5Beckenbauer

Your chat is usually good, this is borderline boring.

Relevant to both threads. Problem?

Starting to really despise Castore and all they bring to our table. I get the commercial aspect of the deal but that part of the job - securing commercial and financial stability - should go hand in hand with a brand/manufacturer that can deliver high quality, high quantity, market leading design and product innovation, high-class service and communications as standard. Castore have ticked very few, if any of the above which leads me to think were we really hooked on Castore simply because they acted like fanboys who would jump through hoops for us? This is where

Starting to really despise Castore and all they bring to our table. I get the commercial aspect of the deal but that part of the job - securing commercial and financial stability - should go hand in hand with a brand/manufacturer that can deliver high quality, high quantity, market leading design and product innovation, high-class service and communications as standard. Castore have ticked very few, if any of the above which leads me to think were we really hooked on Castore simply because they acted like fanboys who would jump through hoops for us? This is where

Do you think it plays into the set up of some of these preseason games to allow teams to do that so we test ourselves in that situation? Agreed there is too much space but just wondering if there is a reason for it.

Nah nothing at all from last season apart from the navy 55 umbrellas and bucket hats on a shelf in the corner. They still have the white RFC water bottles for £3 in-store although they bumped them up to £12 online as soon as the new training kit launched.

Just got mine from Buchanan Street - disliked it in the photos but it’s actually a lot nicer in real life. Worth noting though that these replicas now have the wee pro badge on them that last years pro shirts had. Still the same cheap quality as last years replicas compared to the pro version.

Website is showing the pro version for £65 (well showing the wee pro label that was on last season’s pro shirts). Anyone confirm if this is the case or just a mistake on the website?

Absolute shamble as usual. Same shite quality, piss poor designs and tin pot marketing and communication.

The most annoying part of this whole situation is your last paragraph. You know you’ll renew. I know I’ll renew and the club themselves know we’ll renew. We’re all mugs in this situation and they’ll continue to treat us like this as long as we’re winning unfortunately/fortunately. Same argument with the kits - absolutely shite designs, tin pot communication/marketing and awful quality but will always continue to sell out and be shafted on the price of it all.

I genuinely don't think they will. I can see all frustrations of last season, bar the Hermes/RFC branded packaging fuck up, continuing on this season. Castore have won a watch with us. We'll bleed them dry of any overpriced merch they can get out knowing it doesn't matter the price or how shite quality it is we'll all still buy it. Case and point was the China/Turkey disaster last season. Never really cleared up officially apart from an iPhone note put online by the SLO from one of the founders.

Looking forward to this and hoping to get to a good few games. Any idea why we're not playing at Auchenhowie?

Is your last sentence meaning you are hopeful we will get a shirt better representing our club than what Adidas have done for Red Star FC and what Nike have arguably done for Roma recently? Those two just off the top of my head. And with that I mean quality, design and wider market appreciation.

I get that, hence the “they don’t get everything right” but off the top of my head look at shirts like Seattle Sounders, Red Star FC, Venezia’s leaks with Kappa, AIK’s recent anniversary efforts, Roma’s over the past two seasons, Arsenal’s this season. That wee bit if heritage and simplicity can go a long way. It’s the depth of tradition and a story that our shirts constantly lack. To me the use of so much gold is garish and cheap af, the proportions of the elements are gommy af and the material will be the same cheap shite as last year. I’d love to see their research and the design

Really not a fan of this. Had high hopes for our anniversary shirt but this is borderline awful. Castore have fucked it if this is genuine. Look at the effort and execution brands like Adidas, Puma and Nike put into their designs. They don’t get everything right but when they do they tap very well into the heritage of the club/nation and have so much more depth to them. This looks cheap af and as if there has been fuck all effort made from a design perspective. It’ll still sell out and rake it in for the club, as they all do, but as a legacy shirt it’s a massive disappointme