The appointment of a new Head of Retail in Simon Lilley at the club, and his historical links with the Adidas brand could see them wearing the ‘three-stripes’ made famous by Michael Thomas as early as next season.
Arsenal have made a new addition to their team and while obviously the additions most fans are usually interested in include only those of the coaching staff and playing staff this particular employment could make a big impact to the North London club.
The man in question is Simon Lilley, who has been appointed the new Head of Retail for The Gunners.
It was a point well raised in fact by Travis King of popular Arsenal blog theshortfuse yesterday what the appointment of Lilley means to Arsenal Football Club and more specifically their kit sponsorship deal with Nike.
Arsenal have been provided attire by the American corporation since 1993-94 when they took over from the German manufacturer Adidas, but the appointment of Lilley could soon see the famous three-stripes back on Arsenal kits.
Lilley has over ten years work experience with Adidas and also worked for UEFA in recent years where he was instrumental in the consolidation of Adidas as the organisation’s global sponsor which is most noticeable in the referees match-day attire.
He also worked with LOCOG as their Head of Licensing and Retail which again saw the use of Adidas as a main supplier for the Games Maker’s and much of the product being sold in relation to the London 2012 games.
With Nike’s deal at Arsenal ending in 2014 Arsenal could either buy-out the final year of the contract or wait until 2014 and change suppliers.
Adidas took a knock in the Premier League market last summer when Liverpool signed a new manufacturing deal with Warrior to the tune of £25 million-per-year, the richest in English football. With Chelsea therefore the only marquee team in the league bearing their logo and just Stoke City, Swansea City and West Brom the others.
Arsenal are currently one of the world’s most valuable football teams selling hundreds of thousands of shirts worldwide and Adidas would be remiss to not try and counter-act Nike’s dominance of the Premier League by taking over from Nike at The Emirates and rivalling the Nike sponsorship deals at Manchester United, Everton and as of next season Manchester City.
Another major clue toward this move taking place comes from a tweet made by David Gubala, an Adidas employee, in July 2012.
While the era of Wenger’s Invincible’s will always be synonymous with the Nike swoosh the Adidas logo adorned The Gunners strip between 1986-1994 and the potential to rebrand and reproduce some of the classic vintage shirts of that era could come as music to the ears of some Arsenal fans.
The chance to wear the shirt in which possibly their most famous moment occurred would be welcomed by all but the most fervent Nike supporters in the Arsenal ranks.
It seems that the kit manufacturing at Arsenal could be ‘up for grabs now’.
So what do you think Arsenal fans, Nike or Adidas?
image: © Sean Jackson
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