Spanish company become new shirt sponsors The swiftness of today's announcement of a new shirt sponsor proves that there has been many discussions going on in private with potential suitors following the demise of all:sports.

The name of Spanish building and civil engineering company Llanera SL will adorn our shirts with immediate effect after the club signed a record sponsorship deal today worth at least £6.6m. The contract will initially run until the end of the 2009 /10 season.

Like Charlton, Llanera has seen substantial recent growth and the company, founded in 1988, already provide sponsorship to their local La Liga side Valencia (not shirt sponsorship).

Llanera president Fernando Gallego: "Initially, we considered approaching those clubs most likely to secure Champions League qualification. To be truthful we entered into discussions with Charlton unsure whether they were able to help us reach our goals. Our very first meeting, however, lasted for more than four hours and it was immediately clear to us that because there were so many similarities between our two businesses, Charlton are the perfect partner to work with in the UK to meet our business objectives." (more)

The £6.6m should give Curbs extra spending power in January, although in saying that we are £700,000 out of pocket from the all:sports deal. The Llanera contract is far bigger than some our considered peer teams such as Blackburn, Everton, Fulham, Man City, Middlesbro and Birmingham.

The countries biggest football sponsorship deal is Chelsea's Samsung one of £11m per annum. A full list is here courtesy of the excellent Political Economy of Football website.  ¶ 12:43