ManU sold "more replica jerseys than any other football club in the world" in '16. The club sold a "mindboggling" 2,850,000. Real Madrid "trail in second," having sold 2,290,000 shirts in '16 while La Liga rival Barcelona is third with 1,980,000. Chelsea is ManU's "closest" Premier League rival, selling 1,650,000 shirts. Liverpool is "down in seventh in the global chart," selling 705,000. Bayern Munich is "the top Bundesliga club," having sold 1,500,000. Juventus is Serie A's top club while Paris St. Germain "sold more kits than any other French side" (Scotland DAILY RECORD, 2/8).
Premier League side Crystal Palace players and staff "face having their wages slashed" by up to 50% if the club fails to stay in the Premier League. Palace's "chances of doing so look increasingly bleak after a 4-0 thrashing" by relegation rival Sunderland at home on Saturday. Those employed by the club "could see their salaries cut in half, while the whole playing squad have relegation clauses written in." Manager Sam Allardyce, appointed in December with the "mandate to keep them up, will also miss out on a seven-figure bonus," believed to be around £2M ($2.5M), if the club goes down (London DAILY MAIL, 2/7).
Royal & Awesome -- the company "behind loud and proud golfing trousers" worn by the likes of Brian McFadden, Ian Wright, Darren Gough and Steve Redgrave -- broke the £1M ($1.25M) sales barrier for the first time in its five years of trading. The Edinburgh-based firm, a sister company of costume specialist Morphsuits, broke the seven-figure barrier during '16 "on the back of significant online sales" through Amazon. Revenues from the U.S. totaled 60%, followed by 35% from the U.K. and 5% from Australia (DAILY RECORD, 2/7).
