I’m staying in the early 90s era for the 
next Hall of Fame entry and prompted by the club’s extraordinary 8-2 drubbing of Arsenal yesterday I’ve gone for a Manchester United classic – the 1992-94 home kit.
Difficult as it may seem to younger football fans the early 90s saw a United side without a league title for 25 years and despite a run of high profile managers and players the league had alluded them. Something had to change to inspire the side to their holy grail, who’d have thought that it would be a new kit supplier!
After over a decade with adidas the club switched to Umbro for their new kit that they would wear in the first ever Premier League season. The early 90s was a golden era for Umbro and they approached all of their designs with confidence and flair. For the first time many of their strips were influenced by outfits from bygone years and their first strip for Man Utd (one of the company’s local sides of course) followed suite with an old-fashioned collar that even featured a lace-up neck. Good in theory but by the end of the season several players had taken to removing the laces for matches – still, nevertheless it looked great.
The kit was much more than just a retro collar though. The fabric was emblazoned with a shadow/jacquard pattern comprising of a geometric MUFC motif. A similar design was incorporated into one side of the shorts. The baggy jersey and of course the recently back in fashion long shorts, teamed up to create a truly iconic outfit topped off with the logo of long-term shirt sponsors, Sharp.
As can often be seen in football kit history, a change in kit supplier can coincide with a dramatic change in fortunes. This phenomena can be illustrated no better than with this Umbro strip. United went on to win the Premier League crown in both of the seasons the kit saw active duty as well as clinching the double in its second year of use.
Worn by: Ryan Giggs, Eric Cantona, Lee Sharp, Brian McClair
Worn in: The 4-0 thrashing of Chelsea in the 93-94 FA Cup final that sealed the club’s first ever double.
Buy this shirt now from Vintage Football Shirts
Great kit. It actually has two levels of shadow patterning, one printed MUFC/Umbro double diamond design and another MUFC pattern woven into the fabric. When Shakey and I met Ryan Giggs last year, he told us this one was his favourite United kit.
The early to mid 90s was a great era for Umbro kits. I loved the Villa one from 92/93 as well. Shame about the god-awful tiger-stripe/woodgrain blue and black away kit United had that season though.
You have the wrong crest on the image though, it should not have the white background.
What I found strange at the time was United had 3 seperate sets of black socks, all with different trim, to match the colours of the kits for that season. They only wore the Black and Blue ones once, at Villa Park. Mind you I was surprised how little they wore the Newton Heath tribute kit, just twice in 92/93 but 5 times in 93/94.
I found that strange too Andrew, in 93-94 all three kits had black socks as the preferred choice. Was the yellow and green only worn at Sheffield United in the cup and Crystal Palace near end of league?
Yes Dennis. It was used more the following year including the League Cup final. The blue kit was all blue but they had to switc to black due to Villa’s home socks, they played Villa twice away from home so they got 2 run outs.
Good to have you back John.
Im in the marmite frame of mind with this kit though.
The collar alone is iconic and the start of united’s golden is worth recalling too.And with Cantona 7 on the back you have one of the greatest images in the game.
on the other hand I would have liked the kit that followed it in 94/95 a bit more.I would also be of the opinion that umbro started to lose its way around the time of this kit with the re branding of its logo.Being an ABU might have something to do with it aswell!
My brother is the Man u fan in the house and had the 94-96 home jersey with the old trafford background on it which i thought was a brilliant design.
any other instances of the same sponsor (Sharp{e})) on front and surname on back does anyone know.
Loved the Newton Heath kit too might I add.I suspect so too did a certain Mr Mcmanus.
Strange but since 96 I dont think any utd home kit could come close to this list.
For me, this kit will always signify the vindication that I am a great kit designer 😉 In the late 80s most of my free time was spent with a sketch pad and a load of felt tip pens, endlessly coming up with new kit designs (and if you think Puma and Adidas milk templates, you should see the myriad colour combos I came up with!). One of the ideas I formed was a retro style collar complete with laces…fast forward a few years and hey presto, proof I was ahead of my time…either that or Umbro broke into my house and stole them! Maybe they did…I was also making a TARDIS so there would have been some blue wood there too! Right, I’m off to see my lawyer!
As Ciaran said, great to have you back on the site John 🙂
#3 – bit of a coincidence this new post should appear given that this kit may be seen for the last time on the big stage in Dublin next Sunday.
A Good sign for Tipperary.
?
Sorry Denis should have been clearer.
Doesn’t the Tipperary hurling goalkeeper Brendan Cummins wear this exact jersey under his tipp jersey when he’s playing for the tipp hurlers.
Thought that’s what you were getting at, but hadn’t heard he was retiring?
Tim is right John,its the wrong crest,infact it was umbro who introduced the crest with no white background around the devil shield,i prefered the old one as i think it stands out more.
Best umbro kit produced for United though.