BRUM IS BLUE!

After the Forest friendly at the weekend I was doing the usual rounds on Facebook and saw in one of the fan groups a complaint about the number of fake tops that were on display at the game. It’s a touchy subject for some who want the top but cannot afford it.

Over the years football shirts seem to have exploded in cost, it is a revenue stream to be exploited and to be fair to the owners it’s additional income to add to the old PSR, FFP, whatever you want to call it. Blues have of course worked to get their tops in front of a global audience so through Undefeated you can now get a Blues top in many of the biggest cities in the world. Blues tops are also available in SportsDirect and JD Sports now with the promotion that the owners have done so from this angle you can understand why people could complain. By not purchasing a top from these sorts of outlets there is no revenue going into the club from it.

Ordering from sites that offer the cheaper replica shirts also causes issues in the production of the shirt. Companies are now expected to provide some form of checks and confirmation that their clothing isn’t being produced in unsafe conditions, that people are being paid (arguably) a real wage and that there’s no shady practices such as banned chemicals in the clothing. By ordering these cheaper shirts we can’t guarantee the tops are produced in the standard that is expected, but that’s an ideal world and there is no guarantee that manufacturers aren’t cutting corners and covering up their actions, something big companies are repeatedly found to do in almost every industry.

These are just two reasons that I’d say people may look at a knock off shirt and have an issue with it. The flip side is that Blues tops are now £65 which is just shy of 10% of a weekly take home salary based on Median Salary data. If this is then coupled with a kids shirt or even the full kids kit we’re looking at over £100 to get a genuine top which when we drill it down is a very large chunk of most peoples income. Football isn’t for the rich, it’s the working mans sport (Or was, I suppose – Maybe I just need to get up to speed with the real world and realise the working class can’t have anything) so how can they justify outpricing a core demographic. Many fans will feel they’re forced into the replica route because of this which does takeaway from money going into the club.

What can be done then? I’m sure someone, somewhere will drill down the cost of tops and why clubs charge so much for them. We have to consider the supply chain for the materials, the cost of production in terms of paying an individual a real wage while allowing the overall business of production to maintain a profit, the cost of shipping these shirts out, the cost of sales people on the shop floor as well as money for the club itself and so on and so on. It’s easy to see, with so many people trying to get a piece of the pie, how the cost quickly adds up.

It would be nice to see some kind of discounted membership scheme, something we once had with season tickets, as fans who feel they’re getting a deal will be more include to still go to the shop but we wouldn’t see anything larger than say 10% which would still keep it significantly higher than getting a replica which can at times cost as little as £15. Some clubs also offer a cheaper version, one that’s not match quality, now whether this would see a cheaper alternative come to the store or a more expensive one I can’t say (I suspect it would be the latter) but hey ho.

I think ultimately it’s a tricky topic, fans want to show their support but feel priced out. I personally quite often feel that for the current season you shouldn’t get a replica but that for a retro top it’s fair game. That said if you see someone down the game, supporting their team but wearing a fake top, why should anyone make a comment or pass judgement on them.

Of course, an entire post about tops I should mention the Home, Away and Keeper shirts are available at the club shop or online here.