Wow – its been quite an eventful few weeks in the football kit world. Prompted by the buzz that comes about this time of the year when new kits are launched I’ve resurrected what I hope will be a weekly round up of kit news and a couple of topics of interest. One of the things that slows down the process of adding new posts is producing kit illustrations but with an eagerness to discuss with you all whats happening at the moment I’ve decided to plough on without always necessarily a full suite of accompanying illustrations.
Right….first on the agenda…
Liverpool 13-14 kits
Goodness me – whats going on at Warrior?! Has there ever been a more schizophrenic approach to kit design that what is emerging from these previously relatively unknown company? This year’s strips are following a similar vein to last: classy, respectful, understated home kit clearly constructed by people that have an understanding at what makes a good football outfit. This is accompanied by, lets be frank, a complete dogs dinner of an away outfit.
I must state I have no aversion to bold, controversial designs. Designs that challenge the thinking of the average football fan and re-write the rule books as to what a good kit should be are to be applauded as far as I’m concerned. I’m also ready for a return to patterned designs that liven up a kit world that has in the past decade or so been dominated by single colour, plain designs. Clearly the competition with sponsors, manufacturers logos and ever intrusive competition sleeve patches is growing but a well considered, thought through and skillfully rendered pattern on a shirt can really add something to a strip.
Unfortunately Liverpool’s recently launched away kit (and if the leaked photos are to be believed, the third as well) have none of these qualities. They are quite frankly a mess ‘plumped up’ by ridiculous PR/marketing spin that attempts to justify the design. The red neck is apparently inspired by the red v-neck of the classic Liverpool away kit of the late 70s/early 80s – nonsense! Its red. Thats where the similarity ends. The garish pattern at the bottom of the shirt is inspired by the club’s late 80s silver away kit – nonsense! Both include a diamond shape. Thats where the similarity ends. Top all this off with dated red flashes, mismatched manufacturers logo and club badge and you have a very poor kit indeed.
My biggest problem with all of this though, as my Twitter follows will no doubt testify, is the complete lack of unity between all three of the club’s kits this year. OK, not every away shirt has to be a reversed version of the home but there should always be some sense that they belong to the same set of kits for the same team in the same sport. Warrior’s away kit is so alien to the home it could easily belong in another sporting sphere altogether.
I have heard that the home kit and the away/third kits have been designed by different design teams within Warrior. This doesn’t surprise me and goes some way to explain the lack of cohesion between the strips. I’ve also heard that the person responsible for the away kit ‘left’ Warrior a month or so ago. My suspicion is that everyone knows this is a very ill-considered and amateurish design but the process has progressed so far there was no way back. Either way, all of this reflects very badly on Warrior and the club themselves for rubber stamping this strip.
Its not often I speak so forthrightly about a kit as I try to look for the good in all designs and as a graphic design fully realise that design is subjective – there is no right or wrong. But….I am struggling to see the good in Liverpool’s approach to kit selection. I would love an opportunity to find out from the horse’s mouth quite what the strategy is behind these designs.
Fan Power
Whether its testament to truly bad decisions or simply a reflection of the growing power of social media, there has been several instances in recent weeks of supporters standing up to, demanding and GETTING change to kit decisions.
Everton badge – the new Everton crest doesn’t work in my view. It appears to have been designed without any flair or dynamism and appears to be simply a few elements plonked within a shield. Apparently it draws inspiration from history (the old PR spin that is often wheeled out to appease supporters) but in fact omits several key elements beloved to Toffeemen – the latin motto and the wreaths. Apart from the fact that as a brand the design is weak, its the fact that no consultation with Everton supporters has occurred is what has caused problems. Everton fans spoke out and after a 22,000 people signed an online petition the club have agreed to review the badge for 2014-15. Everything has progressed too far for them to withdraw it for 2013-14. If they had previewed the change some months ago before the promotional/marketing machinations kicked in I am sure it wouldn’t have been approved.
Cardiff City Shorts – Following the furore of the club’s switch to red last year the club were planning to do battle in the Premier League for the first time (did the red work?!) in a two tone red design. I’ve often thought different tones of the same colour could work in a kit, provided its handled correctly. This doesn’t appear to be the case with Cardiff as the red shirt is unbalanced and unsettled by a darker tone of red shorts. The fans again were in uprorar and the club backtracked, allowing a vote for supporters to choose on what colour shorts would best suit the shirt. The options were white, black, or red (in the same shade as the jersey). The fact that most Cardiff fans would probably vote for white shorts (provided its accompanied by a BLUE shirt) will be food for thought for Cardiff’s owners.
