MANCHESTER CITY ANNOUNCE NEW NIKE DEAL
Manchester City are a club on up and up and now they have cashed in on their emergence as a football powerhouse by striking a six-year kit deal with Nike that could earn the Premier League leaders up to £12million a year. The new sponsorship deal could lead to more major signings with funds being available to add to an already illustrious squad of players at the Etihad Stadium.
The deal means that City will share shirt sponsors with local rivals Manchester United, who have been sponsored by Nike since 2002. City had secured a 10-year deal with Umbro, worth £6million a year, as recently as 2009. But with Umbro now owned by Nike, that agreement has been re-negotiated to reflect City’s subsequent success on the pitch and the club will now wear the Nike brand from the start of the 2013-14 season. The Blues will remain sponsored by Umbro next season before all kit, training wear and related products will start to be designed and manufactured by the American sports brand.
Although City have doubled the value of their kit deal by moving from Umbro to Nike the financial benefits of the package remain some way adrift of City’s domestic rivals.
Liverpool’s £25 million-a-year deal with the American manufacturer Warrior is the biggest in the Premier League, while Manchester United are rumoured to have a possible £600 million, 10-year kit deal in the pipeline for when their current £23.5 million, 13-year agreement with Nike expires in 2015. Chelsea’s eight-year deal with Adidas is worth £20 million per annum while Arsenal’s £13 million-a-year package with Nike dates back to 2003. Globally, Real Madrid’s £28.5 million-a-year deal with Adidas outstrips Barcelona’s £26.3 million-a-year partnership with Nike.
City’s progress on the pitch has been reflected in the Nike deal, but off the field, the club has yet to prove its ability to compete with Liverpool, United and Chelsea in terms of shirt sales, both in the UK and across the globe. However, the association with Nike is likely to boost their profile and enable the club to dramatically increase its global recognition.
Nike brand president Charlie Denson told the club’s official website: “We’re excited by the opportunity to further develop the relationship between City and Nike Inc, which builds on the successful partnership the club has already enjoyed with Umbro, and reflects both the ambitions of the club and the Nike brand’s position within the world of football.”
John MacBeath, City’s interim chief executive officer, added: “We are delighted to have further strengthened our relationship with the Nike family.
“Nike’s deserved reputation as the leading global sports brand, its unparalleled R&D capacity, leading global retail distribution networks and award winning marketing capabilities mean that this is a very important step forward in the evolution of Manchester City.”
UMBRO ASK YOU TO ‘SHOW YOUR CITY’
As they head towards the conclusion of a what could be a title wining season, Manchester City are asking their fans to suggest how they’d launch the club’s new home and away kits for the 2012/13 season. Do you have an exciting idea for how City can unveil their latest stylish, tailored shirts? Then the club want to hear from you…
Today Umbro launched a very special competition that will allow Manchester City fans to get closer to the club they love than ever before. Wherever you are in the world, if you’ve got a great idea for how to launch the new kits you can enter the Show Your City competition.
All you have to do to enter is to head over to the Show Your City website. Once you’ve thought of a great idea, you can use the site to enter and be in with a chance of getting a professional film crew to visit you to bring your ideas to life! Oh, and of course you’ll get the new shirt before anyone else as well. You’ve got until May 31st to enter your ideas and be in with a chance of winning this fantastic opportunity.
Manchester City have got some superstar footballers in their squad, but that doesn’t mean they’re great actors! As you can see in the video above, City’s stars fluffed their lines, so they’re asking fans of the club from around the world to do it for them.
UMBRO ‘WHY ALWAYS ME?’ TEE
Manchester City made history this weekend after they handed Manchester United a 6-1 drubbing. It was all started by Mario Balotelli’s superb finish – which will be remembered for the moment he lifted his Manchester City shirt.
Balotelli has been a controversial figure since his time at Inter Milan but the young Italian is beginning to prove his quality having hit 5 goals in 5 games. It seems that it is this ‘Super Mario’ wants people to notice rather than his off field antics.
To celebrate the Blue side of Manchester’s new cult hero, Umbro have released a limited edition tee bearing Balotelli’s ‘Why Always Me?’ message. Which now available in limited numbers at the Umbro Tee Shop.
When asked about the shirt Balotelli told City’s website: “I did it for many reasons, but I’ll leave it for other people to figure out what it means! I’m sure people can work it out,”
UMBRO MANCHESTER CITY HOME KIT 2011/12
As Manchester City Football Club look ahead to an exciting new season, Umbro have revealed the new 2011/2012 Home shirt which captures the passion of the fans in a unique way. The new Home shirt, which is tailored by Umbro, features a soundwave graphic of fans singing the team’s famous anthem, ‘Blue Moon’, which is subtly embedded within the shirt.
