Inside the booming kit launch business: It used to be a single photo... now it's Ozzy Osbourne, Zidane, Vieira, 60-strong production teams and six-figure fees
Ozzy Osbourne holds his phone close to his ear and waits for the answer. 'Hey Geezer!' he shouts. 'Let's play Villa Park!'. 'As long as I play left wing,' replies Geezer.
Ozzy Osbourne holds his phone close to his ear and waits for the answer. 'Hey Geezer!' he shouts. 'Let's play Villa Park!'. 'As long as I play left wing,' replies Geezer.
Not a promotional video for a Black Sabbath homecoming gig, but the launch of Aston Villa's home shirt for the 2024-25 season. With 1970 hit Paranoid providing a backing track, Geezer — real name Terry Butler and the band's bassist — shows up in the home dressing room and asks if he should play through the middle or on the left. Emi Martinez reacts with a double take of which George Clooney would be proud.
For the unveiling of their away kit on August 16, Villa played their next trick: Ozzy's wife, Sharon, officially opening the new club shop. In a short video, she brandishes a pair of blue adidas football boots and bellows 'I've found his Preds!'
Meanwhile in Madrid, Patrick Vieira, Zinedine Zidane, Alessandro Del Piero, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Rio Ferdinand, football A-listers if ever there were some, chill around a swimming pool at a swanky hotel all wearing new Adidas third kits of their respective former clubs.
Welcome to the world of the football kit launch in 2024. The days of Tony Adams or Alan Shearer posing, military-style, in their new club shirts belong to another era. It's analogue TV, with its five channels, versus modern digital and streaming services.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13755461/Inside-booming-kit-launch-business-single-photo-Ozzy-Osbourne-Zidane-Vieira.html
