The farce of Chelsea’s shirt sponsorship goes on.
Most other clubs have long launched their kits for the new season – Chelsea haven’t. In fact, the reason they haven’t launched it is because they still haven’t even achieved the previous step in the process – agreeing a deal for a shirt sponsor to go on it.
Time is running out – we’ve got to announce promote and produce this kit, with our first Premier League game just a month away. Mike Keegan of the Daily Mail is today reporting that we will launch the new Nike kit on Monday – without a sponsor.
Various deals have fallen through, and now time has simply run out. They’ve got to get it out there for fans to buy or they’ll miss the peak of the excitement for the new season.
EXCLUSIVE
❌Chelsea to unveil new kit on Monday WITHOUT shirt sponsor
❌No deal with Stake, talks ongoing with others
⚽️Release now should enable fans to buy before season start (or shortly after)
🖊️https://t.co/utj2mdkDJy— Mike Keegan (@MikeKeegan_DM) July 8, 2023
So like some bankrupt Serie A team or a Premiership team in the 90s whose dodgy sponsor has gone AWOL, we face the very real possibility of playing games this season without a logo on our shirt. It seems likely a deal gets done before we face Liverpool on the opening day – but will fans be able to buy kits before then? That’s the real question.
Now aesthetically this is the best thing that could possibly have happened – but in terms of the reputation of this ownership, whose main selling point was their connections to big business in America, it’s just embarrassing.
