[Albion] The British Caledonian Kit

[Lenny Rider]

Hopefully Superphil or someone of a similar ilk will fill in the blanks as my memory is a bit sketchy on this?

However, I recall the late Tony Millard telling me he effectively put the deal together with the Airline at Mike Bamber’s request, and vividly recall the news item on South Today announcing the deal with the caveat squeezed in right at the end that the Bukta deal with the Blue and White stripes was expiring and under the new deal the Albion would be going to work with Adidas and playing in all blue, as the advertising stood out more.

Whilst clearly not a bullshitter old Tone had a smidgeon of Peter Mandelson about him in that he could spin almost any story in his favour, so was this actually a thing, did we really ditch the beloved blue and white stripes because of an advert?

 

[Superphil]

I don't know the definitive answer. I have heard the same story you have, and it is plausible as we have seen with Amex, brands will refuse to allow their logos to appear on 'broken' backgrounds or on off brand colours. The deal with BCal was worth £180,000 so not to be sniffed at back then.

I have also heard that adidas didn't have a blue and white striped fabric available, I'm pretty sure that is not the case but may have been what the club was told at the time.

Lastly, of course, the club may have simply taken the decision to do something different from the stripes.

 

[PeterT]

I heard the thing about the advertising too. And adidas supplied very similar shirts to other clubs at the time, I don’t recall any teams with adidas kits then playing in stripes then but I’m sure someone somewhere will prove me wrong on that.

They also only had shorts at least 2 sizes too small for the players wearing them.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Didn't the yellow away have Airways added where the home shirt was British Caledonian?

 

[Lenny Rider]

I don't know the definitive answer. I have heard the same story you have, and it is plausible as we have seen with Amex, brands will refuse to allow their logos to appear on 'broken' backgrounds or on off brand colours. The deal with BCal was worth £180,000 so not to be sniffed at back then.

I have also heard that adidas didn't have a blue and white striped fabric available, I'm pretty sure that is not the case but may have been what the club was told at the time.

Lastly, of course, the club may have simply taken the decision to do something different from the stripes.

Thanks mate, I wonder what Mr 0898‘s cut was from the £180k?

Things must have moved quickly with the monies, that was 1980,I seem to recall reading, probably Shoot, that Liverpool’s deal with Hitachi in 1979 was a flat £100,000, so clearly once one club put their toe in the water it all gathered momentum.

Do we know which EPL club currently gets paid the most for its shirt sponsor?

 

[Superphil]

Didn't the yellow away have Airways added where the home shirt was British Caledonian?

It's my understanding that the fans replicas, which were all blue, had 'British Caledonian'. There were no yellow replica shirt sold to my knowledge.

The players shirts had variously both 'British Caledonian' and 'British Caledonian Airways', not sure of the whys and wherefores, but if you have 'Airways' on your shirt, then it is definitely a players shirt. There's even a team photo with the players wearing both types in the same photo.
Here's mine.

 

[Superphil]

I heard the thing about the advertising too. And adidas supplied very similar shirts to other clubs at the time, I don’t recall any teams with adidas kits then playing in stripes then but I’m sure someone somewhere will prove me wrong on that.

I'm pretty sure I have seen blue and white adidas striped shirts from that era on my website, I'll see if I can find one.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Do we know which EPL club currently gets paid the most for its shirt sponsor?

You will have to find a @DULLARD to answer that.

 

[Superphil]

I heard the thing about the advertising too. And adidas supplied very similar shirts to other clubs at the time, I don’t recall any teams with adidas kits then playing in stripes then but I’m sure someone somewhere will prove me wrong on that.

Real Sociedad, 1979-1980 and 1981-1984

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

I have also heard that adidas didn't have a blue and white striped fabric available, I'm pretty sure that is not the case but may have been what the club was told at the time.

It wouldn't surprise me, just the other day I was in B&Q and they insisted they didn't have any blue and white striped paint.

 

[PeterT]

Real Sociedad, 1979-1980 and 1981-1984

Apart from those, obviously!

