Rothmans was a name to remember but changes in football could kill it off | Matthew Engel


Nothing damages a sporting institution quite so much as a name change but annuals were dying off long before the internet

There is a new theory, probably devised by researchers at one of the newer universities, that you can tell the approximate age of British sports followers by how they refer to what began as the Football League Cup, a competition that has gone under 10 different names in the past 38 years.

Some of us resolve the problem by referring to it hardly at all. But if it’s anything, it has to be the League Cup. And in refusing to mention the sponsor du jour, I would say we are doing football a favour. Nothing damages a sporting institution quite so much as a name change.

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