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Thoughts on EPL shirt sponsors.


lost_limey

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This came up briefly in the 2013-14 New Soccer kits thread, but not wanting to derail that, I figured I would start a new one. the topic of conversation was about how a good sponsor logo can make or break a shirt. As a fan on the English premier league, and looking through http://historicalkits.co.uk, I thought I'd nominate my opinions on which sponsor logos in their historyu have looked teh best for each of the current EPL clubs. I may follow up with a worst sponsor look later, but here are my choices:

Arsenal

Year: 2002-2004

Manufacturer: Nike

Sponsor: O2

arsenal-2002-2004_e.gif

Aston Villa

Year: 1997-1998

Manufacturer: Reebok

Sponsor:AST Computers

aston-villa-1997-1998.gif

(Honestly, I don't think Villa have ever had an aesthetically pleasing sponsor)

Cardiff City

Year: 1983

Manufacturer: Puma

Sponsor: Whitbread Wales

cardiff_city_1983-1984-nov-dec-k.gif

(Honestly, the only other candidate would be Malaysia on their red kits, but they so should not have red kits)

Chelsea

Year: 1999-2001

Manufacturer: Umbro

Sponsor: Autoglass

chelsea_1999-2001-d.gif

Crystal Palace

Year: 1986-87

Manufacturer: Hummel

Sponsor: AVR

Crystal_Palace_1986-1987.gif

Everton

Year: 1993-1995

Manufacturer: Umbro

Sponsor: NEC

everton_1993-1995_e.gif

Fulham

Year: 2009-2010

Manufacturer: Nike

Sponsor: LG

fulham_2009-2010.gif

(This surprised me, as I'm not usually a fan of logos that prioritise corporate colors like the LG magenta over team colors, but none of Fulham's team color sponsors have looked as good)

Hull City

Year: 2000-2001

Manufacturer: Avec

Sponsor: IBC

hull_city_2000-2001-c.gif

(Sadly none of the sponsors teh Tigers have had on a striped shirt have ever looked good)

Liverpool

Year: 1996-1998

Manufacturer: Reebok

Sponsor: Carlsberg

liverpool_1996-1998.gif

Manchester City

Year: 1985-1987

Manufacturer: Umbro

Sponsor: Philips

manchester_city_1985-1987-d.gif

(Had a tough time deciding between this one and the 2004-2006 Reebok/Thomas Cook shirts)

Continued (due to picture limit)

Manchester United

Year: 1983-1984

Manufacturer: Adidas

Sponsor: Sharp

manchester_united_1983-1984-h.gif

Newcastle United

Year: 1993-1995

Manufacturer: Asics

Sponsor: Newcastle Brown Ale

newcastle_united_1993-1995_be.gif

Norwich City

Year: 1997-1999

Manufacturer: Pony

Sponsor: Colman's Mustard

norwich_city_1997-1999.gif

(Honestly, NCFC are another club who have never had a good looking sponsor)

Southampton

Year: 1985-1987

Manufacturer: Patrick

Sponsor: Draper Tools

southampton_1985-1987.gif

(Another team that lacks a good looking sponsor logo, especially on their better striped kits.)

Stoke City

Year: 2003-2004

Manufacturer: Puma

Sponsor: Britannia

stoke_city_2003-2004_e.gif

(I think this one works because the "bumpper sticker" background terminates in the red stripes and the height is roughly equivalent to the stripes width)

Sunderland

Year: 1986-1987

Manufacturer: Patrick

Sponsor: Vaux

sunderland_1986-1988-d.gif

(Another one taht wins by default, as Sunderland has had some really ugly sponsors)

Swansea City

Year: 1989-1991

Manufacturer: Spall

Sponsor: DP

swansea_city_1989-1991-hk.gif

(Their 2005-2006 Macron/Travel House were a VERY close second)

Tottenham Hotspur

Year: 1983-85

Manufacturer: Le Coq Sportif

Sponsor: Holsten

tottenham_hotspur_1983-1985.gif

(One of the few teams to knock it out of the park on their first attempt)

West Bromwich Albion

Year: 2003-2004

Manufacturer: Diadora

Sponsor: West Bromwich Building Society

west_bromwich_albion_2003-2004.gif

(Yet another striped team that has never had a decent sponsor logo)

West Ham United

Year: 1995-1997

Manufacturer: Pony

Sponsor: Dagenham Motors

west_ham_united_1995-1997.gif

(This was probably the hardest etam to decide on. West Ham has had some aesthetically pleasing sponsors over the years, even if they are just small companies)

And as a bonus, due to my own rabid fandom of said team, my beloved Oxford United (who's new Animalates sponsor started me on this kick in the first place)

Year: 1991-1993

Manufacturer: Matchwinner

Sponsor: Unipart

oxford_united_1991-1993-ei.gif

Thoughts? My biggest takeaways are that of the "big" manufcaturers, Adidas do by far the worst job of integrating sponsor logos, and in general, no sponsor logos look good on a striped shirt.

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None of the pictures are working.

I'll always picture certain teams with certain sponsors - Man City with Brother, Man Utd with Sharp, Liverpool with Carlsburg - basically, what they wore in the 80s/90s. I think it works both ways, when a sponsor can become inextricably linked with a team - I remember when my dad brought home our first microwave, made by Sharp. All I knew was that they were on the Utd shirts and as such I wanted nothing to do with it...

My personal favourite sponsor logo was Coventry City's '81-83 strip - to get around restrictions on the size of the logo, they based the whole strip around it:

soccer-football-league-division-one-coventry-city-v-manchester-united-highfield.jpg

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Well, I don't know why the pictures aren't working, half of them showed up in preview. I suspect it's the way the board merges posts.

I guess some of the Villa acorns kits are okay, but none really integrate the sponsor very well.

I also associate certain teams with sponsors the had in the late 80 and 90s (When I think of Man united, I think of their black aways with "Sharp Viewcam" sponsorship and cray Eric Cantona, Liverpool is Carlsberg (Though I had the last Candy Liverpool home shirt as a present from an uncle once) and Arsenal is JVC, but I was more looking at ones where the sponsor logo is taken into consideration as part of the design. That Coventry City one does do the integration well, but it did fall foul of sponsor height limits and the shorts are terrible.

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As mentioned in the previous thread, I think the Newcastle shirt sporting just the blue star - no other part of the brewery's branding - looked great. Aesthetics aside I think it also helped that in this instance you had a sponsor who was 100% linked in with the city were the club is based, it's always a positive when there's a link there.

Hull City

Year: 2000-2001

Manufacturer: Avec

Sponsor: IBC

(Sadly none of the sponsors teh Tigers have had on a striped shirt have ever looked good)

Getting sponsors to work with stripes is often tricky, but we're a little more fortunate than some in that our colours allow a white logo to be used that contrast with the shirt - there's no need for a big ugly block of colour behind. Our 2006-07 Diadora and 2008-9 Umbro shirts used white logos and I don't think they looked that bad - both sponsors locally based, incidentally.

hh24.jpgwzo9.jpg

Going further back, an instance with a coloured sponsor logo occurred the season before your example - for the 1999-2000 season IBC's logo appeared in their corporate red, necessitating a break in our black stripes. It looked a lot better than it sounds, and actually ended up rather striking I think.

ppyk.jpg

Anyway, I don't envy you having to work out our worst ever looking sponsor. We've had some stinkers!

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