Sponsor's £4m for grass roots

The Premier League's new sponsors, Barclaycard, have announced that they will be investing £4m in the grassroots of the game over the next three years.

The credit card company, who have spent £48m on covering the Premiership until the end of the 2004-05 season, will be working alongside the Football Foundation and the 20 top-flight clubs.

This should ensure that money is directed towards kit, equipment and coaching for children and adults in deprived areas, while also being invested in the clubs' existing community programmes.

Announcing the move at the launch of the Barclaycard Premiership, the firm's sponsorship director, Nic Gault, said: "We will be getting a lot out of football so it is absolutely right that we put a lot back into the game as well."

Manchester United have defended their travelling supporters after a newspaper published extracts from the club's own report that branded them violent and ill-disciplined.

In a statement on the club's website yesterday, United said only 87 of 52,570 fans travelling officially to 22 away Premiership games, plus cup games, were arrested last season.