Neville, in particular, is highly complementary about the Ampera, telling The Sun it was “a very stress-free place to travel”.

Not for him a supercar or luxury 4x4; environmentally-aware Neville prefers the option of running on pure electric for the majority of his journeys – he claims to have filled the Ampera up only five times in the 12 months since taking delivery of his first car.

Even England manager Roy Hodgson is supplied with a vehicle under the FA’s company car policy.

He has an automatic Insignia Sports Tourer in black and, unlike his predecessor Fabio Capello who was chauffeured everywhere, Hodgson drives the car himself.

FA employees are graded in two groups: job-need drivers, who account for 90% of the fleet, and executive drivers.

Job-need staff receive either Insignias or Astras; executive grades generally receive Insignia SRi or Elite models.

Each member of staff submits their mileage every month and when it hits a certain threshold, Vauxhall provides a replacement.

“We get the cars off fleet before they hit 20,000 miles and we don’t go beyond 11 months,” Michaels says.

“But if things fluctuate in the used market it might suit us to de-fleet early. It’s a great advantage to us because we are in total control.”

Vauxhall handles the remarketing of all the cars which are processed through its Network Q used car dealerships.

There have been almost six vehicle rotations since the beginning of the sponsorship contract in 2011. A total of 726 vehicles have been through the programme (including the current live vehicles).

While Vauxhall does all the fleet management, such as P11D values, taxation and specification, it doesn’t intervene with the FA’s per-
sonnel policies.

However, it does provide staff with a driver handbook similar to its own which informs FA employees about expectations related to the care of the vehicle. Driver management and accident management are overseen by a member of the FA’s finance team.

Introducing the Vauxhall driver handbook has helped to reduce costs related to fair wear and tear by ensuring staff understand and follow the correct process.

The handbook details best practice, including general maintenance requirements.

“Before, cars were coming back with damage so we went to the FA and said ‘let us take this a step forward. We won’t charge you for it: it’s a win-win because we are in partnership’,” Michaels says.

“Since we put in place the handbook and applied our own car scheme policy, fair wear and tear on the vehicles is not alarming. It has helped them to reduce their costs.”

On average, the repair cost per vehicle is £180, which has been consistent for a few years. The FA is billed for all rectification cost.

“It’s all part of reinforcing the sponsorship agreement,” Michaels adds. “Vauxhall-branded FA staff driving in their Vauxhalls – it’s all about good brand awareness.”