 

[goldstone]

This is from a former British Caledonian guy who was involved in the negotiations:

Tony Millard was a notable "bullshitter". He was an unpleasant person who tried to give the impression he ran the whole football club. He was not on the Albion payroll, acting as the club's PR consultant reporting to Ron Pavey the Commercial Manager.
He most certainly did not put the BCAL sponsorship deal together. That was the initiative of myself and (redacted).
We had begun sponsoring match days with guest tickets for the travel trade which were proving successful. It was in this area that I worked with Tony Millard.
The shirt sponsorship deal, which was our idea, was negotiated initially through Ron Pavey who was supported by Tony Millard and ultimately agreed with Mike Bamber.
It is true that we changed the design of the shirt to solid blue with white lettering for the home kit and solid yellow with blue lettering for the away kit.
The BCAL name would not have been seen on a striped shirt. Albion were very happy with the whole deal.
I can tell you the 3 year contract cost a total of £240,000 split £180,000 cash and £60,000 in airline tickets for away games in Manchester and Liverpool and overseas tours in the summer.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Hopefully Superphil or someone of a similar ilk will fill in the blanks as my memory is a bit sketchy on this?

However, I recall the late Tony Millard telling me he effectively put the deal together with the Airline at Mike Bamber’s request, and vividly recall the news item on South Today announcing the deal with the caveat squeezed in right at the end that the Bukta deal with the Blue and White stripes was expiring and under the new deal the Albion would be going to work with Adidas and playing in all blue, as the advertising stood out more.

Whilst clearly not a bullshitter old Tone had a smidgeon of Peter Mandelson about him in that he could spin almost any story in his favour, so was this actually a thing, did we really ditch the beloved blue and white stripes because of an advert?

I recall that as well. Definitely was to do with branding standing out on a solid background. Didn’t Lawro advertise it with a couple of Caledonian girls?

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

This is from a former British Caledonian guy who was involved in the negotiations:

Tony Millard was a notable "bullshitter". He was an unpleasant person who tried to give the impression he ran the whole football club. He was not on the Albion payroll, acting as the club's PR consultant reporting to Ron Pavey the Commercial Manager.
He most certainly did not put the BCAL sponsorship deal together. That was the initiative of myself and (redacted).
We had begun sponsoring match days with guest tickets for the travel trade which were proving successful. It was in this area that I worked with Tony Millard.
The shirt sponsorship deal, which was our idea, was negotiated initially through Ron Pavey who was supported by Tony Millard and ultimately agreed with Mike Bamber.
It is true that we changed the design of the shirt to solid blue with white lettering for the home kit and solid yellow with blue lettering for the away kit.
The BCAL name would not have been seen on a striped shirt. Albion were very happy with the whole deal.
I can tell you the 3 year contract cost a total of £240,000 split £180,000 cash and £60,000 in airline tickets for away games in Manchester and Liverpool and overseas tours in the summer.

Well done. Millard Was an odious being. Had the displeasure of his aqaintance. Plus I worked for BCal lovely company to work for

 

[Easy 10]

"British Caledonian....a better way to flyyyyy"

Am I remembering that right ?

 

[PeterT]

"British Caledonian....a better way to flyyyyy"

Am I remembering that right ?

Not many of the companies that had prominent advertising at the Goldstone still seem to be in existence!

 

[zefarelly]

Real Sociedad, 1979-1980 and 1981-1984

If only we could get adidas as sponsors. Should Get PAscal to negotiate a deal

 

[LANGDON SEAGULL]

"British Caledonian....a better way to flyyyyy"

Am I remembering that right ?

I remember the advert ‘I wish they all
Could be Caledonian ‘

 

[LANGDON SEAGULL]

Not many of the companies that had prominent advertising at the Goldstone still seem to be in existence!

True . An obvious one is Townsend Thoresen. Also wasn’t there a large advert on the south stand roof for Rediffusion Cablevision?

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

I remember the advert ‘I wish they all
Could be Caledonian ‘