New kit

There’s a great thread on Charlton Life with some superb mock-ups of when next season’s kit will be announced and what it might look like.

The Andrews Sykes Group only sponsored the shirts for a season and there is a possibility that they may extend for another 12 months, however it is believed that the owners are hopeful of a bigger windfall following a successful season back in The Championship.

The Championship did bring larger cumulative attendances but we only appeared in one live Sky TV game, this despite a flirtation with relegation and a late surge for the play-off’s, although the perception of the average fan/viewer and more importantly Sky probably looked at us as a mid-table staple.

For the record Leicester’s 7 appearances was the most, with Cardiff and Wolves each on 6 times. The Addicks and Ipswich both made it on in front of the live cameras just once.

As for shirt sponsorship one would hope that we don’t go down the same road that Bolton have and partner with a pay-day loan company. So far, over 2,400 Bolton fans have signed a petition asking the club to reverse the decision to allow the club kit to be sponsored by QuickQuid.

The Trotters are not the first team to have a payday loan firm as their primary sponsor. Internet loan company Wonga.com appear on the shirts of three clubs: Blackpool, Heart of Midlothian and Newcastle United, to whom Wonga pay £8 million a year.

Newcastle avoided even more widespread condemnation after agreeing with Wonga not to use their name as part of the stadium and appeased fans by reverting it back to St James Park.

It was this week a year ago that the club announced that Andrews would appear on the shirts, although the red shirt had already been hurriedly presented as part of the end of the season celebrations, mostly to indifference.

I’m a big fan of a simple home kit, although I would hope with more time and planning this year’s incarnation would have a little more identity to it, and word on the street is that we might revert a change strip of yellow for the first time in 10 years.

With the Welling game just over a month away I would expect that the new kit will be announced during this week allowing it to produced in enough numbers to be on sold in the club shop before the team embark on their earlier than normal pre-season friendlies.

The picture at the top is my favourite out of all clever designs offered by Charlton Life contributor @Nug. Wouldn’t it be nice if the club were in the position to forego the lure of sponsorship money and advertise the wonderful Demelza Children’s Hospice instead.