England’s footballers suffered more humiliation last night after Nationwide, their official sponsor, dumped them after 11 years. The building society confirmed this week that it will let the £20m contract expire at the close of July.

It was generally understood that the building society was prepared to pledge another four years of sponsorship to the team before the lacklustre performance at the World Cup 2010.

The FA however kept its options open believing that they would be successful at the World Cup thus attracting sponsors that were prepared to pay a much larger amount of sponsorship.  However, at the time they believed that Nationwide would keep its offer opening even if England did not perform well.

However, now that their risk failed the FA has to desperately search for a new sponsor before the August 11^th match against Hungary at Wembley.

Many of the 15 million members of Nationwide should be pleased with decision as they became irritated of supporting England in the midst of its financial problems.

Some have even expressed frustration with England’s website with Clive Totman stating that given the current financial situation many directors question if football passions should be expressed when the money would be better spent on lower mortgage rates or member benefits.

The past deal included media interview backdrop boards, an all training kit, broadcast sponsorship rights, and ticket rights.

Nationwide also was able to use the Three Lions crest on promotions, advertising, and had access to players for personal advertising efforts.