Aston Villa are a club in crisis but not for the reason you might think, and Newcastle shouldn’t really have had any reason to involve themselves.
The Villains head into the weekend home fixture against Brighton and Hove Albion seemingly in dispute with their kit manufacturer, Castore.
Bizarrely, according to The Telegraph (subscription required), the shirts develop a ‘wet look’ under intense exercise and because the sweat won’t wick away from the shirt, they become and cumbersome.
Ahead of the weekend’s fixture against Man United Women, Villa’s women’s team have also joined the chorus of disapproval say The Sun.
The situation doesn’t bode well for Castore, as it’s now come to light that problems with the Newcastle shirt and customer service at the company led to the Magpies exiting their own deal with them according to a separate report in The Telegraph (subscription required).
That flies in the face of a recent statement from the club, detailed in the Shields Gazette:
“Newcastle United has been made aware of a national media report regarding its kit partnership with Castore. The club has found the quality of Castore products to be extremely high. We are proud to be wearing Castore’s well-designed, innovative training and match kits in the Premier League and Champions League and are appreciative of Castore’s support and contribution to the club’s trajectory over the last three seasons.”
Given how close the next set of Premier League fixtures are, it would be extremely unlikely that Villa are able to resolve the issue to the satisfaction of their playing staff.
From a Castore point of view, this latest fiasco hardly bodes well for their continued move into football kit design, and may prove fatal to their chances of adding to their roster.