New deals at Motherwell

Motherwell have become the second football club to be‘unsponsored’by bookies giant Paddy Power, in what is their biggest ever sponsorship deal.

The Fir Park club are part of Paddy Power’s #saveourshirt campaign, which sees the space normally reserved for a sponsor logo left blank.

Club chairman Jim Mcmahon said:“it’s a fantastic achievement by our commercial team to get them on board.

“Paddy Power are forward-thinking and innovative, and it is a mark of how our fan-owned club is perceived in the world that we were able to attract such a high-calibre partner.”

A Paddy Power spokeswoman said: “We’re delighted that the Well are joining in the fun for the upcoming campaign and we’ve been impressed with their ability to keep their involvement top secret, despite all the noise of the past week.

“We’ve been planning this with them for months and it feels great to finally unveil their involvement.”

Meanwhile, manager Stephen Robinson and assistant Keith Lasley signed contract extensions, keeping them at the club until 2022.

Robinson, 44, said:“i’m very happy to commit my future here. It’s a fantastic football club, and people have been very good to me. I still see us moving forward and developing.

“There’s not a lot of stability in football clubs, but clubs that do have that stability, if you look back, seem to be the ones that are relatively successful.

“We have been that, in terms of what is expected at Motherwell; we have been to two cup finals, developed a lot of young players and brought a lot of money in that has helped keep us on a steady footing.

“We are looking to keep moving forward, developing young players and bringing in exciting players to sell.”

He added:“this is a football club where people do things together. I’ve got total support from the board.”