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<br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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!'<br /><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13755461/Inside-booming-kit-launch-business-single-photo-Ozzy-Osbourne-Zidane-Vieira.html