Bolton Wanderers Sponsor – Like so many people I am unsettled by the growing prescence of ‘payday loan’ companies. And I can only imagine the unease of Newcastle and Hearts fans considering buying their team’s new shirts adored with a large Wonga logo. It was then very refreshing to see that Bolton Wanderers have backtracked on their decision to go with Quickquid as their sponsor for 13-14. Again this was due to fan pressure and comments made by local and national politicians. Top marks to Bolton for taking this route of action and for understanding the feelings of the community. Unfortunately the logo of new sponsor FibrLec, a company set up to commercialise the University of Bolton’s smart material, should really have gone through some alteration and enhancement to work efficiently on the new shirt but never mind!
Middlesbrough Sponsor
Speaking of sponsors logos causing a problem on the shirt, another example of fan power influencing aesthetic decisions came at the Riverside where Middlesbrough sponsors Ramsden agreed to tone down the impact of their logo. It seems Boro supporters felt the large green block was overly intrusive on the jersey. Now the Ramsden brand is represented by a much neater white logotype. I personally didn’t have a major problem with the original but its interesting to note that people were aggreived by the visual appearance of a colour other than their own.
Design by committee does not often work. I know this from experience. However football clubs, in many ways, ‘belong’ to the fans. Representatives should be consulted in some way about key designs to avoid these sort of issues.
Thats it for now – loads more to discuss but if I went on any more I’m sure you wouldn’t get to the end of the post! Let me have your views on the above and the way kit design is shaping up for 2013-14.
Great article John. Can’t disagree with a single word. Look forward to more.
I think the Cardiff fans voted for black shorts?
Loving the adidas hooped socks too, but I think they have three hoops?
Yes – it was black Denis. Hoops seem to vary on different pics – I opted for this representation.
Yeah, on close viewing it would appear that the turnover would obscure the top hoop when worn properly. Initially I had thought that they were modern versions of the 93-94 styles
http://www.medocmall.co.uk/images/theclubshop_bwfc/products/large/enlarge/F43204.jpg
http://www.mfcofficialdirect.co.uk/cgi-bin/live/ecommerce.pl?site=theclubshop_mfc&state=item&dept_id=01&sub_dept_id=05&product_id=616215
John,
Excellent as ever. I totally agree with your views about the Liverpool away. When I saw it for the first time I couldn’t believe my eyes…It looks to me like mid 90’s Umbro, when they went through a strange period of psychedelic trim, completely at odds with the rest of the strip. I’m sure most Liverpool fans would wish for a more sedate white/black/white away, with a yellow third, but apparently the third kit is going to be purple and black, so who knows!
Cardiff shorts: As I’ve commented before on these pages, two tones of red CAN work. There was a Kappa home kit for 1.FC Kaiserslautern a few years ago that had reversed seams acting as the barrier between the two colours, with the darker red beginning on the side panels and continuing seamlessly onto the shorts, and an adidas kit for Hamburger SV’s away shirt that did a similar thing. I’m still not ‘OK’ with the thought of the ‘Bluebirds’ playing in red, but at least black shorts will co-ordinate better. Another cracking template from Puma, too.
Fan power: As a fan of Bayern Munchen, I can say that the club / adidas do listen to feedback from the fans. Apparently the metallic gold / anthracite away of 04/06 and the all navy away of 08/10 were not so popular, so both colours haven’t been used on the away strips since. Bayern seem to favour white aways, but who knows, maybe they’ll do a swap in a year or two to freshen things up. After all, the dark Euro shirts have all been big sellers.
New kits: With the exception of Warrior, it looks like we’re in for a golden season. Even Macron, who I have been a critic of recently, have done a smart pair of kits for Aston Villa. The home is retro without being dated, and the away is an unusual colour choice that I think works well. The fit looks better, too – last season their kits seemed to overly baggy. adidas have come out with some smart kits, and our home, with the Bavarian diamond shadow pattern, is a smart piece of design. Chelsea’s home too, is very classy (although I agree with Denis’ comment elsewhere that it should have had red as a trim to co-ordinate better with the gorgeous away). Don’t like Man Utd’s new home – and the marketing gumph about it being a tribute to Cantona’s mid 90’s upturned collars is insulting. For a start, its button down. But at least they’ve toned the Gingham down! Man City’s home is a different matter – as a new contract for Nike, it was an important kit, but they’ve pulled it off. Overall, some encouraging signs of a slight return to form for Nike after a few bad years.
West Ham’s kits are awesome. Especially the away shirt.
It’s so long since I saw the mock of the Liverpool away kit that it’s almost lost its power to appall. It’s vaguely reminiscent of a old Middlesbrough away kit from the 90s – Leeds had something similar in blue and yellow too.
