It's been revealed that Stake are Everton's new shirt sponsors with the online casino becoming the ninth company to have their logo emblazoned on the Blues shirts. Given that the firm, who already sponsor Watford, are an online casino, it's a potentially controversial decision coming two years after chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale declared that "in an ideal world", the club would not be sponsored by a gambling company as they prepared to cut their ties with SportPesa but here’s a potted history of Everton’s shirt sponsors over the years.
The Blues went over a century without a sponsors logo on their shirt between 1878-1979 and for long periods they didn’t even have a club crest on their shirts but 100 years after they first adopted the name Everton, after previously being St Domingo’s, they took the plunge into football’s new commercial world. Danish meat manufacturers Hafnia had the honour of becoming Everton’s first sponsor and their logo was on their shirts for both the 1984 FA Cup final win – the club’s first trophy for 14 years – and during the 1984/85 League Championship season.
Curiously though, despite this association with one of Goodison’s golden ages, Hafnia’s products, including corned beef; pork roll; jellied veal and ox tongue were never even available for UK customers and dissolving soon after their deal with Everton ended, their name was passed on to Tyson Foods – but again no link to ‘Iron Mike.’ With Everton back in the spotlight in 1985 having secured the title and the Cup-Winners’ Cup – what would prove to be their only European trophy so far – they managed to land a major global brand in the shape of their decade-long association with NEC (Nippon Electric Company), headquartered in the Minato ward in the Japanese capital of Tokyo.
