Hearts cash in on £1m kit deals

HEARTS took another step towards financial stability yesterday when they announced a new seven-figure sponsorship deal with all:sports, the sportswear retailer, and a parallel kit manufacturing contract with Reebok.

Chris Robinson, the Tynecastle chief executive, proclaimed the three-year dual tie-up, worth just more than £1million, to be the most lucrative the club will ever have enjoyed. Robinson enthused that its value was a "30 to 40 per cent" increase on the previous arrangements held with Strongbow and Errea.

Having enjoyed ten years’ allegiance with the cider manufacturer, Robinson also expressed some considerable relief at the acquisition of such an elevated replacement as club sponsor. He described the day as "one of the most important in the club’s recent history", and underlined the tenuous grip modern football clubs hold on this central source of income.

"We enjoyed a superb ten-year relationship with Bulmer’s Strongbow, and to have a new relationship with such a big sports retailer and one of the world’s biggest sportswear brands is a double-whammy for us," said Robinson.

"We are obviously thrilled. It is a very hard market commercially these days, and to be able to put this deal in place means a great deal to the club. Some clubs are at the stage where they simply can’t find sponsors, because it is a heck of a lot of money you are asking to put someone’s name on a jersey."

However, the chief executive admitted that the increased funds from this enhanced source of income would only have a consolidatory, rather than restorative, effect on the scale of Craig Levein’s team spending.

"I wouldn’t go so far as to say it will help us spend large amounts on players, but it will help us to stay in the market we are presently in," he enthused.

All:sports boasts a total of 260 stores across the UK, 23 of which are in Scotland, and Hearts fans will only be able to purchase the new strips in the official sponsors’ outlets, or at the re-named "Hearts Reebok Store" at Tynecastle.

All:sports is also due to move into a major new premises in Princes Street, Edinburgh in March, and Robinson acknowledged that this would represent a timely counter-attack to the Rangers and Celtic outlets recently erected in the Scottish capital. The new store will be heavily Hearts-orientated.

"Rangers and Celtic may be on [side avenues] Frederick Street and Hanover Street, but Hearts will be on Princes Street," he gloated.

The impressive new Reebok home and change strips will be launched on the market on 16 May, marking the sportswear giant’s first venture into Scottish football, which comes on the back of agreements held with Liverpool, Bolton Wanderers and Crewe Alexandra.

Taken from the Scotsman