To help launch the shirt, Umbro teamed up with Beady Eye, fronted by famous City fan Liam Gallagher, who have recorded a special version of Blue Moon which mixes into their new single, The Beat Goes On. Liam Gallagher said: “I’ve been a City fan since I was a kid so to be involved with the launch of a new kit is colossal. Manchester City fans are known for having a lot of style and the new shirt looks mega. I love the soundwave idea and the Mod-inspired collar looks proper smart. Blue Moon is a top tune and has been City’s song for as long as I can remember. It’s been covered by loads of people but the only good one until now was the one Elvis did. I hope the fans buzz off our version and sing along to it at the stadium.“
Blue Moon is well known as the Manchester City fans’ signature song however the new Home shirt captures it in a unique way. David Blanch, Senior Designer at Umbro, commented: “You can go anywhere in the world and people will know two things about Manchester: football and music. For the new Manchester City Home shirt, we wanted to combine the elements of football and sound in a new and original way.
“Our starting point was the club’s anthem, Blue Moon. When fans are singing Blue Moon, it becomes more than just a song – it’s a connection between the fans and the players. We went into the Stadium to record a section of the fans singing the song. From this recording, we extracted a 19 second clip and created a soundwave graphic which is used within the shirt. One of the most powerful ways in which any fan can positively influence a football match is through sound. We’ve harnessed that and made it part of the Manchester City’s home kit. This is a truly innovative football strip.”
The soundwave graphic runs across the heart of the shirt but does not interfere with the club crest. The raven [dark navy] colouration around the crest is to give it a strong visual identity. The neckline is a combination of a bold white V neck with an inner chequerboard collar stand. The inspiration was taken from the from white V shirt worn in the League cup winning season in 1976 and the classic, smart style of Mod polo shirts. The same blue and white chequered board pattern can also be seen on MCFC flags all around the Etihad Stadium on match days.
Comfort is another important factor in the design of the new kit. The construction was inspired by tailored dress shirts, but using innovative technical fabrics. The seams around the sleeves and across the back yoke (shoulder) areas are inserted with high performance stretchable mesh, with the holes in the fabric opening up in response to movement to let the wearer’s skin breathe. The mesh is also carried onto the side of the shirt through panels that show the traditional white colour when celebrating a goal.
The new Home strip features blue shorts with white side panels that visually connect with the shirt, to create a dominance of the famous City vista blue. The socks feature a special anatomical footbed and feature bold blue and white hoops, a pattern which has seen City through some of the most successful periods of their history.
Trevor Cairns, Chief Marketing Officer for Umbro, added: “‘Blue Moon’ is the connection between Manchester City fans and the players. Hearing the song – whether it’s before, during or after games – is an inspiration to the City players. We wanted to celebrate this relationship by capturing the song within the shirt. This is the first time that fans have been featured within a football shirt in this way. We hope both the players as well as the fans are proud to wear it.”
Chief Brand and Commercial Officer for Manchester City, Ian Cafferky, said: “Manchester City Football Club has always connected well with fashion and music. This special relationship has spanned decades and helped shape Manchester’s rich cultural landscape. Blue Moon is part of City’s DNA. Liam covering the song is a fitting tribute to both the Club and the fans. As a true blue himself, it is great to have him as the first fan to wear the new home kit. We look forward to playing it next season in the stadium.”
The new 2011/2012 Manchester City home kit is available for pre-order now and will be on sale from 22nd July.
UMBRO AND THE FA CUP COMPETITION WINNERS:
Manchester City ended 35-year trophy drought when they beat Stoke City in England’s oldest cup competition, the FA Cup. To celebrate the occasion, Umbro SA and TRW gave you the opportunity to win with Umbro and the FA Cup.
Umbro are the technical suppliers for Manchester City as well as for the FA and gave away 3 official Manchester City jerseys as well as a replica of the official FA Cup ball, the Neo Pro.
Congratulations to our three winners: J. Mostert, B. Adams and D. Moore.
Terms and Conditions:
- The prize is not transferable for cash.
- This competition is not open to employees or contractors of Umbro or The Right Winger.
- The prize will be awarded to the names drawn at random from all entries received. The winners will be notified within 3 days. The judges decision will be final.
- By entering this promotion, entrants are agreeing to abide by these terms and conditions.
- The 1st name drawn will receive a replica Manchester City Umbro jersey and an Umbro Neo Pro ball. The 2nd and 3rd names drawn will each recieve a replica Manchester City Umbro jersey.
