VILLA TO START SEARCH FOR NEW SHIRT SPONSOR

By Ryan Ghee
January 19 2006

Aston Villa have confirmed that the shirt sponsorship deal with DWS will be terminated at the end of the season and that the search for a new shirt sponsor is already underway.

DWS Investments, the club's shirt sponsor for the last two seasons, has been taken over by Aberdeen Asset Management and due to this, the contract between the two parties will be terminated at the end of the season.

However, Stuart Ryan, the Aston Villa Commercial Director, has denied that the news has come as a shock and insists that he has already started the search for a new sponsor.

Ryan said, "This is not a case of DWS pulling the plug on our deal. The initial deal was over a two-year term and that expires at the end of the season.

"There was an option to extend that deal, but that's not now beneficial to either DWS or Aston Villa.

"It's not as if this has come as a surprise. We were in discussions with DWS before, during and after their change of management.

"We've already spoken to a number of interested parties and more people will now be aware of this sponsorship opportunity."