THE chief executive of AG Barr has said its sponsorship of The Football League in England does not change its commitment to the Scottish game.
Roger White, speaking after unveiling record annual profits of £41.9m for the Irn-Bru maker, said the Cumbernauld company has been growing sales in the north of England steadily in recent years.
Part of its marketing plan there was to boost awareness of the brand through a deal to become official soft drink sponsor with the rugby Super League.
Now with plans to further expand sales of Scotland's other national drink into the Midlands and south of England Mr White said a football deal made commercial sense.
He said: "Now that we are going to move onto a more wide scale national basis then, in the same way as we do with Scottish football, we are supporting the English Football League.
"We have a wealth of understanding and knowledge about how to integrate our activity with football supporters. We think that will work well for us."
Irn-Bru is becoming the official soft drink partner of The Football League in a three-year deal which is scheduled to begin during the play-offs.
However Mr White said that commitment, which is believed to be worth more than £1 million, will not affect AG Barr's backing of Scottish football.
At the moment Irn-Bru is the official soft drink partner of the Scottish Professional Football League and also the shirt sponsor of League Two side Queens Park.
Prior to that, the carbonated drink was the sponsor of the Scottish Football League for six seasons until the reorganisation which saw the creation of the SPFL.
Mr White said: "We now have a relatively long experience of working with the Scottish Football League and we enjoy that.
"We think we have learned quite a lot that we can hopefully apply to the partnership we have now got with the English Football League."
The SPFL has come under fire for failing to find a title sponsor for the competition.
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