My concern about Warrior’s away kits so far, apart from their being absolutely hideous, is that they haven’t provided sufficient ‘change’ when used. We’ve had to mix and match shorts and socks which is completely unacceptable when you have three kits to choose from. In short, the kits are simply not good enough.
Ultimately, although Liverpool fans pointed out that the Warrior deal was worth more money to the club than the adidas one, at least adidas provided some logical solutions…Their first kit upon returning to Liverpool in 2006 was white and green away with a yellow third. I know it’s a constant irritant of TC discussions, but I totally agree – the rumoured Liverpool third kit DOES NOT offer a viable contrast – although it is darker, the psychedelic vomit all over the bottom of the away shirt actually makes it appear much darker than it is, meaning we will be moaning next season when, at Villa Park or Upton Park, for example, none of the kits will offer a complete solution. Sigh…
Interesting to note only 16 teams out of the 92 Premier League/Football league teams have shirts made by British brands for next season.
Sondico have 5, Vandanel have 2, Avec have 2 while Carbrini, Kukri, Samurai, TAG, Tempest, MiFit and Mitre have 1 each
Nike, Adidas and Puma have 50 contracts between them. Errea, Joma, Fila, Macron, Diadora, Under Armour, Lotto, Kappa, Warrior have 26 contracts. The British companies have the remaining 16
No Umbro, Admiral, Bukta or Reebok in sight
As a Manchester United fan i’m dreading Warrior kits! Rumour is they want the contract when its up with Nike and are prepared to pay big bucks.
The West Ham away looks great by the way.Proper old school shirt.
Watching the FIFA Confederations Cup at the moment and couldn’t help but notice the mismatch of Mexico’s kit because of some stupid FIFA regulation which has come in ever since World Cup 2006. Green shirt, red shorts and red socks, against Italy in all white. So what was wrong with Mexico wearing white shorts and Italy having blue shorts, like it was when they played each other in World Cup 2002?
The FIFA kit police have gone over the top, next we will possibly see all teams in Brazil 2014 wearing one colour (shirt, shorts and socks) kits!
@ Fred (#11) The contrasting rule doesn’t bug me so much but the choice of colours by the teams in avoiding clashes does. Surely Mexico should have Green shorts and socks in such a scenario. A green top with red and red just doesnt look right. Perhaps if they wore a white top with red shorts and socks then it wouldnt be so bad (With Italy reverting to Azzurri colours) but that combo last night was utterly horrendous
It’s the consistency that bugs me. For some games, great lengths are gone to to avoid any clash at all, yet the Euro 2012 final was between two dark-shirted teams and the ’08 final had a shorts clash.
Incidentally, despite all of the perceived clashes, Germany never seem to wear their home shirts with anything other than black shorts and white socks.
Was this (1978) the last time they modified their home kit?
http://www.tz-online.de/bilder/2009/11/10/524632/2069738165-trikots-deutschland-3R09.jpg
That game from the 1978 WC was odd. Why didn’t Mexico wear Green cocks to avoid a clash? They would have matched their shirts and its a combo the wore in another group game anyway.
Green what Andrew???!!!
I think FIFA are O.T.T. with their policing of kits, this block colour nonsense is one of the most absurd policies on equipment I’ve seen. I’m certain they will put it down to TV purposes but I never had an issue watching, for example blue/white/blue vs white/blue/white in the past.
It’s also inconsistent. See Brazil and Germany being allowed to do whatever.
Nigeria in white against Tahiti in red now, yet the Tahiti goalkeeper is wearing green – if it doesn’t clash with red then why can’t Nigeria wear it?
Oops! I think the Mexican Green Cocks are a hockey team or maybe a disease!
No kit change at all for Spain v Italy in Euro U21 final
First, i don’t think the Liverpool away is as bad as people make out. (if the leaked third is legitimate then that is vile). Secondly i always thought there was a designated home team in world cups. Yet there are so many examples of both teams changing. one match in 74. Saw Brazil play in blue and Holland in orange. also why did England not wear white shorts against Argentina? Bugs me to this day that kit.
http://www.footballtshirtuk.com/image/cache/products/Liverpool%20Third%20Football%20Shirt%202012%202013-500×500.jpg
I like the liverpool third kit last season
the kit of this season is looks…hairy…
Not sure how reliable these are but if they’re true then it really is the end, FIFA have won.
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll349/Todosobrecamisetas/Selecciones%202013/KITWC2.jpg
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll349/Todosobrecamisetas/Selecciones%202013/KITWC3.jpg
http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll349/Todosobrecamisetas/Selecciones%202013/KITWC4.jpg
Brazil in yellow/white/white against Italy in all blue.
Facepalm moment.
