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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Robert Hynes

Company facing huge losses after being left with 18,000 England World Cup winner shirts

A company is facing losses of €419,000 after making 18,000 England World Cup winner shirts before Gareth Southgate's side were dumped out of the tournament.

France secured England's World Cup exit with a 2-1 win in Qatar last Saturday after Harry Kane missed a late penalty that would have drawn the sides level.

Incredibly, one English company were so confident of their country winning their first major tournament in almost 60 years that they purchased 18,000 shirts to sell ahead of the quarter-final.

READ MORE: Irish WAG Aine May Kennedy pays tribute to English footballer boyfriend after World Cup exit

Karl Baxter, who is managing director of Wholesale Clearance UK, thought the shirts would "go down a storm" with England football supporters, reports Business Live.

He added that while he thought buying the shirts was premature, he had faith in the team going all the way and winning the World Cup.

Mr Baxter said: "I'm absolutely gutted that England has been knocked out of the World Cup.

(Wholesale Clearance UK)

"I have been really impressed with England's performance in Qatar and was sure they would win this year's tournament. When approached by a supplier to sell the shirts, I simply couldn't say no."

Mr Baxter was planning to sell the shirts, which read ‘England Cup Winners 2022, It’s Finally Home', for £29.99 each.

But after the team's defeat, the wholesaler is desperately trying to flog the merchandise for £9.99 instead.

(Wholesale Clearance UK)

As a result of discounting the shirts, Wholesale Clearance said it could lose out on £360,000 (€419,000).

Mr Baxter said: "I've been left with 18,000 shirts that say they’ve won – and I'm not sure what to do.

"I'd like to appeal to England fans to purchase one of the shirts, to keep it as a piece of history and a reminder of how well our team played throughout the tournament.

"While they haven't won, they are still winners in my eyes."

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