UMBRO MANCHESTER CITY AWAY KIT
Umbro have revealed the new Manchester City Away kit for the 2011/12 season at the FA Cup homecoming event at the City of Manchester Stadium.
The inspiration for the 2011/2012 away kit is taken from the most famous shirt in the club’s history – the black and red shirt worn in 1969/70 during which time City won the FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners Cup.
To achieve the ‘tailored’ Umbro look for the 2011/2012 away shirt, the Umbro kit designers draped black and red fabric over the silhouette of the modern day ‘arms out’ goal celebration. The shirt is designed so that when a player celebrates a goal or links arms with team mates, the black and red stripe remains consistent. For this reason, there is no seam on the underarm as traditionally stitching can distort the shape and flow of a stripe.The stripe width on the shirt was inspired by the old 1969 kit. The long sleeve version features an all-black forearm so that there is a unified stripe-look when the players link arms in goal celebrations.
The club crest and sponsor detail is key-lined in gold in order to give standout against the black and red. City’s home colour, sky blue, is featured within the crest so that the away kit always carries a piece of ‘home’. Black stitching is used on the cuff of the shirt and an equal amount of black and red is featured on the hem.
David Blanch, Senior Designer at Umbro, said: “Umbro’s kit designs for City are centred on being modern – not retro. So with this shirt, we married the aesthetic of the 1969 shirt with the modern day ‘arms out’ goal celebration. The result is a shirt which is a celebration of both the future and the past. This is a football ‘shirt’ in the truest sense – we have combined modern day football tailoring to end up with a shirt which combines both performance and smartness. Stretch mesh is a key component to allow players to move freely and their skin to breath during matches. Every minor detail within the shirt has a reason for being – nothing is simply ‘there’. City fans will be pleased to know there is more black than red within the shirt.”
The shorts are plain black and include the club crest whilst the socks are black and similar to the shirt, feature two bands of red. The kit will be on sale from 23 June 2011
Umbro have created a great 360 view of the shirt on their website you can check out here:
WIN WITH UMBRO AND THE FA CUP
Manchester City ended 35-year trophy drought when they beat Stoke City in England’s oldest cup competition, the FA Cup. To celebrate the occasion, Umbro SA and TRW are giving you the opportunity to win with Umbro and the FA Cup.
Umbro are the technical suppliers for Manchester City as well as for the FA and are giving away 3 official Manchester City jerseys as well as a replica of the official FA Cup ball, the Neo Pro.
Manchester City’s home kit is tailored by Umbro and features a retro design with modern day technology and comfort. The Neo Pro ball is produced with 14 laser cut panels giving the ball both better grip and truer flight performance.
To enter the competition all you have to do is ‘LIKE’ the competition image on TRW’s Facebook page.
Terms and Conditions:
- The competition closes on Monday 23 May 2011.
- The prize winner will be announced on Tuesday 24 May 2011.
- The prize is not transferable for cash.
- This competition is not open to employees or contractors of Umbro or The Right Winger.
- The prize will be awarded to the first name drawn at random from all entries received. The winners will be notified within 3 days. The judges decision will be final.
- By entering this promotion, entrants are agreeing to abide by these terms and conditions.
- The 1st name drawn will receive a replica Manchester City Umbro jersey and an Umbro Neo Pro ball. The 2nd and 3rd names drawn will each recieve a replica Manchester City Umbro jersey.
MANCHESTER CITY UMBRO FA CUP FINAL JACKET
A telegram sent by Manchester City to their kit suppliers after their triumphant 1934 FA Cup Final and unearthed by chance in an archive has been the inspiration behind the shirts the club’s player will wear against Stoke City on Saturday.
The telegram of May 5, 1934 which, in a nod to the days of such communication, includes the club’s telegraphic address ‘Football Manchester’, was sent from Maine Road by club secretary Wilf Wild, thanking Humphreys Bros – whose names spawned the Umbro company name – for the “ Jerseys , Knickers, Hose, Slips and Anklets” used in the Wembley final seven days earlier. “The fit, quality and smartness of the entire outfit was undoubtedly perfection,” Wild wrote.
It was while researching the project of creating Saturday’s shirts that David Blanch, a senior designer at Umbro, discovered the telegram and has created a modern version of the same type font for the player numbers and names, which have been bonded onto the shirts. “Many fonts in football look retro and rigid but this one has a real authenticity about it,” Mr Bland said yesterday.