RIP football
That was completely bonkers…where was the logic? For a start both kits in their first choice configurations don’t clash AT ALL; then both change shorts? Back in the ‘good old days’ (sounding old now!) a team only changed shorts if there was a DIRECT clash…so what is all this about? Germany never change their shorts these days, so if they play a team in dark blue / black shorts next year, will FIFA make them wear their away kit, just because?
By the way, re. leaked pics of ‘all white’ Germany home : Don’t think it’s accurate. The silver stripes and adidas logo, probably yes (so it appears at a distance like they’re not there, thereby going for a retro look); but the trim? not likely. If adidas are going for a retro look (40 years since the ’74 World Cup win), then it’ll either be plain black round collar or have gold trim on it – all German kits going back to the mid 80’s have had some representation of the tricolour somewhere.
…And – the ’74 World Cup was the last time they wore white change shorts in a tournament (against Poland), so the leaked images might be showing the AWAY shorts, which if the away shirt has silver stripes on it will mix and match seamlessly.
Martyn – I thought the 2002 Germany shirt was just white and black?
Denis,
Sorry to be pedantic, but…The ’02 home shirt had a horizontal strip of trim showing the colours of the flag on the back, underneath the collar and above the player’s name. Plus, the three stars marking the World Cup wins were (L-R) black, red, and yellow. The trim technique was repeated on the away shirt, which was a curious shade of grey/green, coupled with white shorts.
Didn’t realise that Martyn.
The new Celtic home has the green hoops split into seven smaller hoops, in honour of great number 7s.
Interestingly, the official press release (which has since been corrected on the club website), mentioned Jimmy Johnstone as being a wearer of the “famous no. 7 shirt”.
Just to be clear Denis, can I assume the point being Celtic wore numbers on their shorts rather than the shirt?
That’s it Andrew!
New kits coming out in the Bundesliga – some gorgeous efforts so far. Plus Augsburg have an interesting approach to kit unveilings…Search for ‘Augsburg unveil 13/14 home, away and third shirts’ and see what I mean…
Re. Cardiff kit and mismatched shorts – Jako have released the Hannover 96 home kit today, which is dark red with light trim on the shirt, light red shorts with reversed trim, and dark and light red socks. And it works, unlike the Mark 1 Cardiff kit. Jako have done some seriously nice kits recently.
Just a word of warning the Augsburg “strips” are best views at home, not on your work PC!
Dont mind the Celtic home shirt.Good to have it altered.Even rangers have moved away from just blue from time to time.
Liverpool might own the ugliest away kit of the season in 2013/14. Its like a style that has mixed the arcade games Space Invaders and Phoenix.
Home kit aside warrior has been a disaster for the pool.
Looking at the rest of Europe I doubt there is much Joma love around here but Valencia’s home and away kits are nice. The away kit may not be to everyones taste but I like it.
http://www.footballshirtculture.com/13/14-kits/valencia-cf-2013-2014-joma-home-football-shirt.html
http://www.footballshirtculture.com/13/14-kits/valencia-cf-2013-2014-joma-away-football-shirt.html
Valencia kits are nice – prefer the away though, because the crest is coloured, whereas it doesn’t look right on the home in black and white – Joma are another company (like Jako) that are maybe not as well known – but should be.
It doesn’t matter which site I go onto, there seems to be a lot of over the top hate for adidas’ 13/14 templates. Why? to me they’re all nice – the two as illustrated above, the lopsided chest yoke as used on the Swansea away, and the ‘big V’ which is being used on a lot of their teams. If we all follow John’s logic above, about daring trim that draws a line before getting too garish, then I’d say they fit the bill. Has anyone seen Schalke 04’s third? Gorgeous (looks like a standard template until you look closer at all the extra bits of detail). And the West Ham home is stunning – everything I think Hammers fans hoped for when the contract was announced. So come on people – where’s the love for adidas?
I don’t mind the adidas stuff Martin, although I’m not a fan of the two-tiered system.
Interesting approach by Stockport County (one of the last teams left with Umbro!) this season – the home is the traditional blue shirts and white shorts, but the away kit is harking back to the Argentina-style worn in the early 80s, and will literally be an away kit, as Portsmouth did in 2003-04.
There is a gold third kit to solve clashes.
Warrior have excelled themselves with the new Liverpool thirt strip. Odd socks! One has a purple turnover and the other a back turnover. Truly awful, I bet Wearethetwins love it!
Having just seen the new Liverpool kit released on the official club website I quickly searched ‘True Colours football kits’ to find out what your take was, John. I wasn’t disappointed! You’ve hit the proverbial nail on the head, quite how the away and third kit designs made it beyond the drawing board is beyond me. Surely they have market research to test the designs with fans? Clearly not.
