It will sell well, very well. That's what happens. I imagine the press release detailing Albion fans' unprecedented demand for a new away kit has already been drafted. Look out for it some time next week. Collectively, we've pre-ordered in record numbers doncha know.
If you don't buy shirts, there is nothing to see here - it really doesn't matter what the shirt looks like - you wouldn't buy one anyway.
The kit being out of Nike's catalogue is how it goes. We know that. There are no surprises there. We all know you can pick one up for a little over a tenner. The club take that stock shirt and add three transfers to it (the Albion badge and the Amex logos front and back) and those badges add about £10 a piece to the price we have to pay for the Albion version. Again, no shock there.
The Nike deal is one of the biggest commercial deals the club has ever struck. It's these deals that help put the likes of Anthony Knockaert into those Nike shirts. Personally, I don't really give a toss what the shirt looks like if we can fill it with players like him.
As a parent, I'll give my kids a choice of new home and away shirts and dutifully hand over my cash to the club. My kids will be proud to be seen in an Albion shirt, and they will be regardless of what it looks like. I'll be proud because they are proud.
The only thing that grates is what seems to be the likelihood that both shirts may be one season wonders. Given the cost of these things, it would be good to know that you'd get 2 years out of a shirt if you buy it at launch. Clubs, including the Albion, should do better here.
This all over. I haven't bought replica kit for myself since the black and red striped Skint away shirt in the first season or two at Withdean but I do always get one for my son. It actually gets a lot of wear for the £40, every game he goes to, every training session he does with his club and every mufti day at school. Only his school uniform gets more wear. He really likes the black and I'll get one for him unless the home shirt is amazing (which, if it's fade, it won't be). FWIW I like the black too and the little nod to last season's successful away kit in reverse.