Blackburn Rovers will carry the name of CIS on their new-look shirts next season, after chairman Robert Coar unveiled a multi-million pound four-year sponsorship deal at Ewood today.

CIS (Co-operative Insurance Society), who are also involved with Rugby Union and League as well as pitch perimeter advertising, revealed that it is the largest single sponsorship they have ever undertaken.

And, although Rovers would not give away exact details of the contract, Mr Coar confirmed it involved "several million pounds" over the initial four-year term.

Announcing the agreement with the Manchester-based company, Mr Coar said that Rovers were the first Premier League club to be sponsored by a major financial services provider.

The size of the deal puts it alongside those negotiated by most of the top clubs in the Premier League.

CIS take over from McEwan's Lager as Rovers' major sponsors, but as there is no conflict of interest Matthew Brown may well maintain their connections with the club in some other form.

Rovers, I am sure, will certainly hope that is the case. Mr Coar said: "CIS is an ideal sponsor for Blackburn Rovers.

"It's a blue-chip company with a reputation for looking after its customers and giving good value for money, which are the major qualities we strive to offer.

"We know it is strongly committed as a sponsor and we look forward to working closely with them over the next four seasons, which we believe will be successful for the club.

"Blackburn Rovers has a trend of long-term commitment to its sponsors, the previous two sponsorships having run for five and six years."

Alan Sneddon, CIS chief general manager, said: "Blackburn is a very good fit for CIS. It's a successful community-minded club with some of the finest facilities in the Premier League."

He added that he expected the link with Rovers to highlight the company's profile in a very competitive financial services market. Meanwhile, the possibility of a late change to England's nominated line-up for Euro 96 was raised today following allegations of damage to Cathay Pacific property aboard the squad's flight home from Hong Kong.

Terry Venables has announced his squad but does not have to lodge it with FIFA until today.

If an inquiry reveals a need for disciplinary action, then the coach will have to decide how far that goes.

Venables has just chopped five players, including Jason Wilcox, from the squad who went to the Far East.

If he were now to drop anyone then, presumably, any replacements would be chosen from the five who missed out.

Cathay Pacific say they expect the damage caused on the plane to amount to around £5,000.

As expected, Ewood trio Colin Hendry, Billy McKinlay and Kevin Gallacher are all included in Scotland's final 22 for Euro 96.

Coach Craig Brown announced today that the squad who are currently in America preparing for the championships would be the men to represent Scotland next month. Hendry is again included in the team to start against Colombia tonight, in their second friendly of the tour.

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