Newcastle United’s stance on kit suppliers Castore revealed amid fan frustration

Newcastle United’s Chief Executive Officer Darren Eales has vowed to “work together” with current kit suppliers Castore. The sportswear brand took over from Puma at the beginning of the 2021-22 Premier League season on a “multi-year” deal.

While Castore have designed a number of bespoke kits, most of which have gone down well with supporters, plenty have voiced their disappointment and frustration at the manufacturing and customer service, often resulting in delayed deliveries

That has led to some demanding a change in kit supplier but Eales is focused on improving the relationship with the Manchester-based brand, whose co-founder Tom Beahon was at St James’ Park for the 1-0 win over Chelsea last month.

“I’ve just obviously started with the club, and Castore are our current partners,” Eales told BBC Radio Newcastle. “They’re our partners for, you know, a contractually-committed period.

“They’re a company that I’m going to go and visit. I want to chat with them, and talk with them, and try to be the best partners that we can with them, and vice versa. I’m a great believer that it’s all about having that communication.

“From my perspective, we’ve got Castore as a partner that has shown commitment to the club from before I was here, before ownership was here.

“And, from my perspective, they’ve been great club partners, but we’ll always look, because you can always improve.

“It’ll be ‘how can we help Castore? How can Castore help the club?’. We’re working together, we’re partners. It’s great for both parties the better we can do.”

Castore is one of many existing sponsorship deals the new owners inherited when they bought Newcastle from Mike Ashley in October last year. Fun88, the club’s main shirt sponsor, is another. That deal, however, comes to end this summer.