Bargain hunt: Newcastle are offering a 20 per cent
discount on their new away strip amid concerns the majority of fans
will refuse to buy one - before it's release
Its been dubbed one of the worst football kits ever -
and embarrassed bosses at troubled Newcastle must agree after
dropping the price before it has been launched.
The 'awful' yellow and orange striped away kit was unveiled last
month and long-suffering Toon supporters have been forced to endure
universal taunts from rival fans.
The garish shirts, dubbed 'lemon sherbets', don't even go on
sale until next week but the club have taken the amazing step of
reducing the price by 20 per cent.
With uncertainty surrounding the clubs future thousands of fans
have neglected to renew their season tickets in show of
defiance to Ashley's embatted regime.
Newcastle fans are queuing up to get their hands on
the new second strip... well not quite.
''The whole situation at the club is terrible. The shirt
is utterly horrendous. I wouldn't buy it even with the 20 per cent
off,' said Frank Gilmore, chairman of Independent Newcastle United
Supporters club.
'All of the fans I have spoken to have refused to buy it and
I've been getting the mick taken out of me by mates who are
Sunderland
fans.
'They must know that no one is going to buy it so they are
slashing the price already.
'I'm worried that the sale is going to take so long that it will
be too late for us when it does come.'
The players have been wearing the kit, described on the club's
own website as a 'stylish new change kit', during pre-season
- but the majority of the Toon faithful remain unconvinced.
'The club must surely now realise this kit is truly awful,'
added another frustrated supporter, Andrew Burnham, from Gateshead,
told North News.
No laughing matter: Defender Steven Taylor may be
smiling in the new strip but many Newcastle fans are tired of being
a running joke for rival supporters.
'No fan in there right mind would be seen dead in it - you would
look like a deckchair.
'They'll be lucky if they can give these shirts away. I wouldn't
even use it to wash my car with.'
