@harmsdealer // Kei's right - Jamie's never heard of Kanacorp, but he isn't particularly invested in freight of any kind, let alone maritime. Which... he thinks... has something to do with boats. Jamie does not like boats. They freak him out. He knows what happened to the Titanic. Just the thought of putting himself on a boat hours away from land is enough to send shivers down his spine. The people who spend their lives working on boats are braver than Jamie is. He shakes his head a little bit, both confirming he's never heard of the company and physically shaking the thoughts from his mind - no more thinking about boats when he's trying to have a conversation. "Right, are you lot tryin' t'replace Bantr as the shirt sponsor, then? Or are y'goin' for the sleeve spot? Or the training gear?" Richmond's got Bantr on both their shirts and their training kits, so Jamie and all of his advertising mind knows they're getting more promotion than other shirt sponsors in the Prem.
Inquiring future shirt sponsors must know about Richmond's history with shirt sponsorship, though - Mannion's whole ownership [ or at least as far back as Jamie can remember ], they played with DubaiAir on their chests. Then, Sam did a little digging, uncovered DubaiAir's unethical business practices, their pollution of Nigerian land, and that led to a very public protest during the first match since Jamie's departure from and return to Richmond. Not the first time Sam Obisanya stole Jamie's thunder, and it certainly won't be the last - Sam is an exceptional player, and an exceptional man. Jamie really looks up to him. All that to say... if Kanacorp's got skeletons in their closet, the Richmond lads'll find a way to get rid of them just like they got rid of DubaiAir.
Jamie's always been quite good at reading people [ he's had to be, it's been a survival mechanism since he was nine ] but this man... this man is difficult for Jamie to get a read on. There's something more to him than he's letting on. Or maybe that's just Jamie's natural distrust for an unknown man in a suit. Jamie may be one of the highest paid players in the Premier League, but he'll never forget where he came from. He's not about to express that uncertainty, but he will carry it with him; he won't trust this man fully.
"Aw, you researched me?" he asks, raising a hand to the badge on his chest. "I'm flattered." Of course Kei researched him; anyone looking to settle a sponsorship deal with Richmond would have to do the bare minimum of looking into their players. Even someone who did no research into Richmond but had any amount of knowledge into the Premier League would know of Jamie Tartt as Richmond's starboy. He lets himself laugh, his eyes crinkling up a bit as his hand drops from his chest. "No, yeah, I didn't," he responds with a shake of his head. "Grew up in City's Academy, never lived in London before I played here m'loan year."
The question is a fair one for someone who has researched him but hasn't truly engaged with him before. It's not like Jamie has Roy Kent supporter in his Twitter bio or anything. It brings a sheepish grin to his face even now, nearly eight years after his debut with City. He can and will talk about Roy's career for ages, if given the opportunity, but he has to hold himself back. Nobody wants to hear all that. "I loved watching Roy Kent play when I were a kid. Even before City's academy wanted me, I watched Roy Kent play in Chelsea blue and it just - it fucking blew my mind, y'get me? He might be the greatest English midfielder of his generation, and I was lucky enough t'get t'watch 'im play m'whole childhood. A real thing of beauty, his play was." Alright, Jamie, enough.
"When Roy left Chelsea, I was already playin' for City proper, and he came here, and I got the option t'play with 'im for my loan year... we saw how well that went," Jamie laughs at his own naivety what feels like a lifetime ago but was a mere three years prior. "But he'n me are on good terms now." One would fucking hope a player and his gaffer were on good terms. But Jamie truly is on good terms with Roy; there are enough images of the two of them training together at odd hours across the internet.
"Think I might've rambled past your answer, though - I weren't exactly a Chelsea supporter - more of a Roy Kent supporter, y'get me?" His heart was at Stamford Bridge, that wasn't a lie. It was just on the sleeve of a man who wore a 6 on his back.