervention provided welcome financial relief for the SFA. His two-year agreement handed the branding rights for the tournament to the Scottish government.

Last season, it was the Homecoming Scottish Cup before becoming the Active Nation Scottish Cup this year.

The SFA's quest to find a new sponsor in time for next season's tournament has not been helped by Gordon Smith's resignation as chief executive last month. With the SFA board waiting on recommendations from a head-hunting agency in the process of recruiting Smith's replacement, president George Peat is acting chief executive.

The SFA remain optimistic of securing a new deal for the Scottish Cup and are in negotiations with potential backers. Leading the search is Kenny MacLeod, the former business development manager at Celtic, who took up his position as the SFA's head of commercial operations in January. A spokesman for the SFA said: "Several companies are being sounded out and we are hopeful of making significant progress over the next month or two."

In the current financial climate, sponsorship in sport is increasingly difficult to come by but Scottish football is generally managing to maintain important revenue streams in its main competitions, with the SPL, SFL divisions and the League Cup all securing continued backing from the Clydesdale Bank, Irn Bru and Co-operative Insurance respectively.