John, have you ever done, or considered, a post about the worst kits of all time? If not, I think you’ve found a couple of top contenders this season.
With this, the ubiquitousness of Nike teamwear and Brazil wearing white shorts, I’m left quite depressed by kits at the moment. Thank goodness Arsenal are getting a nice away strip.
I like Brazil in white shorts, as I’ve said before.
What made the Cardiff shorts look terrible was the white trim on the shirt. If accents/trim on the shirt had all been in the darker red (badges/sponsor could’ve stayed white) then the shorts would have looked fine and fitted in nicely.
In Ireland they call the Liverpool kit ‘de turd strip’ how accurate!
We also said that about the brown Spurs kit in 06-07 😉
Ummmm, https://twitter.com/Jay29ers/status/352738218954866688
Jay,
As I said before, check out the new Hannover 96 strip – two tone red throughout, with no other colour on the whole strip except from the sponsors logo and the badge. Works well IMO.
Be interested to see what John thinks about the Liverpool third…Quite possibly THE worst kit I have EVER seen (even worse than the away, if that was possible). For a start it’s a horribly mismatched shirt, the purple added almost as an afterthought…nothing works, the trim and colours seemingly thrown at it in the vain hope that they might work. However, all of that pales in comparison to the socks…Hideous, truly hideous. Whoever dreamed up the ‘bruised banana’ kit at adidas in the early ’90’s can sleep at last, because Warrior have topped it.
Twice.
@Jay – does the kit pass muster with black shorts, in your view?
I’ve come to the conclusion that the Warrior designers are p***ing themselves laughing at the outrage, wondering how they can top it next season
@42…
Surely showing the kits to fans for feedback would be strange as it’s leaking them out…
Denis, a big fat “Meh”. I s’pose red shirt with black shorts is their “traditional” look as the Cardiff Red Dragons or whatever they’re called now.
I don’t think anyone’s laughing, Denis. John has some insight but this is not a cause for hilarity. An ugly kit will sell, an ugly kit that’s confirmed ugly by the media at large probably won’t do very well at all, I wager.
It’s not ugly, it’s BEYOND ugly…It is in a new galaxy of ugliness…
I can’t believe people still slag adidas off if Warrior produce monstrosities like this…Seriously? What is wrong with templates if ‘unique’ kits featuring psychedelic vomit or migraine inducing socks crawl out of the woodwork?
I will never again criticise the use of gingham ever again (especially as a lover of German football with BVB’s new home shirt carrying a checked shadow pattern…).
How beautiful are the new Tottenham kits? Absolutely gorgeous in my view.
I like the return of navy shorts, wouldn’t be keen on the neck design and would prefer a yellow away, but very nice overall.
I like the new Arsenal away, though I’d prefer wider hoops on the socks and I hate the new font for cup competitions
Denis, am I right in thinking each yellow hoop on the socks represents a trophyless season? If the run conitues Arsenal Socks will resemble Fisherman’s waders!
You’re quite correct Andrew, that’s one to chuckle at on Thursday nights, or maybe even get everyone at WHL cheering about when Arsenal don’t concede a goal.
I also liked how Spurs’ navy is the darkest ever to ramp up the monochrome look in honour of the last title victory being in black and white.
Excellent sentiment from Under Armour to bring out a monochrome strip to celebrate those Tottenham title wins from all those years ago (just the two, I believe….). My own opinion is that it looks like a baseball shirt which is not a good thing at all. Arsenal away in yellow and (the correct) royal blue is, of course, fabulous.
Touched a nerve have I? We’ll be looking back in years to come saying ArseAnal haven’t won anything in HD!
Perhaps Tottenham should have put 52 stripes on their kit to celebrate each year since they last won the league
http://www.haveyoueverseentottenhamwintheleague.com/
Forever in our shadow!
Like the sound of that David, obviously they should do it now as it will be 60, then 70 stripes before you know it…..
Like the new Spurs kit but that collar is just odd…And before everyone starts picking on them, just think how Pompey or Huddersfield fans feel!
Forever in our shadow? I think you’ll find each club has had periods of dominance over the other. I recall several baron spells for the Woolwich Nomads when Spurs ruled the roost.
Bleedin’ hell Andrew!! You must be really, really old…….
Best PL kits so far: West Ham home (adidas); West Ham away (adidas); Aston Villa home (Macron); Man City home (Nike)…
Have you seen City’s third Martyn?
Only a photo that shows about half of it…looks pretty good though. I’ve always had a soft spot for 70’s style twin side bars or sashes – the new Wolfsburg home is a stunner, too (white with black trim and a green sash). My favourite Bayern kit from the 60’s and 70’s is the white one with the red and blue side bar and trim (brought back as a Euro kit by adidas in 95/96 – but the original is best)…Similarly, Borussia Monchengladbach’s early 70’s kit with a green and black side bar is a timeless classic too.
