Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct is likely to bid for Umbro, the UK-based football brand that sponsors the England team kit. The discount sportswear chain owned a 30 per cent stake in Umbro before Nike took it private.
Nike bought Umbro in 2007 for £285m in an effort to increase its football revenues, but results were disappointing. Revenues were $276m in 2006 but $224m last year. Analysts believe that Nike will struggle to get back what it paid.
Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct is likely to bid for Umbro, the UK-based football brand that sponsors the England team kit. The discount sportswear chain owned a 30 per cent stake in Umbro before Nike took it private.
Nike bought Umbro in 2007 for £285m in an effort to increase its football revenues, but results were disappointing. Revenues were $276m in 2006 but $224m last year. Analysts believe that Nike will struggle to get back what it paid.
The original idea behind acquiring Umbro was to increase the American company’s presence on the football market at a time when it was under pressure from adidas and Puma. Since then the core Nike brand has been more powerful in the football market. It has a number of sponsorships, including the Brazilian team, Arsenal and Manchester United.
Umbro’s biggest club partnership was with Manchester City. That ends next season and Nike will take Umbro’s place.
Umbro tended to have a more domestic, gritty image than the more global and arguably cooler feel of Nike with associations with Barcelona and Manchester United. However, the new Gingham kit for Manchester United has not gone done well with fans. It has even been compared to a tea towel or something that Rupert Bear, a character from children’s literature, might wear.
It was supposed to celebrate the city’s historical association with King Cotton, but this retro link has not offset other complaints. Indeed, the link itself is phoney given that the shirts are no doubt manufactured in the Far East rather than being ‘forged’ in Cottonpolis.