Yet Scottish Premier League champions Celtic FC recently announced they would offer their fans advice on mortgages, savings, pensions, investments and annuities. And the Scottish side is just the latest team to offer the service.

Can actual Celtic-branded financial products be far behind? 'City till I die' life insurance for Manchester City supporters?

The club launched the new financial advice service, which will really put a Celtic jersey on the offerings of UK finance company Aegon, at last Sunday's game with Hearts.

"The loyalty that supporters have for their football club would be ideal for any company looking to bring about customer loyalty, " according to Aegon's spokesperson Lesley McPherson.

The initiative follows a pilot project carried out with Chelsea FC in London.

After an original free consultation, Aegon will charge commission to fans for its monetary wisdom but it refused to be drawn on how much the company expects to earn from the project.

"It's very difficult to put a figure on the size of the deal, " McPherson said.

"It's great for us because it will give us direct access to thousands of people, through a brand with which they have a powerful affinity. Customer acquisition is the primary objective and then obviously to build value through customer retention as they build wealth."

If things go well, the company is likely to make savings and life assurance products available to fans, putting Celtic in the same league as Ryanair and Tesco, companies that have muscled their way into personal finance.

"At the moment it's financial advice only, although as the relationship develops it is possible that we could look at a bespoke product, " said McPherson. "If so, this would be more likely to be a life assurance or savings product, which is our core market."

Unfortunately . . . perhaps . . . for Irish Celtic fans, Aegon is not licensed here but the company says this is something it is actively looking at.

Still, the club must be doing something right. Its shares jumped 40% over the past month.