West Ham’s kit are simply stunning, a green and white version of them would have been stunning for a hibs kit but sadly we’re lumbered with poor Nike teamwear
Going to make a brave statement by saying that I don’t find the Liverpool change shirts to be that bad, there’s something about them that I like, however they should have been paired with more sensible shorts and socks for example if the white shirt was paired with plain black shorts and if the third didnt have those ludicrous socks with different coloured turnovers
Glad to see Spurs back to what in my mind is a ‘proper’ combination with navy shorts and socks, not a fan of white socks and especially white shorts
And in line with my against the grain opinion of the Liverpool change kits I also quite like the Adidas ‘bat wing’ template that seems to have had a bit of a bashing
Another kit I’m a big fan of is the Swansea away good to see something different tried
I’m shocked at myself at my thoughts as I’d normally consider myself a traditionalist!
I like the new adidas templates, so I’ve been swimming against the tide too – glad to hear someone else thinks as I do!
The Liverpool kits are an example of a designer ‘over egging’ by adding too much additional trim. However, the comparative similarity between the two away kits is again a worry, just like last season. That heavy patterning at the bottom of the away shirt will make it very dark, meaning that unless Warrior come up with an alternative pair of shorts, we’re going to have the ‘double clash’ syndrome again. But those socks are the worst I have ever seen…
Yeah, there are Away change shorts for that kit http://goo.gl/eWPRc and socks http://goo.gl/dDU8l
Just had to do a double-take. I know these are merely friendly games but just noticed that Singha All-stars wore Nike against Manchester United and Adidas against Chelsea. Maybe the home team’s kits were supplied by the away opposition!?
Saw a snippet of the Chelsea v Malaysia friendly earlier – could have sworn Mark Schwarzer was playing as an outfield player for Malaysia!
Fairly bad alright! http://www.chelseafc.com/javaImages/11/6c/0,,10268~12086289,00.jpg
Overall, I’d say that was a clash!
Anyone see the Copa Libertadores final second leg? For me, a pretty bad clash which I’d liken to club Gaelic football. Black and white stripes, black shorts and white socks plays white shirt with black horizontal band on front, white shorts and black socks.
http://goo.gl/fbK5HH
The socks were reversed in the first leg which made it just about ok but it’s terrible that the Champions League final equivalent is burdened with an overall clash.
That’s not all, Atlético Mineiro had a white panel on the back of their shirts so both sides’ numbers were black on white. Awful.
You are always gonna get clashes in Brazil, 6 of the 20 clubs in last seasons top flight wear white shirts the 14 others all have white away shirts.
Also 6 of the sides have black or black & white striped shirts
Just caught the last knockings of the Bayern Munich v Barcelona kickabout the other night. Both teams showcasing new away kits. I noticed that the new Bayern shirt is still carrying 4 stars above the crest, each (I thought) representing their European Cup / Champions League wins. Now, I might be barking up the wrong tree but shouldn’t there be 5 stars now??
Without bothering to check, Ronan, I’d guess it’s 40+ German titles. Isn’t there a rule about not having stars denoting European Cup wins in domestic competition? I may be wrong.
Andrew, it was a Brazilian team against a Paraguayan team. Regardless, some teams wearing white and others having a white change kit isn’t reason enough to put up with clashes.
Going back to the Bayern-Barça game, both teams changing is massively annoying. UNLESS Barça view that Catalunya shirt as an alternate “Home” which they intend to wear against Real. Now THAT would be cool.
I heard Barcelona were going to have a black third kit.
Ronan,
Bayern were awarded a fourth star by the DFB (German FA) in 2008 for winning 20 Bundesliga titles. The allocation is 3 titles = 1 star; 5 titles = 2 stars; 9 titles = 3 stars; 20 titles = 4 stars. Dortmund and Monchengladbach both carry 2 stars above their badges for 5 titles, and Stuttgart and Hamburger SV have 1.
Schalke and Nurnberg were both a bit miffed when the DFB announced the system because they won the old Deutscher Meister titles (forerunner of the Bundesliga) enough times to earn stars, but the DFB said that only Bundesliga titles counted.
As far as the kits go, I think it was just the case of both clubs unveiling new kits in a suitable friendly…In an actual competitive game I think Barca would wear their third shirt, which as Scott says I believe is going to be black.
Cheers lads!!
I’ve only just now noticed the 90s-esque pattern on the Spurs away, it has echoes of the England third from 90-92
Bless ’em, looks like the Daily Mail have had a go at tackling clashes (bottom of the article) though no mention of change items http://goo.gl/08GQOn
I think you need to give them a call, Denis, and explain overall clash mechanics.
