Angus Kinnear reveals what he'd do if Red Bull tried to change Leeds United's name | OneFootball

Leeds United chief executive Angus Kinnear has addressed the concerns surrounding Red Bull's minority purchase of the club

Leeds United chief executive Angus Kinnear has declared that the club's name will not change despite the purchase of a minority stake by Red Bull.

The energy drink enterprise purchased a minority stake in the club in the immediate aftermath of Leeds' Championship play-off final defeat to Southampton at Wembley back in May.

As such, the multi-year deal between Leeds and Red Bull has seen the company become the new front-of-shirt sponsor of all official shirts, also becoming the Whites' "exclusive energy drink partner".

Meanwhile, Red Bull branding appears prominently at Elland Road, provoking a division in opinion among supporters. The company has become heavily involved in football over the years, most notably investing significantly in Red Bull Salzburg of Austria and Bundesliga outfit RB Leipzig.

Their deal with the Austrian outfit back in 2005 attracted plenty of controversy, with the club changing their name, crest and stadium name after being purchased by Red Bull. They have also invested in New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Bragantino in Brazil.

Upon completion and announcement of the purchase, Leeds confirmed in a club statement that the "name and logo will remain unchanged.

From boardroom level to the playing squad, there has been wholesale change at Leeds across recent months. Nonetheless, Daniel Farke's team are beginning to find their feet following a shaky start to the season, having now gone three games without conceding a goal.

They claimed consecutive 2-0 victories over Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City before September's international break, elevating them to fourth in the Championship table ahead of Burnley's visit to Elland Road on Saturday afternoon.

Angus Kinnear makes Leeds United, Red Bull branding admission

With the way in which Red Bull have imposed themselves on the identity of general sporting entities across the globe, there has been understandable concern about similar circumstances occurring at Leeds.

However, controversial chief executive Kinnear has now claimed that Leeds' name will change following the purchase of Red Bull, citing the potential brand awareness and commercial growth to frame the deal differently to the way in which it has been received by supporters.

"All I can say is that it’s never been a consideration in terms of it’s never been raised by them. It’s never been anything that’s been offered," Kinnear said when speaking on the Square Ball Podcast.

"Paraag [Marathe, Leeds chairman] has been adamant, and I’m with him on this, that it’s not going to happen.

"I think to give the fans some kind of reassurance in the direction of travel, I think over the last couple of weeks, you’ll have seen that Red Bull have announced more traditional sponsorship deals. I think they’re going to end up with five or six clubs, which are going to be more traditional sponsorship partnerships.

"We’re very proud that they chose Leeds United to be the first of those because this is, although it has an ownership stake in it, this is about driving the brand awareness through football in a market that they haven’t been in historically.

"The values of the deal are absolutely transformational from a commercial perspective. We’re not going to publish the values, but they are a multiple of what we’d have expected otherwise. It’s a really high level of commitment.

"I understand the fans’ concerns about what’s happened elsewhere. It’s very difficult to give them absolute certainty that it’s never going to happen again, but it is not the 49ers’ [49ers enterprise, Leeds ownership group] plan.

"It’s not the 49ers’ plan to sell to Red Bull. It’s not Red Bull’s plan to buy Leeds United. It is by and large a sponsorship deal which has an equity element to it. And I think it’s going to be one of the pillars which is going to frame our commercial success, which will ultimately frame our footballing success.

“So I think my perspective will be in four to five years’ time, everyone will look back on the Red Bull deal and they’ll see from a commercial perspective it was the catalyst for the commercial growth which has fuelled Leeds United becoming a top-ten Premier League side."

Meanwhile, Kinnear added that if Red Bull were to take over Leeds and try to rebrand the club, he "categorically wouldn't be a part of Leeds if it's changing its name".

Understandably so, Leeds supporters remain low on trust when it comes to the ownership of the club.

They may have received the deal cynically, but they have every right to given some of the mistakes which have been made in recent times and, more notably, the overt commercialisation at the expense of identity and soul that Red Bull have been responsible for at other clubs.

Indeed, those developments are sorely indicative of a fundamental and seismic change in the disillusionment between supporters and sponsors or investing parties.

Leeds is a club built on a rich identity and history, and they would lose a sense of who they really are if Kinnear and Marathe were to ever break their assurances.