Sign in
- You are currently accessing BusinessGreen via your Enterprise account.
  
  If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.
  
  If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.
  
  Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800
  
  Email: [email protected]
  - Sign in
Follow us
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
- Newsletters
- Facebook
- YouTube
- Instagram
Free Trial
Subscribe
Events & Awards
- Upcoming events
  Net Zero Festival 2020
  
  Net Zero Festival 2020 is the world's first business festival dedicated to exploring, advancing, and celebrating the global transition to a net zero emission economy. Join us at BusinessGreen's inaugural Net Zero Festival 2020 – for leaders who won't wait until 2050 to build a better business, and a better world.
  
  Date: 30 Sep 2020
  
  Worldwide
  
  Net Zero Skills Summit
  
  Bringing together top businesses, policymakers, educational organisations, unions, and campaigners to jointly explore how to bridge the skills gap faced by the net zero transition and maximise the job opportunities that will come with a 'green recovery'.
  
  Date: 12 Oct 2020
  
  Virtual Event, Worldwide
  BusinessGreen Leaders Awards 2020
  
  From blue chips and start-ups to cutting edge clean tech providers and transforming incumbents, the Awards will honour the very best of UK green business, offering a unique opportunity for the environmental business community to join together to celebrate their many successes and collaborate on the next phase of the net zero transition.
  
  Date: 14 Oct 2020
  
  Virtual Event, Worldwide
  View all events
SDG Hub

Manchester United's latest Spanish signing could be its most important yet

BusinessGreen staff
03 October 2014

Tweet
Facebook
LinkedIn
Send to

England's most popular mid-table team enlists Abengoa as its first Official Sustainable Technology Partner

Poor Manchester United fans. Forced to watch from the side-lines as rivals Liverpool and Manchester City take on Europe's finest in the Champions League, sputtering out prawn sandwiches as their ludicrously expensive team contrives to lose to Leicester City and MK Dons, and battling with the road works on the M6 that add another 90 minutes to the drive back down to Surrey.

But perhaps things are now looking up. United's latest Spanish signing is Abengoa - no, not the classy yet resilient centre half the team is crying out for, but a technology company better known for green energy and biofuels. The firm has been brought in as the club's first Official Sustainable Technology Partner and is now promising to give a boost to the team's already impressive green credentials. The Tank reckons this is also a first for English football, but we haven't actually checked - what do you think we are, a journalist or something?

Anyway, according to a United statement, Abengoa will "identify, advise and implement sustainable ways in which Manchester United can save resources and reduce waste", ultimately helping the club "enhance and develop its sustainable business practices". Rumours that it could also offer advice to Louis Van Gaal on how to sustainably integrate six attacking players into a team without compromising defensive capabilities were left unconfirmed.

Now the Tank could query Utd's priorities - after all, this is a club that has seen fit to enlist official tyre, paint, and global noodle partners before Abengoa came on board.

But even during its well-documented travails, Man Utd remains one of the biggest draws in a competition whose matches attract an average global audience of 12.3 million people.

No wonder Abengoa's chief executive, Manuel Sánchez Ortega, talks of "an excellent opportunity to show the world of football and its millions of supporters, including the next generation of sports fans, the principle of responsible and sustainable management of our energy and environment".

Ortega certainly talks a good game - no word if he's any good in defence, though.