Football shirts in my opinion are getting out of hand, most years there’s not much difference in the kit but they always release them. Yes every year I buy the new shirt like the muppet I am! and every time I resent the price, normally I will go for the away kit because they stand out and are normally different but if the shirt isn’t up to my liking I’ll go for the home kit.
Football clubs make so much money from shirt sales, to the point where big clubs actually make the money back on player signings before any extra sponsorship campaigns. Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi being great examples, Ronaldo shirt sales hit a record £187m when Manchester literally only paid £12.9m for him. Messi sold out within an hour and PSG got Messi for free how messed up is this. This says more about the Barcelona board then it does the PSG owner but he won’t care, he’s just got one of the best players if not the best player on the planet for free with millions in the bank from shirts to go towards wages. What blew my mind was that Michael Jordan did absolutely nothing and earned 4% from every shirt sold so within an hour he was 5 million richer…Crazy!
Nowadays there are so many replica jersey’s making their way into the public, although they may not be 100% authentic, I have purchased one of these shirts to see what the big deal was and I was impressed. I paired it up with an original and it looked no different at all. When I bought this there where 3 main things I looked out for. Material? Does it feel like an actual shirt if not then I’m not happy. Does it look real? Sometimes replicas can be obviously fake and that’s a complete waste of money. Badges? If the other two questions have ticked all the boxes I’m going straight to the badges and logo marks, am I going to notice the difference. When you experiment and buy fakes/replicas this is the gamble you take. For a really high quality replica with name and number I would expect to pay about £35, in a sports direct or football shop for the exact same shirt you are easily looking at £80 maybe even more depending if it’s a cup competition, such is the contrast of today’s market.
When I buy a new shirt I try and get a name and number at all times, I’ve always mixed it up and gone for new players. It’s very rare that I will buy a new kit with the same player on as last year but that’s not to say I haven’t done it I only make acceptations for my favourite player’s. I tend to go for new signings it’s my way of saying thank you to the board for investing in the team, if the signings are crap I’ll go back to the current squad and find a player I don’t have yet. For international shirts I feel like its only natural to go for the players that play on your team, why is this? There are definitely players I rate and like from other teams but its almost like a bit of betrayal. I don’t buy the international shirts as often though and can go two or 3 loops without getting a new one, there’s just something less appealing about getting the national shirt as often.
It would be great to hear what kit was your favourite and what player you think of when you see that shirt. For example the shirt that stands out in my mind the most would be the first shirt I was ever given which was the Manchester United 1998/99 Home shirt, this shirt has many memories for me and the player I think of is Cantona as he always wore his collar up which I always tried to replicate. What shirt does this for you?
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article, comment with your shirts and memories below!