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Real appoints English marketer

Real Madrid has appointed English marketer Duncan Pratt as head of the Spanish giant's merchandising operations for Great Britain, Scandinavia and Holland.

The project, which Pratt says will take two or three years to develop, aims to market merchandise, like replica kit currently unavailable in the UK, to an untapped market of Real fans.
"Real are only doing now what Manchester United did 10 years ago, and Barcelona did five years ago," said Pratt to the BBC's online service.
Pratt added: "They have seen how other clubs have overtaken them in the money-raising stakes, and when you think about it, possibly no club has a bigger name to trade on than Real Madrid.
"I met with Real's directors and they discussed how to create a fan base in every country."
In season 2000/200, Real Madrid earned only 50 percent of the marketing income generated by Manchester United.