Vieira takes up England shirt

HAVING jumped into bed with Manchester United last week, it would appear Arsenal's French star Patrick Vieira is also interested in how the England football team is doing.

Listed SP Holdings, the sports marketing and financial firm in which he has a significant stake, last week signed a four-year, £50m licensing deal with United to design and distribute merchandise from pyjamas to jeans for the club - though not for the much -more lucrative replica shirts.

SP has now signed a second deal acquiring The Sports Store Limited which runs the official online retail sites of the Football Association, selling England shirts, as well as 'the independent Manchester United store' and the website selling England-branded cricket gear.

It used to be known as Sportsetail, originally a joint venture between bust clothing company Hay & Robertson and BSkyB.

When Hay & Robertson, which used to be behind the Admiral sports and Kangol clothing brands, went into administration, Sportsetail was sold to Monaco-based British businessman Peter Abbey who runs Gibraltar-registered Chiddingfold Investments.