Palace News

Shirt Petition

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Over that past few days a Petition has been made up for Palace fans who are in uproar over the design for next seasons football strip, and who were not given the choice as in recent years by a kit poll, David London writes:
I suspect that Simon Jordan certainly wouldn’t want to be seen as backing down on the designs after having put them in the Advertiser, on the website, and in Sunday’s SE25 magazine.
– even if manufacture hasn’t commenced, I suspect it would probably cost money to change the design at this late stage

However I believe that the whole issue is based on the commitment in the club charter – namely that the club will endeavour to :-

‘consult with supporters as to the frequency of strip changes and its design and pricing through the supporters committees / fans forums’

and also ‘the club will endeavour to consult with its customers/supporters regarding strip designs’

There has been absolutely NO consultation and no fans vote.

So unsuprisingly, the fans are more than a little bit miffed, when designs are published as being the final kits, which have been received very badly.

I would say that 9 out of 10 fans on the BBS don’t like the new shirts. Whilst this does not mean people won’t buy it (I am sure loads will, because they would buy anything if it had the club logo and sponsor on it), the general opinion is that the away kit is ‘okay’, but that the home shirt is awful. A lot of people would have liked to have seen the away shirt as the white one with the diagonal stripe, as they feel it is a traditional Palace style, rather than an anonymous off the shelf design.

However I feel the point we really want to get across and find out is WHY was there no consultation over the designs, because WHOEVER chose the final designs for home and away have come up with very unpopular choices.

The concensus seems to be that had there been a vote, then even if some fans hadn’t got the one they wanted, then at least they had had their chance. But to promise consultation, deliver none, and then serve up these unpopular designs is really annoying a lot of people.

I believe the petition is up to about 350 now. And that’s 350 seriously disgruntled people who won’t be buying a replica at £45.

Ultimately, if the club allowed the fans a vote (as in previous years), then surely the winner would be the most commercially successful.
PISA will be looking to present these points at their next monthly meeting with the club, and also present the petition to the most relevant person at CPFC, as loads of people have signed it. However the clubs attention needs to be drawn to this happen pretty soon, rather than in a few weeks or in the summer, otherwise the club will almost certainly just say ‘too late – already manufactured’

Because of this, I am printing off the petition this morning and handing it in at the club before the Derby game. At the absolute very least (whilst I don’t think the designs can or will be changed now) we want an explanation as to why it was not possible, or deemed not necessary to consult the supporters, and also what made them choose the final designs.

David London….

some fans comments from the bbs provided by David London….

Bloody awful. How difficult can it be to produce a decent striped red and blue top?
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Disgusting.
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Absolutely vile.
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How difficult is it to design a nice, simple kit with equal red and blue stripes on the back and front?
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That’s eighty quid saved then. I do honestly despair though when a 13 year old would produce a better design. The ‘V’ actually looks like an arrow, pointing downwards to where this Club is going.
No consultation and after the sash thread has proved so popular, do the Club deliberately wish to fly in the face of beneficial advice???
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Seems like the worst business approach I’ve ever seen, but then again we’re used to it, so why worry, eh? I for one will be wearing this season’s kit next season as a (comparative) kit classic.
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Sorry to join the negative club but they are absolute rubbish. As Dorking Eagle questions, has there been any consultation with fans when producing these kits? Doesn’t seem there has been.
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Probably for the first time ever, booing at Selhurst will be just when those kits get paraded to the fans.
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You’ll keep the cash in your wallet while the club will bemoan a lack of merchandising revenue.
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I’ve almost given up on away kits such are the horrors sported by so many clubs nowadays – not just the Palace … but a home strip is 100%sacrosanct in my mind. This latest offering though disappoints me greatly
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The Club’s attitude has always been ‘you pays yer money and you takes yer choice’. It’s ironic that at a time when SJ needs to extract maximum dollar out of every customer, given the attendance meltdown we’re about to witness next season, they are about to ‘offer’ us these two made in a laboratory marketing designs.
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The loss in shirt sales revenue may start to dawn on the Club when a kit is actually booed. If it hadn’t been so ‘under wraps’ and say five Palace fans’ had seen it in January (that’s how far ahead these things are planned) – even the Club shop had no inkling of the design…even in March, then there’s no way they would have gone ahead with it.
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the home shirt is in a word – or two – facking horrible. Apart from the disgusting Collar – I quite like the away shirt. BUt this will be another year when I don’t buy a shirt because of the design. As a designer i’d love to have a go at designing the kit – i’m absoltely certain – in fact I KNOW – I could do a better job.
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For me the kit designs have become almost irrelevant. Every year I enter the club shop with the intention of buying the home shirt, only to pick the thing up and realise how extraordinarily poor the quality is, particularly when it comes with a £40 price tag. The last shirt I purchased was the ‘Bayern Munich’ effort in 1996. Again, not the best quality, but as good as it has been in the last twelve years.
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Someone at the club is seriously taking the piss to expect fans to buy and wear that crappy home top, bloody disgrace.
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You have to wonder what the marketing people(if they are responsible) at the club do, come the close season it’s important that the club bring in an income of sorts and surely our merchandice could be a big factor in this. It’s a fact all fans of whatever team love wearing their colours be it a replica shirt or leisure gear. If we actually produced decent stuff then the club shop would be busy over the summer period. And get the club shop stocked early.

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