Cardiff City’s shirts are to be rebranded from blue to red. It is the club’s first change of the home kit since 1910 when, probably wisely, they swapped from a chocolate and amber strip. The decision will anger many Bluebirds fans, but equally they would have been upset if the club’s much needed investment had been withdrawn.
Cardiff City’s shirts are to be rebranded from blue to red. It is the club’s first change of the home kit since 1910 when, probably wisely, they swapped from a chocolate and amber strip. The decision will anger many Bluebirds fans, but equally they would have been upset if the club’s much needed investment had been withdrawn.
The owners are thought to have been injecting between £500,000 and £1m a month, part of the £40m that has been invested since they took over the club little more than 12 months ago. Additional money will be made available to upgrade training facilities and possibly to increase the capacity of Cardiff City stadium to 35,000.
The full statement on rebranding can be found here. One positive consequence is that funds have been found to deal with the historic Langston debt issue, although its final resolution will depend on the outcome of negotiations with the parties involved.
Cardiff owe a sum variously estimated between £15m and £24m to Langston Corporation, which is represented by Sam Hammam, the club’s former owner, but it is hoped that a deal can be struck for close to £10m.
This decision shows the strength of globalisation forces in British football. I remain sceptical about the commercial strategy behind this decision. My colleague Sue Bridgewater argues that changing a football brand is particularly challenging. Cardiff City could probably have achieved the desired effect in key markets by adopting a red away strip.