Michael Kenrick 28/04/2026 22comments  |  Jump to last

CMC Markets, the financial services group, has struck a near-£30M deal to  have their name as front-of-shirt sponsor for Everton Football Club, heralding a move away from casino and sports betting to gambling on the stock market.  

Sky News has confirmed that Everton and CMC Markets have signed a deal in recent days.  The company is run by Baron Peter Cruddas, the former Conservative Party treasurer, who was forced to resign over a "cash for access" scandal in 2012.

It comes weeks after we reported that CMC was in discussions about front-of-shirt deals with Everton to replace Stake.com, which was reported last year to be leaving the UK online gambling market following a regulatory probe into its marketing activities.

Sports industry sources said the deals were aimed at aiding CMC Markets' brand-building efforts as it strives to create a financial services 'super-app'.

In its interim results announcement last November, CMC highlighted plans to launch a multi-asset platform enabling customers to trade shares, derivatives, ISAs, SIPPs and other products on a single platform.

Significantly, the deal comes as more than a third of top-flight clubs seek new shirt sponsors ahead of the voluntary ban on gambling sponsors coming into effect from the 2026-27 season.

 

Reader Comments (22)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer ()


Mike Gaynes
1 Posted 29/04/2026 at 01:06:34
At last, a shirt I can buy without feeling embarrassed about what's on the front.

I've read somewhere that Stake is remaining as a sleeve sponsor. True or false?
Eric Myles
2 Posted 29/04/2026 at 03:57:34
They're a bit late coming into the financial app market so I suppose it makes sense in promoting brand awareness since they're not a 'name'.

Don't think they'd like the reference to 'gambling on the stock market' though MK.
Paul Hewitt
3 Posted 29/04/2026 at 07:06:00
Wonder what people can find wrong with this deal?
Andrew Ellams
4 Posted 29/04/2026 at 07:28:41
Easy Paul. The founder of CMC Markets is Peter Cruddas, a man so corrupt he belongs in jail. We're talking billions in corruption.

When Boris Johnson nominated him for a peerage the committee actually rejected him as he's so up to his neck in shit but Johnson still went ahead and pushed it through anyway. He's not a man we need anywhere near our club.

Jack Convery
5 Posted 29/04/2026 at 10:02:40
We campaign against the Premier League for being Corrupt as Fuck...

And then jump into bed with this guy -- oh dear!
John Collins
6 Posted 29/04/2026 at 10:13:36
Jack.

He's got his uses, Lord Crudass.

If you want to meet the Prime Minister, he can arrange it. He only charges £250,000 for the service.
Ajay Gopal
7 Posted 29/04/2026 at 10:31:42
Seems like a back door entry for the gambling industry. Does not give a very savoury look for Everton.

Hopefully, TFG have done proper due diligence on these guys. The front shirt sponsorship is as much image creation for the football club as it is for the advertiser.

CMC Markets doesn't fill me with as much confidence as a regular brand like a car or soft drinks manufacturer.
Andrew Grey
8 Posted 29/04/2026 at 10:31:55
Cruddas is a director of 13 companies all beginning with CMC, including one called CMC Spreadbet PLC, A company which has had 5 different names since 1991.

What this tells us exactly? I have no idea. I was bored.

Paul Hewitt
9 Posted 29/04/2026 at 12:00:25
I'd say all big business has some corruption in it.
Dan Nulty
10 Posted 29/04/2026 at 12:33:19
As long as they pay up and aren't a betting company I'm delighted.
Ian Bennett
11 Posted 29/04/2026 at 13:47:08
If that is a 2 year deal, and my guess it is, then it would make it a 50% increase on Stake?

Plus Stake as a shirt sleeve sponsor -- another couple of million.

So £7-8M increase?

My other take is, Hill Dickinson got a pretty neat deal on the naming rights at half the price. I would think that has far more of a value, in that it is mentioned every time for a home game vs rather being seen on the kit.

John Collins
12 Posted 29/04/2026 at 13:56:24
It's a 3-year deal, Ian.
Andrew Ellams
13 Posted 29/04/2026 at 16:42:07
Paul H, the guy was too corrupt for the Tory Party having been forced to step down as party treasurer for accepting payments of up to £250k to allow businesses direct access to the PM.

This is a terrible look.
John Pendleton
14 Posted 29/04/2026 at 19:10:30
I couldn't tell you what half the global sponsors in the Premier league do and this is no different. The owner would clearly fail a fit and proper test but money talks I guess - although our entire deal is about the same income as Man Utd get for the left leg of an away training sock.

Apart from the income, what are we looking for in a main shirt sponsor - shared values, local, global, cool, synergy, spin-off deals?

1979–1985: Hafnia (Danish meat manufacturer)
1985–1995: NEC (Electronics)
1995–1997: Danka (Photocopiers)
1997–2002: One2One (Mobile network)
2002–2004: Kejian (Chinese electronics firm)
2004–2017: Chang Beer (Longest partnership in club history)
2017–2020: SportPesa (Betting)
2020–2022: Cazoo (Online car retailer)
2022–2025: Stake.com (Online casino)

At least six of those sponsors were new names to me when they were announced. Guess I'm not enough of a gambling, boozing, office-based, car-owning ham fan.
Paul Griffiths
15 Posted 30/04/2026 at 04:20:32
To be fair John (6), you could have got access to Cameron and Osborne for as little as £100,000. £250,000 got you what was called 'premier league' access.

I shudder to imagine what that might have involved.
Paul Griffiths
16 Posted 30/04/2026 at 04:30:27
Looks like our baron is jumping ship from the Tory party as he didn't get his way on reinstating Johnson as a leadership candidate and on reducing the power of the 1922 Committee.

No more money from he, he said, and he now seems to be making the now very familiar journey from the Tories to Farage and Reform. Half of his last 100 retweets give support to Farage/Reform, including one that stated that anyone who supports the Conservatives is not a 'patriot'.

His online exploits depend on people risking money.
Bobby Mallon
17 Posted 30/04/2026 at 05:58:45
Jack at 5 only the fans
Bill Hawker
18 Posted 30/04/2026 at 15:31:47
"Conservative Party:"

Uh oh, many Evertonians will NOT like this one bit.
Steve Brown
19 Posted 30/04/2026 at 16:52:13
Former tax exile, Tory treasurer, brexiteer, resigned in cash for access scandal, called getting rid of Boris Johnson “anti democatic” and now loves Farage.

He’ll fit in well when he visits Merseyside.
Ian Bennett
20 Posted 30/04/2026 at 17:01:41
it was either this or Pornbang, a company wholly owned by John Selwyn Gummer. Sometimes you can't win whatever you do.
Jack Convery
21 Posted 30/04/2026 at 23:47:29
Everton are better than this. Very disappointed in TFG. They have no concept of what being an Evertonian means. Cruddas is the type of chancer we chase out of our fair city. I expect the shirt without the CMC logo, to be a better seller, than the one with it on. A big misstep by our absent landlords.
Billy Bradshaw
26 Posted 01/05/2026 at 14:11:42
@ 24 I'm Billy Bradshaw but I haven't posted for weeks due to site playing up.

Add Your Comments

In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.

» Log in now

Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site.


How to get rid of these ads and support TW

© ToffeeWeb