Saints will return to Adidas for their kit manufacturing next season and most fans will welcome this, but with reservations.
Saints fans were originally excited when Saints signed up with Adidas for the 2013/14 season but the deal soon turned sour meaning that Saints had no choice but to produce their own kit for this season.
From the fans perspective it proved to be disappointing because not only did the kit not resemble a Saints kit in any way and for those who say it doesn't matter look at the so called big clubs, they are distinguishable by their kit, would Chelsea, Manchester United or Liverpool change to stripes and get away with telling their fans that it was still in the club colours ? I think we all know the answer on that one, so why should Saints behave differently, but it was a design that was being worn albeit in different colour ways by 75% of the Premier league.
But the club was falling out with Adidas almost from the moment it signed the contract, our former CEO was plagued by rumours of his unfair and petulant demands from companies during the revamp of Staplewood, allegedly putting back the project by 2 years and putting it way over budget and it seems that when dealing with a multi national company like Adidas this sort of behaviour doesn't wash with the end result being that we found ourselves with no one to manufacture the kit for this season.
When our former CEO left over a year ago, Saints tried to re establish links with Adidas, the German company were keen but by then it was too late to put Saints back on the schedules, not only to design the kit, but the manufacturing of it.
However now it seems that we kept those negotiations going with the result that we are returning to Adidas for the 2015/16 season.
Personally I like many fans will welcome this from several viewpoints, firstly manufacturing our own kit although cost effective and possibly more profitable than using a branded kit, turned out to be a poor decision from the point of view that the company we used was not of the top quality, many supporters were forced to return shirts as they bobbled and other flaws, with Adidas you know you are getting quality.
But what as a supporter I most want to see is a design that not only reflects our heritage but makes us stand out from other teams, our last shirt with Adidas was identical to Bristol City in all but the badge on the front of the shirt, as well as being the same as many other teams in design, we have an advantage with our traditional stripes, lets use them to good effect, it is the stripes that other supporters associate with us as they do with Sunderland & Stoke, as i mentioned earlier if we want to be a big club, lets behave like one rather than a club with no heritage or pride in our history.
So I welcome Adidas back ad i hope that our present board have more respect for our history and heritage than a certain individual did who thought that the club started and ended with him.