Warrior Comes Out To Play

ANOTHER season has come to a close and in this ever-changing and evolving game, one aspect which cannot be ignored is the economic one. Part of this ‘out with the old and in with the new’ mantra was evident this week in the eagerly awaited unveiling of next season’s kit. This is virtually an annual event but this time it’s different as the iconic and familiar three stripes of Adidas will no longer be adorning our new strip. John Henry and co have returned to home soil to bag a momentous £25 million a year contract with Warrior Sports beginning in the 2012/13 season.

But who are Warrior Sports and can a brand which is more synonymous with Lacrosse and Ice-Hockey embed themselves into the fabric Liverpool FC? The new shirt has been embraced with a mixed reception with the Hillsborough Family Support Group feeling rightly aggrieved that they were not consulted in the process of removing the two justice flames from the front of the shirt, relegating it away from the club crest and onto the back of the collar.

This threatens to taint the deal which is twice as big as the Adidas one. Others may suggest that the subtle design and the sharp collar suggest status and image saying “we are Liverpool FC”.

A former Lacrosse player David Morrow struck gold when he sold the company he founded 12 years earlier in 2004 to the privately-held New Balance Athletic shoe Inc. who expanded the brand by acquiring California based manufacturer Innovative Hockey. Through this expansion Warrior gained a foothold in two sports where their exclusivity meant that their wearers were not for followers who were light of wallet.

Interestingly Warrior are yet to invest in a kit deal for an ice-hockey team preferring to stick to tradition with six major Lacrosse sides with franchises based in Denver, Hamilton, Long Island, Rochester, Ohio and the Chesapeake Bayhawks who have uprooted on numerous occasions. When we think of this sport we generally think of ‘toffs’ playing on royal grounds while their paroles scurry around them looking bits of paper adorning the participants grandmothers face upon it to fall out of their full pockets. Over the Atlantic it is relatively popular sport which is typically American in its love for tactics and strategy.

Inevitably their next target was a more worldwide populous market which was inevitably football. This would allow them to be visible in both Europe and Asia. Aligning themselves with a club as rich in history and tradition as they are as rich in pockets makes for a deal to suit everybody. The real question mark is how the Liverpool owners plan to invest this bounty with the elusive Champions League football at least another year away and a £50 million bill in the left from the cowboys from the last era from their disastrous attempts to secure a new stadium. The timing of this deal could not have come at a better time with the finances coming in from June1st.

LFC and Warrior also have a shared mission to break into the Asian market, both have made in-roads over the years but have yet to realise the full potential of a part of the world where the economy is booming and football is becoming a megaphone from the West. If this relationship expands us as a club and finances future glory which is the blue-print for success grabbing the oligarch, sheik and dark side financed sides by the coat tails and propelling ourselves to a brighter future it will certainly be a relationship worth investing in.

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