Another Football Kit, More Bloody Money

I love football, always have and always will but one thing that really annoys me is the fact that the English Premier League Clubs think it is fine to change their shirts on a regular basis—sometimes three in one season.

Now with the potential credit crunch looming over us and our belts getting tighter and tighter, surely these multi-million pound clubs could really take note and think about what they are doing.

Now you are probably classing me as some tight-fisted git who likes a whine and a moan about spending 40-odd quid on a new football shirt, but hear me out.

I am lucky enough to have a beautiful family, three boys who all love Chelsea (I taught them well), who like most kids have to be at the forefront of everything football—new boots, shin pads, etc.

However, when you are having to pay out over £200 quid a time for new shirts, shorts, and socks—and then multiply this by the three kits that Chelsea have—it gets a bit annoying. Surely these teams can keep one shirt for longer than a season.

How annoying is it? Surely there are people out there who have the same issues—after all, I understand that change of sponsor or kit supplier means a new kit—but when it's being done on a regular basis, it makes you think.

I have every Chelsea shirt that they have played in since 1988, and my boys have every shirt since the days they were born, but I buy them because I am a devoted fan and can afford to pay that money. But what about the parents that can't afford it, having spent money on the shirt the season before?

Yeah, I am no doubt spouting rubbish about the measly cost of football shirts and the regular changing of them, but when you see the amount of official and unofficial merchandise that is available, it really is big business.

I am off to spend another £300 quid of kitting me and the boys out with Chelsea's new away kit—I think this is shirt number 49, though don't quote me on it.

Oh and a quick congratulations to Aston Villa for agreeing to carry the name of Acorn, a local children's charity for free.

That kind of exposure is priceless, and to be fair, if I didn't look so horrible in red, I would buy a shirt, just so I could do my bit for a worthwhile charity. But that's like perjury or something so, instead I have sent a cheque for forty quid to them.