It was 1972 before Manchester United had their club badge on the football shirt. The red shirt with white collar was made by Umbro, who made the kits for a further three years, before Admiral took over the responsibility.
Then came the 1980s and Admiral was replaced with Adidas as the kit maker and produced probably the most popular shirts amongst the fans.
The designs for these shirts, both home and away, were iconic. With ‘Sharp’ as the sponsor across the front and the three white stripes along the arms, these shirts bring back a lovely bit of nostalgia for fans of a certain age.
Then came the Premier League era and Umbro again made United’s shirts. The collars tied up with laces, made famous by Eric Cantona, the green and gold away shirt in memory of the colours of Newton Heath, that classic black kit that Cantona made famous when kicking a Crystal Palace fan at Selhurst Park, to the red shirts worn when we won the Treble. Again, Umbro boasted some quality designs.
Whilst maybe it’s a sign of old age, believing that everything was better in the good ol’ days, the shirts United players have donned over the past decade just don’t compete.
Nike were given the contract in 2002 and you can count on one hand the amount of nice shirts we’ve had in that time. The 2006-07 shirt was fairly popular, with a design working as a tribute to the Busby Babes. But the designs have gradually got worse, reaching a climax with the gingham design in 2012-2013.
Nike released a statement yesterday confirming that they will not be extending their shirt-making deal with the club when it expires next year.
‘Manchester United is a great club with passionate fans,’ they said in a statement. ‘We are proud to have partnered with them for the last 12 years and will continue to sponsor the club until the end of the 2014-15 season. Any partnership with a club or federation has to be mutually beneficial and the terms that were on offer for a renewed contract did not represent good value for Nike’s shareholders.’
Nike were paying about £25m a year and recently announced that football revenue for the company was up 21 per cent to £1.3 billion in the last fiscal year. From July 2013 to March 2014, the publicly traded Manchester United pulled in £28m in retail, merchandising, apparel and product licensing revenue. United are reportedly looking for something closer to £60m a year now.
No football club sells more shirts than United, with them competing with Adidas’ Real Madrid for the most popular shirt in the world every season. Recent figures suggested they both sell around 1.4m shirts per year. Having lost Arsenal to Puma, Nike will now fall well behind Adidas, who make shirts for some of the biggest sellers, like Bayern Munich, Chelsea and AC Milan.
Warrior are a possibility, who have been making some truly awful shirts for Liverpool over the past couple of seasons. However, if reports are to be believed, Adidas are prepared to meet United’s asking price, which will greatly welcomed by the fans. Let’s hope we’ll see our players wearing quality shirts once more.
