Companies Queue Up To Gamble On City

Tuesday 26th January, 1999

With the possibility of the current deal with shirt suppliers Beaver (Shirt pictured right) coming to an end at the end of a season that could lead to Premiership football for City the club have become one of the hot properties in kit manufacture.

With most potential Premiership club on long standing arrangements with sportswear companies the rise of City as realistic top flight material has peaked the interest of those companies looking to expand their portfolio of teams. Sportswear companies recognise that most teams outside the Premiership sell only to their local area, the exception of this being Crystal Palace, who’s sales in Asian have rocketed to unprecedented levels after the signing of Chinese captain Fan Zhuyi. Teams promoted to the Premiership in the last few years have enjoyed huge percentage rises in the number of shirts sold with the likes of Barnsley and Charlton outselling established Premiership strugglers like Everton.

Any manufacturer signing a deal with a club in City’s position before the end of the season is taking a gamble on the clubs fortunes, but with the stakes being as high as they are in the replica shirt market, it is a gamble at least one company will be prepare to take.

Imagine if you will that City are promoted (Fun, isn’t it) and were to use the Premiership money to sign a star player that captured the imagination of the 16,000 plus season ticket holders the club could expect to attract in the same way that Chris Waddle did in his spell with the club. With named and numbered shirts selling for over £40 the mathematics are staggering. Likewise, should the club sign a popular player from a lesser footballing nation as Palace did with their two Chinese players, then the club, and by connection it's manufacturer, could find themselves exploiting previously untapped markets.

Japanese company Asics have begun tentative talks with City and Bolton based Reebok UK are also interested.

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