Supposedly it's the second-largest kit sponsorship in the world behind Barcelona's. £25 million per year - and, crucially, while Adidas limited the amount of merchandise we could sell, Warrior seems happy to let us do whatever we want. Ayre claimed that by segregating our merchandise - Warrior controlling our kit, us controlling everything else - we can generate an additional £20-25 million per year.
Every company has to start somewhere. Believe it or not, there was a time when people were asking "Who the f*ck is Nike?" And for what it's worth, Warrior's lacrosse equipment is top-of-the-line. Nike and Adidas have tried to break into that market recently but Warrior's stuff is still generally acknowledged to be the best in that industry.
And in the end, it's all about the money. To be honest, we would have been stupid not to take this deal. What other company is going to give us money on par with Barcelona and United while we're finishing 8th in the league? I'm not particularly keen on getting rid of the Hillsborough flames from the badge, but I've heard that they're going to show up somewhere else on the shirt - supposedly on the back near the neck. In any event, that's roughly what our badge looked like 30 years ago, and I didn't see too many people complaining then...
