Footballers' sponsored cars

edna krabappel · Apr 3, 2014

I remember as a kid, walking around the Goldstone, and occasionally you'd see some car with- say- Steve Penney, sponsored by Dave's Autos of South Street Lancing, or Doug Rougvie Drives A Simpson's Nissan written all over the side. Famously, Sergei Gotsmanov got sponsored by a local Lada dealer (I'm sure there were others).

Clearly no player would be seen dead in a car with their name on the side these days, so when did this stop? When did even lower league footballers get so rich they could afford to turn down a freebie from Dave's Autos? Or does this still go on in the lower leagues? It's a sad loss to the game if not

Thunder Bolt · Apr 3, 2014

Their name may not be on the side, but they do like their personalised number plates.

Goring Gull · Apr 3, 2014

They don't need a sponsored Nissan Micra when they can afford to go out and buy Audi R8's, Range Rovers and the like. How times have changed

Doctor Crawley · Apr 3, 2014

I remember as a lad,back in the day,playing in a six a side tournament in Lancing when I spotted a car across the field.
It had the words "Garry Nelson drives a....",can't remember the car,but it was very average and white.
He then went on to ref our semi final (Milton Mount v Wick Dynamos),and we got spanked

.

Cheeky Monkey · Apr 3, 2014

Just round the corner from my folks in Seaford in the late 70s/early 80s a prominent SCCC Cricketer (can't remember who) had his sponsored car parked on his driveway.

hans kraay fan club · Apr 3, 2014

Cricketers still have them, these days.

edna krabappel · Apr 3, 2014

hans kraay fan club said:
Cricketers still have them, these days.

Yeah, I've seen a few cricketers in them in recent years.

I'm rather hoping [MENTION=118]Hiney[/MENTION] 's programme site will have some pictures of 1980s Albion players proudly displaying their new Datsun

bobzam · Apr 3, 2014

Saw a professional golfer on the motorway with this still on the side of their car. Needless to say if never heard of him!

Herr Tubthumper · Apr 3, 2014

I seem to remember an 80s/90s news story about goalkeeper being caught cheating on his wife because his sponsored car was regularly seen parked outside a house which wasn't his.

beorhthelm · Apr 3, 2014

edna krabappel said:
...Clearly no player would be seen dead in a car with their name on the side these days, so when did this stop? When did even lower league footballers get so rich they could afford to turn down a freebie from Dave's Autos?

when they started getting several grand a week??

edna krabappel · Apr 3, 2014

Herr Tubthumper said:
I seem to remember an 80s/90s news story about goalkeeper being caught cheating on his wife because his sponsored car was regularly seen parked outside a house which wasn't his.

Unrelated, but on that note, I remember seeing an interview with Peter Shilton once in which he was asked what his worst moment in football was. He mentioned an occasion where a tabloid newspaper had named him as having been caught out with a lady who was not Mrs Shilton, and he was bombarded during his next match- which happened to be at the Goldstone- with a chorus of "Does your missus know you're here?".

edna krabappel · Apr 3, 2014

Doctor Crawley said:
I remember as a lad,back in the day,playing in a six a side tournament in Lancing when I spotted a car across the field.
It had the words "Garry Nelson drives a....",can't remember the car,but it was very average and white.
He then went on to ref our semi final (Milton Mount v Wick Dynamos),and we got spanked.

I just asked Garry Nelson about this on Twitter. His reply:

[tweet]451823591169224704[/tweet]

Thunder Bolt · Apr 3, 2014

beorhthelm said:
when they started getting several grand a week??

It would have also been a way of boosting wages before cars were taxed as a benefit in kind.

edna krabappel · Apr 3, 2014

Nelson has also just revealed as part of this that Sergei Gotsmanov once took them on a tour of his hometown, Minsk, in his Lada with a personalised MINSK 007 number plate :lolol:

Also that Sergei had to stop whenever it rained to reattach the windscreen wipers, as he never left them on the car because they'd get nicked. And he took the battery out of the car every night for the same reason.

I have this amazing vision of Gotsmanov & Nelson rattling around Minsk in a shabby old Lada, absorbing the Communist sights :ohmy:

Doctor Crawley · Apr 3, 2014

edna krabappel said:
I just asked Garry Nelson about this on Twitter. His reply:

[tweet]451823591169224704[/tweet]

Ha ha,brilliant!!!
You couldn't miss it.
I was a bit star struck when I spotted it,and you have to say it didn't allow the player much privacy.

hans kraay fan club · Apr 3, 2014

edna krabappel said:
Nelson has also just revealed as part of this that Sergei Gotsmanov once took them on a tour of his hometown, Minsk, in his Lada with a personalised MINSK 007 number plate

Also that Sergei had to stop whenever it rained to reattach the windscreen wipers, as he never left them on the car because they'd get nicked. And he took the battery out of the car every night for the same reason.

I have this amazing vision of Gotsmanov & Nelson rattling around Minsk in a shabby old Lada, absorbing the Communist sights

I would have loved to have been on that road trip. What a pair of absolute HEROES. it would have been like one of those top gear specials, except with two quality footballers and a starstruck teenager, in place of the three middle aged tw4ts.

dazzer6666 · Apr 3, 2014

Pop along to Hove for a cricket match and you'll see loads. Including the umpires (no, not specsavers)

macky · Apr 3, 2014

John Gregory had a Volvo he covered his name up with black electrical tape he

edna krabappel · Apr 3, 2014

hans kraay fan club said:
I would have loved to have been on that road trip. What a pair of absolute HEROES. it would have been like one of those top gear specials, except with two quality footballers and a starstruck teenager, in place of the three middle aged tw4ts.

It sounds like it was actually some sort of club tour (I had imagined he'd just responded to Gotsmanov's invitation for a little holiday in the USSR). I asked him if John Crumplin Football Genius went, and he said not only did he go, but he scored in a 1-1 draw in the Dynamo Minsk stadium :bowdown:

I then enquired whether the players fully explored and absorbed the culture on offer behind the Iron Curtain, to which he replied "absolutely: we were one of the very first visitors to the newly opened McDonald's in Moscow".

I love Garry Nelson.

Driver8 · Apr 3, 2014

edna krabappel said:
Unrelated, but on that note, I remember seeing an interview with Peter Shilton once in which he was asked what his worst moment in football was. He mentioned an occasion where a tabloid newspaper had named him as having been caught out with a lady who was not Mrs Shilton, and he was bombarded during his next match- which happened to be at the Goldstone- with a chorus of "Does your missus know you're here?".

I recall he had had an accident in his car and his passenger was not Mrs Shilton but a girl called Tina and whenever we attacked there was a menacing chant of "Tina Tina Tina" from the North Stand.

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