Andrews Air Conditioning

There is possibly only two things wrong with Andrews Air Conditioning being our latest shirt sponsor and that is the logo is anything but sexy and that it’s not Apple or Google adorning the beer bellies of grown men in tight Charlton football shirts.

But it never was going to be was it, and I am just thankful that it’s not a faceless shell of an online betting company or a here-one-minute-gone-the-next high street mortgage lender. What Andrew Sykes are is a local firm with a wealthy Charlton fan as owner, with a history of supporting the club, an international outlook and over £53.8m of turnover. They’ll a real company too, and actually make stuff, which looking around the league’s other principal sponsors is a rare partner.

Sure, Andrews Air Conditioning could do with a little branding upgrade and on a completely red shirt my eye is constantly drawn to the Nike swoosh and the Andrews squiggle – hey, if they want to use that I want copyright!

One downside is the deal is only for a year, but I don’t know many companies, online rubbish aside that needs every bit of awareness it can get, who are splashing money out on corporate sponsorship and more money than KRBS were paying us as well.

I will probably treat my son to one, although an impressionable 12-year old who doesn’t remember the days of a football shirt having just a number on it, might turn his nose up at it but a one-year deal with different logos on the home and away shirt might well mean that we are in the same place again next summer. With two, possibly three new shirts to design and market to cash-strapped fans.

The home shirt is hardly unique to Charlton and obviously did not have Nike’s best designers working on it day and night, so wouldn’t it be a nice idea if when the new Nike Club Shop re-opens they flog these at a discounted price to get as many fans as possible to wear them?