Inferior, but getting odd bits of sponsorship (4)
I believe the answer is:
poor
'inferior' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'getting odd bits of sponsorship' is the wordplay.
'getting' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'bits of' indicates taking the first letters (I've seen 'bit of' mean this).
'sponsorship' becomes 'por' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The first letter of 'odd' is 'o'.
'o' inserted within 'por' is 'POOR'.
'but' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for poor that I've seen before include "Impoverished" , "Penurious" , "Badly off - inferior in quality" , "Not good, wealthy" , "Mere" .)