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Manchester City Football Club and NIKE Inc. today announced a new partnership that will see the sponsorship of the Club move from Umbro to the Nike brand from the start of the 2013/14 season.

The Umbro sponsorship, which has been in place since June 2009, will continue to the end of the 2012/13 season, after which all kit, training wear and related products will be designed, manufactured and distributed by Nike. The contract will run until 2019.

“We’re excited by the opportunity to further develop the relationship between City and Nike Inc, which builds on the successful partnership the club has already enjoyed with Umbro, and reflects both the ambitions of the club and the Nike brand’s position within the world of football”, commented Nike Brand President, Charlie Denson.

John MacBeath, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Manchester City Football Club added "We are delighted to have further strengthened our relationship with the Nike family.

"Nike's deserved reputation as the leading global sports brand, its unparalleled R&D capacity, leading global retail distribution networks and award winning marketing capabilities mean that this is a very important step forward in the evolution of Manchester City.”

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So three new kits next season and three new kits the season after. I can barely contain my joy.

I thought we had a ten year deal with Umbro....obviously I thought wrong!!

Elvistheblue wrote:I thought we had a ten year deal with Umbro....obviously I thought wrong!!

so did i? But i think there owned by same company these days.

Thats shit, not a mssive nike fan, will have a lot of template unoriginal stuff, will be same as rags except blue. I quite like umbro, although i quite liked le coq too!

I haven't bought a city shirt in ages and looking at the city store theres fooking loads of different city tops.
What's the best top in your opinions?
I'll buy the best one.

Elvistheblue wrote:I thought we had a ten year deal with Umbro....obviously I thought wrong!!

Me too, but aren't Umbro owned by Nike in some convoluted way, so we may just be swapping brand names within the same company?

Anyway, I won't be buying a kit for a few seasons, then. I've always found Nike stuff to be extremely poor quality, and never stands up to the rigours of going to the pub or park.

Elvistheblue wrote:I thought we had a ten year deal with Umbro....obviously I thought wrong!!

I think Nike own umbro so I'm not sure if this is an improved deal and just pushing us from a subsidiary to the main thing or a completely new deal.

The current umbro deal was signed in 09 for 10 years and this Nike one is ending in 2019 so I am assuming we have just been bumped up. But I am not happy about this atall. Nike make horrible kits and will probably just give us a blue scum kit.

Barca, Juve and Arsenal kinda get unique kits...here's hoping it's been agreed that we will too.

Another way of helping with FFP when it kicks in I guess.

aren't the scum trying to renegotiate their 23.5m per year deal (til 2015) with them. Greedy buggers want more (rumoured 40m).
maybe they're going to tell them to stick it and they'll end up in Puma

City and Umbro was a two sided trade. We got great kits and design and Umbro used City as one of their flagship sides to reposition themselves as a serious football brand again (and this time with the financial might of Nike behind them).

Job is done on that and, although we signed a 10 year deal, our club's brand and reach has now massively increased in value.

I'm sure the likes of Adidas and Puma would have maybe made overtures about signing us up so makes total sense for City and Nike Inc to re-new their vows with a new, more lucrative, deal and for us to be moved alongside Barcelona and Juventus as their top tier teams branded as Nike.

As someone said, this will also contribute to "clean" FFP revenue.

All good. And sure the design issues will be managed

I agree with the worries about not having a unique kit anymore, but that aside it sounds like a good move and I've always been a fan of the Nike brand.

Shit, not happy for two reasons:

First, Nike is not a cool brand, sorry they're just not.
Who the fuck wears Nike trainers that's not a Hip Hop head?

Second, they're the most famous brand running dodgy sweat shops in Cambodia and elsewhere,
employing mostly young women to make their stuff for a pittance in shit conditions.

Sorry City, not impressed.
Of course i'll get over it as we keep winning stuff but still..

SmallTimeCharlie wrote:Shit, not happy for two reasons:

First, Nike is not a cool brand, sorry they're just not.
Who the fuck wears Nike trainers that's not a Hip Hop head?

Second, they're the most famous brand running dodgy sweat shops in Cambodia and elsewhere,
employing mostly young women to make their stuff for a pittance in shit conditions.

Sorry City, not impressed.
Of course i'll get over it as we keep winning stuff but still..

I would imagine they all do the sweatshop thing, agree about it not been cool!

Im not happy because I liked the idea of Man City using Umbro, you know, supporting an English brand etc...and Im not a big Nike fan.
However, after I purchased my Kun Aguero Away shirt last fall, I was disappointed with the quality of the shirt. The#16 on the back you can see through. The badge on the right arm has started to split already. Correction, Im wearing the shirt right now at work , and I looked at it, and its the Barclays badge is completely split ( my wife ordered it for me as a surprise, otherwise I normally go without the badges on my shirt).
I love Holland and have supported them being mostly of Dutch and German heritage, and the Nike World Cup Home Jersey I got is really nice and is holding up like a champ.

I just hope Nike doesnt try getting all crazy with the jerseys......KISS I always say. ( Keep It Simple Stupids)

I think Umbro have done us a good turn with kits yadda yadda i liked being with them as it felt very Manchester but hey ho if the parent company want us then i guess we have to go with it.

As long as these sort of deals keep us head above water in the FFP, i couldn't care less who the sponsor is, cool or not.

Money talks.

I would think that this is NIKE flexing its corporate muscle with its junior partner UMBRO and deciding that it want s the potential PL winners and certainily strong emerging brand to be associated with them

I see it as another sign that we are 'getting there' when Nike acts to get associated with us

Mingchester Mingy wrote:Im not happy because I liked the idea of Man City using Umbro, you know, supporting an English brand etc...and Im not a big Nike fan.
However, after I purchased my Kun Aguero Away shirt last fall, I was disappointed with the quality of the shirt. The#16 on the back you can see through. The badge on the right arm has started to split already. Correction, Im wearing the shirt right now at work , and I looked at it, and its the Barclays badge is completely split ( my wife ordered it for me as a surprise, otherwise I normally go without the badges on my shirt).
I love Holland and have supported them being mostly of Dutch and German heritage, and the Nike World Cup Home Jersey I got is really nice and is holding up like a champ.

I just hope Nike doesnt try getting all crazy with the jerseys......KISS I always say. ( Keep It Simple Stupids)

The name on the shirt and the Barclays Premier League badge have nothing to do with Umbro though and would be the same no matter who made our kit.

I don't see why Nike couldn't have just given the extra cash to Umbro to continue making our kits.

The only way this is going to be salvaged, is for the designer/team to continue with Nike. The designer/team obviously had a feel of what supporters wanted...a nostalgic glimpse of the past but brought up todate with a fresh take on a design.

This, in my view, is the biggest step backwards since the Sheikh took over.