Bottling Brand-y

Bloomberg magazine recently published an article comparing the Federer and Nadal brands, while a number of marketing consultancies have recently been trying to get to grips with the real nature of sports brands. Clearly there are some sports brands out there (e.g. Nike and Adidas) that have been commercially, strategically and carefully created and managed, others have developed in a different way e.g. David Beckham; Manchester United etc. In respect of the latter, do such brands actually exist, or is their existence purely a myth? How can a 19th Century sports club that encapsulates a particular set of values actually be branded in a clear and meaningful way? Aren't marketers simply engaging in post-hoc rationalisation when claiming to have created a brand, with an identity and a set of values? When, in actual fact, sports clubs are living organisms with a history and a legacy that branding is appropriating rather than creating or shaping? Consider the case of German football club St Pauli; left-wing, somewhat anarchistic, with a fan base begrudging of commercial influences on sport. How could/should such a club be branded? Would it be wrong to even start using the word 'brand' in relation to such clubs? Or are sports clubs woefully ignorant? Are they really brands in the accurate sense of the word/concept, standing comparison with other brands the world over e.g. Microsoft? And can the notion of branding truly add to sports clubs, other than/in addition to the bottom-line? In which case, how might one brand unique football clubs like St Pauli, Atletico Bilbao or Palermo?