The England shirt is a cash cow to Nike and its removal of the ‘racist’ St Georges Cross is just another example of it embracing wokery for a fast buck, writes STEPHEN POLLARD [Video]

20:38 EDT 22 Mar 2024 , updated 04:54 EDT 23 Mar 2024

To rephrase that classic Mrs Merton line: I wonder what first attracted the Football Association to working with Nike, which last year made a profit of £18billion.

The FA’s latest contract with the American sportswear giant is worth a whopping £400million, so whatever else may be involved in the decision to replace the red on white St George’s Cross on the latest England shirt with a mish-mash of navy, light blue and purple, we can be sure that it ultimately came down to what is at the bottom of almost everything to do with football: hard cash.

Yesterday, the FA said the new shirt was meant as a tribute to the 1966 World Cup winning team, an explanation about as ludicrous as Nike’s claim that the design ‘disrupts history with a modern take on a classic’.

To Nike, the England shirt is a cash cow. Every decision it …