The shirts and the ‘Mercer jackets’ which the players will wear onto the pitch feature a number of intricate links to the historical detail of the kits City players have worn at Wembley. Discreetly featured within the numbers on the players’ backs is the historic Manchester coat of arms, which City players initially used to wear when they had no crest of their own. Technically a privilege bestowed upon the club by Manchester ’s city council, it has generally been a tradition over the past 60 years that City carry the coat of arms in some way when they play at Wembley.
The shirt numbers have also been individually made and bonded to the City shirts, with small holes enabling the numbers to ‘breath – in a nod to the tailoring tradition of football jersey numbers being handsewn from fabric and stitched onto the jerseys. “The shirts are inspired by the past, rather than mimicking it,” said Mr Blanch, who unearthed the telegram in a booked archived in the the Umbro vault decades ago. “We wanted to celebrate City’s achievement and to respect the past but also to celebrate where the club is heading. Manchester has deep roots in City and the club is continuing to build on that history.”
Umbro, who presented their ideas for the final shirt in Abu Dhabi before progressing with them, have also developed the shade of ‘vista’ blue which City have settled on for their shirts since 2009. Before the introduction of the club badge, only ten years ago, City had to rely purely on the colour of their shirts for recognition and have benefited from the fact that light blue is the least used colour in football. Lazio’s shade comes close, though is slightly lighter.
The Manchester coat of arms is also embroidered onto the breast of the jackets City will walk out in, inspired by the overcoat of choice for the late Joe Mercer, and of which only 16 have been made. Mercer took a City side wearing the Manchester coat of arms to its last FA Cup final victory in 1969. The goalkeeping heroics of a young Frank Swift, replete in Jersey, Slip and Anklets, inspired the 2-1 win over Portsmouth 35 years earlier.
ADIDAS PREDATOR BOOT SPOT: MANCHESTER CITY FA CUP FINAL TRAINING
Tomorrow is the FA Cup Final between Manchester City, who are looking bring an end to a 35-year trophy drought, and Stoke City. We got a little look into City’s training before the big game and spotted a few interesting boots. Most noticeably the soon to be released Adidas Predator.
We have seen a lot of the new Predator recently with players wearing White-out version in training but this is the first we have seen of the new boots in their launch colourways. Adidas will launch the Predator in the traditional Black/Red/White (worn here by Patrick Viera) we have become so used to.
We hear however that the focus will be on the great looking Blue/Yellow/White version we saw on Edin Dzeko. We were a little surprised to see Dzeko in the Predator as he is a AdiPure wearer. That obviously means that the Bosnian will be switching over when they are launched.
The other interesting spot that caught our eye was Carlos Tevez. Tevez has been in CTR360 Maestri boots all season and has yet to switch over to the new CTR360 Maestri II. Tevez did however switch during training so we wonder if that means Tevez will be in White/Black/Tour Yellow CTR360 Maestri II boots for the final.
UMBRO MANCHESTER CITY SPORTSWEAR RANGE
City stars and lucky fan launch Umbro’s fantastic new Manchester City sportswear range.
Hart, Richards, Toure, Zabaleta and…who? If you don’t recognise the fifth face here amongst the line-up of City stars modelling the new Umbro Manchester City sportswear range, don’t worry. He’s not a player but Jack Johnson, a true Blues fan from Burnage. Jack won a fans modelling competition to line-up with his heroes wearing the new Spring/Summer Umbro sportswear collection for Manchester City.
The new lifestyle range incorporates classic styles, items inspired by City’s famous taping kits of the 1970s and of course the iconic Mercer jacket.
Inspired by the jacket worn by legendary Manchester City manager Joe Mercer, the new Raven Mercer (as worn by Joe Hart) is the latest incarnation of the smart, tailored walkout jackets that players have worn this season. It will be followed by three more iconic colourways as City’s season races to an exciting finish.
Manchester City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart comments: “I really love this new gear, it’s got a real classic look and we can’t wait to walk out in it.”
The spring collection also includes a Sportswear Classics range. Taking inspiration from the styling and look of retro training wear and using a colour palette inspired by the club’s past, the range is a collection of unique contemporary lifestyle product.
Finally, inspired by the iconic taping that appeared on City football kits throughout the 1970s, the new Diamond Icons range combines retro design with the club’s famous colours to form a truly stylish collection.
Local Manchester boy Jack Johnson comments: “It is great to be able to model the new Umbro sportswear range for the club I love. To front the campaign alongside the players I watch every week was extremely nerve wracking, but the pictures look great. I’ll be bringing all my mates down to the Citystore to check out the pictures.”
The Raven Mercer and other Classics pieces from this new range will be on sale exclusively through the CityStore (mcfc.co.uk/shop) from this weekend, with the rest of the collection available throughout April and May.