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United have this week launched a new kit sponsorship deal with Chevrolet using viral video, social media teasers and the latest marketing techniques.

But kit launches for the Reds used to be a far simpler affair.

Rewind three decades and the United squad are seen here unveiling their first-ever shirt sponsorship deal with electronics giant Sharp.

The deal was worth a mere £500,000 over five years - which wouldn't even cover Wayne Rooney's wages for a fortnight.

In contrast, it is reported that Chevrolet are shelling out £350m to have their name on United's shirts for the next seven seasons.

But it's not just the dodgy hairstyles or the fact that this picture pre-dates Fergie which shows its age.

Check out those gadgets supplied by team sponsors Sharp.

The squad posed with ten appliances which would have been must-have gadgets for your home at the time.

Now, the majority of them have been rendered obsolete by a single pocket-sized gadget - the smartphone.

Older United fans will have little trouble recognising manager Ron Atkinson and star players including Bryan Robson, Lou Macari, Ray Wilkins, Norman Whiteside, Gordon McQueen, Frank Stapleton and goalkeeper Gary Bailey in this line-up.

But what about the gadgets arranged in the foreground?

We went through the Sharp back catalogue to identify the appliances and name United's Tech class of 82.

Taking the full team photo above, in the front row (left to right), there is an MZ80 computer which had a built-in cassette recorder (to the right of the monitor) to allow users to save data and which had a data transfer speed of 1200 bits per second. That compares to a speed of 180 megabytes per second on a modern desktop hard drive.

Next in line is a VC9300 VCR which would again use analogue tape to record TV shows - but choosing a series link was definitely out of the question.

Then there is the XC10 video camera, in front of Ron Atkinson, which was cutting edge at the time because it could film in colour, but will have fallen well short of a video clip now produced by most smartphones.

That's followed by another video recorder, the VC8300 which was a larger version of the VC9300 and would have been obsolete within a decade.

Finally on the front row, there is a WFT audio radio/tape player with a double cassette deck - where owners could 'download' Number 1 chart hits in the summer of 1982 which included Come On Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners, Happy Talk by Captain Sensible and Eye of the Tiger by Survivor.

In the back row (left to right), we start with a VZ3000 vertical record player, which would have played vinyl LPs and singles and also cassettes - and would have been a perfect way to show off a picture disc, which were popular at the time.

Then there is a cash register, printer and microwave, three gadgets which have stood the test of time relatively well - although all of them will have far greater processing power in modern versions.

Finally, there is a VZ2000, another vertical record player but this time with a handle suggesting that it was intended to be carried around as a ghetto blaster by its owner. However, it did not quite have the portability of the Walkman, which had just started taking the world by storm.

Sharp sponsored the United kit for 17 years until they were replaced by Vodafone in 1999.

Speaking to the MEN, Ron Atkinson said: "I can remember the photoshoot because Sharp came along and put all these gadgets like video recorders around in front of the team.

"A lot has changed since then, particularly the money involved. I signed the best player in the country (Bryan Robson) for £1.5m, and now they are talking figures like £80m."

"I think the Sharp deal was the first time a foreign company had sponsored the shirt of an English team and I suppose it opened the way for a lot of the foreign investment we now see in football."