What a terrible article
What happens when Everton play at Chelsea? Err, get beaten is probably the most realistic answer.
Strangely that Nike design looks uncannily like one introduced by Adidas last season and will be used by Fulham for their away strip (red, white on top) – which, ironically, has a lot of the white at the top. Yet the Daily Fail decided not to mention it – presumably because Fulham aren’t a “northern club outside its readership demographic” I’d imagine? Shoddy journalism!
A rotten article by the mail! Definitely agree with the Liverpool kits John. The 3rd is bizarre, looks like a child created it using fuzzy felt. There is nothing wrong with patterned kits but Liverpool need a proper yellow one again. Too many black kits in the Prem these days.
I would think even Nike would have a yellow change short for this type of situation…I like the kit though. Personally the biggest concern is what on earth Liverpool/Man Utd/West Brom are going to do when they play Palace this season…
love the everton away and i will whisper it quietly but like the new badge…
does it have too much blue on it?
United are retaining last years white as a third kit so have a good range of kits to avoid any clashes.
Yellow shorts and no problem at all, or last years black kit as a third, terrible article, no way would I consider that shirt to have too much blue it to mean a clash with Chelsea, as ridiculous as the ‘sleeve clash’ between Aston Villa and West Ham a few years back
E137 – Think the fuss about the new badge was to do with removing the club motto and the laurel wreathes. Probably a little ill advised, and maybe putting the motto on the back of the collar would have worked better, but I don’t really see that much of a problem…clubs change their badges all the time. My club, Bayern Munchen, have changed their club crest several times, though not since the late 60’s (unless you count removing the e.V from the club badge, which was done in 2002).
Going back to the strip, there is such a large area of yellow that only the shorts will be a problem – but given the recent over fussiness about shorts, who knows? some of the bizarre (FIFA) imposed changes in the Confederation Cup, maybe they will make Chelsea change too…
It will be fine for away games at City, Villa & West Ham, they could also wear it against Brighton or Sheffield Wed in a cup game. They’ll obviously wear the third kit for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge
New PL handbook shows Man City and Newcastle third as well as confirming last season’s all-red away as West Brom’s third – Palace away will be troublesome!
http://www.premierleague.com/content/dam/premierleague/site-content/News/publications/handbooks/premier-league-handbook-2013-14.pdf
And, just when we’re adjusting to the 2013-14 adidas templates, here are next season’s! Liking the mid-90s stripes around the bottom of the sleeve: http://www.footyheadlines.com/2013/08/adidas-14-15-2014-15-teamwear-kits.html
I’m sure West Brom’s away kit from last season a darker shade of red with navy trim, but anyway it seems rather curious of them to register an all-red third kit considering how much red is in their away kit. And in the same Adidas template as the away kit they just replaced.
Shame they didn’t take the opportunity to re-use their home and away kit template in yellow and green to revive an old favourite change kit from the 70’s. Certainly would have solved any clashing problems.
Sorry Jon, you’re right! Thinking about it more though I think the home will work with white shorts
#93 – Is it not a bit early for adidas to be showing their hand ahead of next years world cup Denis?
Nobody cares about the GK kits, I’d imagine we won’t see the countries’ bespoke designs for a while
Yeah you could be right Denis. The first world cup in a while where Adidas doesnt supply the hosts kit (Italia 90 the last I think)
“A host’s kit” rather than “the” – South Korea in 2002 had Nike, didn’t they? Great stat though!
On the subject of addidas templates. did any other team British or otherwise ever wear the same template as man utd 1984-1986. the one with the white shoulder panel.
Just thought you all might like to know about the changes to the Premier League badges and numbering for this upcoming season:
ttp://www.soccerloco.com/blog/soccer-news/english-premier-league/weight-premier-league-lettering-numbering-modernized/
So flock numbering and lettering is no more. It seems a real shame, as I’m a huge fan of the current design, especially when executed so beautifully in flock material. Oh well.
ciaran/Dennis,
USA in ’94 wore adidas – it was the bizarre denim blue one with the white stars, paired with red shorts (not one of adidas’ finest efforts).
E137,
I think that one in that form was unique to Man Utd – Bayern and Hamburger SV had a similar design the following season, but it was a straight white line (used on the away kit in HSV’s case) with no trim that was a bit lower down, and when seen from a distance, a bit thicker, could almost be this seasons ‘wing’ template.
…Should check my facts first! Bayern version used in 88/89
hmm, so Villa wore their white and “blackcurrant” kit at Arsenal today, I’d have expected them to wear the lime green kit to be honest.
what you make of that one Denis? clash or no clash?
