Chelsea Blueprint - A missed opportunity?

[Dale Blue]

I cant help but thinking we've made a bit of a mistake signing a 10 year deal with Umbro.

As we have found out over the past few months, increasingly Kit manufacturers DO have an influence on where players who wear their brand end up, eg Kaka, Ronaldinho when he joined Barca.

If I remember Chelsea bought their deal out with Umbro at the cost of millions, as they realised that a deal with Adidas would be more lucrative & open more doors to them....

I think that as Umbro are a subsidiary of Nike, a shorter term deal with a neutral manufacturer (Le Coq) would have allowed us to build the side into a more competitve side & thrash out a more lucrative deal when we are in a stronger postion as a club.

Have we made a mistake that could cost us a few quid & maybe a player or two in the future.

 

[mancmackem]

I'm dismayed nobody has replied to your post mate as i think it's an interesting one. It is also interesting that we sign this deal with Umbro, and suddenly Barry pops out of the woodwork. Then we are linked with Johnson, Terry for months...it may help having Umbro as a partner to acquire English players, especially from the national teams. Hughes may have a 2 stage plan: -

Stage 1
Buy proven English players who are less of a risk for adapting, but more money (not really a factor for us any more). and try to hit a chumps league spot/win domestic trophies like the League/F.A. Cup.
Stage 2
Once we are established, then we will have the ability to buy international stars who will push us to the next level.

Reading your post, i think the 10 year deal is 5 years too many in terms of the timescale we want to achieve things within.

 

[The Pink Panther]

Have we made a mistake that could cost us a few quid & maybe a player or two in the future.

I doubt our owner's worried about 10 or 15 million.
Fuck me he sold his Barclays shares the other week for a 1.5 billion profit.

 

[Bilboblue]

NQT I think the OP is more worried abot potential player losses than cash.

I agree, good post that.

 

[allan harper]

I cant help but thinking we've made a bit of a mistake signing a 10 year deal with Umbro.

As we have found out over the past few months, increasingly Kit manufacturers DO have an influence on where players who wear their brand end up, eg Kaka, Ronaldinho when he joined Barca.

If I remember Chelsea bought their deal out with Umbro at the cost of millions, as they realised that a deal with Adidas would be more lucrative & open more doors to them....

I think that as Umbro are a subsidiary of Nike, a shorter term deal with a neutral manufacturer (Le Coq) would have allowed us to build the side into a more competitve side & thrash out a more lucrative deal when we are in a stronger postion as a club.

Have we made a mistake that could cost us a few quid & maybe a player or two in the future.

Good interesting post mate.....

 

[Hamann Pineapple]

Ronaldo is Nike and he's going to Real Madrid who are Adidas

 

[alera]

Umbro are owned by Nike so we are already under a big umbrella but its an interesting point I see where you are comming from.

I guess we were looking for more credibility at this stage we just dont get that with the shirt sponsors we ave had over the last few years.

We certainly seem to be trying the progesssion modelthat worked with Chelsea; buy proven experienced british isle players and a few marque foreigners to try and force out way into the top 4.

The talk of Upson for Dunne, Johnson for Richards, Barry for Fernades. Tevez for Vassel. Lescott for Ben Haim / GB. These are the sort of ways we are trying to streghen the squad and TBH if we can pull all these deals off (Big If) we are talking about a huge improvement in our squad over the last 12months. With a full pre season behind us, better setup in terms of training and facilities and more importantly no Mikey mouse Europa 2 bob cup sucking th life out of our players we can hope for a much better effort in the league this season.

In real;ity we are still a couple of seasons and transfer windows away from challenging the top 4 unless Hughes can really pull off some amazing moves this summer.

At this stage out squad is at least 6 world class players off being a champions league challenger IMO. Our squad is still £200 - £300 million behind at least in talent from likes of Scum, Chelsea, Liverpool etc. I dont think having an Addidas kit will make that much of a difference when it comes to signing the players we need.

 

[el blue]

I actually think it makes more sense to have a smaller brand name for the kit manufacturer. Big players get sponsored by Nike, Reebok, Adidas - so you pick Nike and all of sudden Aguero is more interested in coming but its harder to sign Henry or Villa. By going with Umbro you side step all of that nonsense because they aren't competing in the same sponsorship leagues as the top brands. As long as Villa is wearing some Adidas booties they couldn't give a shit about the Umbro shirt on his chest but they might care a bit more if it was a Reebok or Nike shirt.

 

[without a dream]

As Umbro is owned by Nike i don't think it should be too much of a problem for players sponsored by them. John Terry and Michael Owen have Umbro sponsorships though.......... ;)

 

[AntonDonJuan]

Would we really want a player who will only go to a club because of who manufactures their shirts?