Manchester United football club welcomed their new sponsors AON last night, as they swap one insurance broker for another. The club’s previous sponsors American Insurance Group (AIG) pulled out of the deal, after having to be bailed out by the US Treasury deparment earlier on this year.

AIG have had an extremely tough few months, made worse by the collapse of the Prudential’s purchase of their Asian offshoot AIA. The breakdown of this sale is reportedly due to the Treasury’s ‘clear overvaluation’ of AIA at an incredible $24.5billion.

AON have reportedly paid £80m to be the main sponsor of Manchester United, although given their current form and the fact that they won nothing at all in the last season, this isn’t perhaps the best possible year to be taking on the club.

AON however seem to be very excited about the deal, stating that they were happy to be working with the club, who shared their desire for success.

It has to be said however that MUFC aren’t doing fantastically in terms of finance at the moment, with sales of their merch (particularly shirts) having dropped dramatically over the last year. This is mainly down to supporters spending their money on the Newton Heath colours of green and yellow, as they protest against the club’s American owners.

United’s new sponsors, AON, are an American company, although they have operations in more than 40 countries worldwide. They work in the specialist areas of reinsurance, risk management and human capital consulting. AON work primarily with insurance, dealing with all kinds of insurance including long term and short term car insurance, as well as one day insurance and many other types of cover.

On a side note, if you’re looking for insurance and you’re UK based, ignore the big American companies; you’re far more likely to get a good deal from a locally based provider. Don’t believe that? Get online and find sites that give an instant car insurance quote from UK and US based insurers and have a look at the difference between them, you’ll be surprised in the difference in price.