A report from Martyn Ziegler in the Times today claims that Chelsea are se to have the same issues they did a year ago with the launch of their new shirts.
The struggle to find a front of shirt sponsor meant that the Blues played until October with a blank shirt this season. It was all rather embarrassing, even as a one off. Now it seems it will be repeated.
Ziegler’s piece claims that the club have missed the deadline with kit manufacturers Nike, who will now be forced to start production without any main sponsor.
Clearly the issues we had in finding a suitable deal a year ago are persisting. We’re not sure what the problem is exactly – presumably asking for less money would be a start – but it’s further shame on the ownership, who made now-embarrassing claims when they arrived that they were going to turn us into a money making machine on the commercial side.
While we were always sceptical about their football acumen, we at least had faith that these big-business dudes from the States were at least going to follow through on that side of things. It seems we couldn’t have been more wrong.
The one upside of commercial chaos
Infinite Athlete’s £40m deal was only ever meant to be temporary, which means that those in charge have had since October to find something for now. Not managing that is another major indictment on that side of the organisation.
We also have to admit we love the chance to buy a kit without a sponsor. From that point of view, this is actually great news. The kit itself this year wasn’t great – especially the ugly shiny badges and logos, but if Nike make a better fist of it this time we’d love the chance to get another sponsorless effort.
We’re sure that won’t be much comfort to our accountants, though…
