EPL Talk » Le Coq Sportif

Photoshop, Football Shirts, The Recession, And Maybe Not You Personally, But…

Matthew Semisch — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 04:56:16 +0000

I’m just going to come right out and say it: I suck at Photoshop.

A year ago, a Digital Photography course I had to take for my degree at university pushed me head-first into the world of photo-doctoring. Not to the point where we were creating things that weren’t there, but just touching pictures up so that they looked more aesthetically pleasing. I got out of the class with a solid A, but I didn’t then and I wouldn’t now call myself an expert.

Other people are, though, and fair play to them. However, when some of these supposed artists’ work – namely fake football shirt designs – hits the presses otherwise known as the Internet, I can’t help but ponder the following:

Shouldn’t we have anything better to do with our lives?

I realize that morbid curiosity gets the best of pretty much everybody at some stage, but sometimes I really do fear for those who fall at the first few hurdles. If you want a case in point, we’re right in the middle of a pretty big one at the moment, with tech-savvy prognosticators trying to predict what Adidas, Nike, Umbro, Canterbury, Under Armour – Yes, really. Hannover 96 must protect this house! – and all the rest of the kit manufacturers are going to be coming up with for club and national sides for the upcoming season.

That’s fine, except that by my math, ‘next season’ for a lot of those teams is around about five months away.

To help put this into perspective, allow me to throw in a personal anecdote. The club I support, Manchester City, is in its second year of a contract with French kit manufacturer Le Coq Sportif – Which translates into English as ‘The Sporty Rooster.’ …Yeah, okay. – and has travel agency Thomas Cook as their main sponsor. Both of these things are set to change next season, with City changing manufacturers (to Umbro) and possibly sponsors (to Etihad Airways).

I’m not going to speak for all City fans here, but frankly even that bit about next year’s kits is more than I’m really all that bothered to know at present, especially when I’m much more concerned with what’s going on more immediately with a club that’s still very much alive in the UEFA Cup and battling to retain their place in Europe for next season. Therefore, you can imagine that I might have been a wee bit annoyed the other day to find that the blog Todos Sobre Camisetas had unearthed the Blues’ supposed new home shirt for the 2009-10 campaign…or so they and we are all led to think.

On the surface, it’s all there: club badge on the left (from the wearer’s perspective), Umbro logo on the right, ‘Etihad Airways’ emblazoned in block letters on the middle of the chest. The only problem? It looks just like the supposed new England home shirt that has been making the rounds on Internet football sites. Which may or may not actually be the real thing. And is supposedly going to retail at a recession-tastic £50.

It’s with that last point in mind, then, that I put out the following question: Why are we encouraging this? I suppose there is the possibility that a lot of these ‘insiders’ are just wind-up merchants and/or supporters of other teams that are trying to get a rise out of rival fans, but I fail to see what purpose that serves.

Premiership clubs evidently reserve the right to come out with the following season’s kits before the last one’s even finished anyway – See among others Chelsea wearing this season’s ‘new’ kit in the Champions League final last summer – thereby giving fans something to tide them over during the summer, which in my mind makes this plagiari…er, art of creating fake kit designs ultimately kind of pointless.

Then again, maybe I just have more pressing issues to worry about.

New 09/10 Everton Home & Away Shirts Revealed

The Gaffer — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:00:05 +0000

Photographs have been leaked of what are presumably the new home and away Everton shirts for the 2009-10 season. Designed by Le Coq Sportif, who are set to take over from Umbro as Everton’s official kit suppliers, the shirts feature radically different designs than what Everton currently have.

The home shirt pictured is a modern tribute to Everton’s Le Coq Sportif home shirt (pictured right) from the 1983-85 seasons. In those incredibly successful seasons for Everton, the club won the FA Cup in 1983-84, the English First Division title in 1984-85 and the European Cup Winners Cup trophy in 1984-85.

Just like the 1983-85 shirt, the new Everton shirt features a distinctively white V-neck.

Everton’s new away shirt, meanwhile, is black with pink trim and features a classic collar.

Whether both of these designs will end up being the final football shirts for Everton is unknown at this time. But, if these shirts are the ones that will be released ths summer, what are your thoughts about them? Personally I think they’re both perfect. The home shirt has a retro significance but looks very modern. The away shirt is refreshingly different, and I’m always a big fan of black shirts.

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Everton Agree New Shirt Deal With Le Coq Sportif and Kitbag

The Gaffer — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:00:39 +0000

Everton have reportedly dumped Umbro as their kit manufacturer and have replaced them with Le Coq Sportif beginning with the 2009/2010 season. Also reportedly gone are kit distributors JJB who are being replaced by Kitbag instead.

Everton have developed a love hate relationship with Umbro over the years. Umbro has been Everton’s official kit manufacturer for 1974-1983, 1986-2000 and 2004-2009. The delayed release of the new Everton home shirt this past summer must have been the last straw for the club and its fans. The shirts were delayed by Umbro until late July because of quality control issues experienced in the Far East where the shirts were made.

A good indication that the rumor may be true of Umbro being dumped in favor of Le Coq Sportif is the fact that Everton’s online megastore have slashed their prices for their home, away and third shirt by 60% from £39.99 to £14.99. This is absolutely ridiculous. The third shirt was only released on October 7!

When Everton wore Le Coq Sportif kits from 1983 to 1986, it coincided with the club winning a ton of silverware. During this time, Everton won the First Division (1984-85), the FA Cup (1984), Charity Shield (1984 and 1985) and European Cup Winners Cup (1985).

The Le Coq Sportif years at Everton are synonymous with some of the club’s best players in recent memory including Gary Lineker (pictured above), Graeme Sharp, Gary Stevens, Kevin Ratcliffe, Trevor Steven, Peter Reid, Kevin Sheedy, Andy Gray and Neville Southall.

The only two Premier League clubs who currently wear Le Coq Sportif shirts are Manchester City and Stoke City. However, Manchester City look likely to sign a deal with Puma for the 2009-10 season and beyond.

Are Manchester City Fans Getting Fatter?

The Gaffer — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:00:54 +0000

Are Manchester City fans getting fatter or are they requesting baggier shirts for fashion reasons?! I think the former.

The above image is taken from Man City’s online shop.

New Manchester City Third Shirt: Your Opinion

The Gaffer — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:00:58 +0000

Manchester City may want to quickly forget their debut performance in their new third shirt. City wore the new orange football kit for the first time Sunday when they lost 4-2 against an on-song Aston Villa side.

Designed by Le Coq Sportif and sponsored by Thomas Cook, the new Manchester City third shirt features blaze orange as its main color and navy as the trim color. The new shirt will be available as a limited edition in the Man City club shops from September 27, but you can pre-order yours from August 26 via the club website. It will also be on display in the CityStore from Monday, August 18.

My first impression of the shirt was that it looked more like a salmon color than orange. The design is definitely not as awful as Chelsea and Wigan’s day-glo fascination. But, tell me, how many football fans will want to go out and buy a shirt that is the same color as the tops that the scary-looking guys from the prison-release program who pick up the trash on the side of the highway?

Share your thoughts about the new design by clicking the comments link below.