Just a quick question – why so much hate for adidas in 13/14? Not neccessarily on this site, but there seems to be a lot of vitriol aimed at the marque, particularly the ‘wings’ template. I understand it’s a bit ubiquitous, particularly in England, but is it really so bad? Templates have always been around, have always been (mostly) interchangeable, so what IS the problem? I would say in the entire history of the PL, there hasn’t been a single season where some elements of various kits didn’t crop up elsewhere (maybe a few of Man Utd’s kits in the Umbro days), unless of course we’re talking ‘one shot’ suppliers like Dri-Fit and the like. So I get it, people don’t like the ‘wings’, but what is worse, that template, or the Nike ‘two tone’ and ‘Kimono neck’ ones (used on Barca’s and Man Utd’s away respectively last year and now the ‘teamwear’ templates)? As a Bundesliga follower, there are not many worse kits than the two new Freiburg ones for this season…
Jon – I didn’t think there was any kit confusion at the Emirates.
The only clash was between my optimistic pre-season hopes and reality.
Jon, I was at the game yesterday, no clash whatsoever even though I thought there may have been a problem. Agree with Denis, there were other problems though!!
I quite like Fulham’s third shirt
I just thought on paper logically speaking if claret and blue clashes with Arsenal, then what about claret and white….. though given that it’s “blackcurrant” and white, a pinkier shade, well, yes. Though I was unsure about Čech wearing yellow and black against Hull yesterday, considering he’s got last season’s green kit as second choice which would have made more sense.
Fulham’s third kit is quite good, not sure what all the backlash about this “bat wings” template is all about, it’s not that bad surely? I think their home kit isn’t too clever though, not so much the design but the decision to pair the shirt with mis-matched socks, surely white with black stripes would be better?
My thoughts entirely, I hate that the only red on the shirt is the sponsor.
Villa’s away is more purple than claret, I would say
Martyn, let me answer your question by giving my opinion on adidas.
Firstly, let me preface what I’m about to say by stating that I love some of adidas’s recent kits. Last season’s Chelsea and Bayern home strips I really, really liked, and there have been others to win my fancy – not least the magnificent UCL-winning kit Chelsea sported in ’11-’12. Nor is my opinion measured against other manufacturers necessarily. It is simply my take on the brand as it stands.
I’ll start by saying that on the whole I hold the conviction that as a company when it comes to football kits adidas are unbelievably complacent; of creativity, of innovation, and of variety of design they rank lowly on every count.
Adidas, by example of its creative output over the past decade can be said to be almost wholly reliant on the strength of its brand to drive its success; that is to say, the omnipresence of its ubiquitous three stripes, and the uniformity of their application.
Yes, adidas has received trenchant criticism over its wings template, but such criticism in its specificity misses the point: they’re ALL templates. Look at the latest Chelsea and Bayern home strips: tack on individual team badges and logos and away you go. No variety, nor semblance of creativity.
The aforementioned Chelsea home strip of 2012 was so exquisite because it managed to merge hallmarks of the adidas brand with elements from Chelsea strips past – those in the ’80s and ’90s – as well as modern design elements and fit, a wonderful harmony. The current incarnation, while nice – yes, I actually quite like it, all said! – lacks such inspiration.
In any case, those bemoaning the wings template strips are quite right, by any objective measure: it’s rubbish! The design itself belongs to the turn of the millennium, as does the cut of the shirt – or, if you’re being cruel, even further back than that. That adidas have lumped, well, almost all teams within their English roster with this lamentable template is insulting.
If I could describe the attitude conveyed by adidas by way of their design output over the last few years I’d call it complacent at best, arrogant to the point of contemptuous at worst. Chelsea were issued sock designs that bore little to no difference to each other for a period of five years and four kit changes from ’05-’11 – 5 years! Hey, let’s stick three stripes on the turnover – what d’you reckon, think they’ll notice? Yeah, let’s do it!
You’re right about templates long being a feature of kit design. Umbro have done it for decades; Puma; Nike too – the latter’s total 90 close to the nadir for that brand. But name a brand, and they’ve done it. Even the ’90s players like Asics did so. The trouble is, none has corporate branding so prominent as adidas, nor features it so frequently within templates.
So what would I like to see? Well, less of the three stripes, for starters; perhaps their being employed more economically, or at least some variation in their use. I recall from my childhood Liverpool and Rangers strips that featured the stripes horizontally on both shirt and shorts to great effect, and incidences of their use being minimal on sock designs, too – France ’98 strips and socks circa ’05. Surely at least for the big clubs, the strength of the respective brand of both club and manufacturer should be enough to shift shirts?
I would love to see adidas pare down the use of the famous three stripes, while retaining their usage – let’s face it, it’s a fantastic trademark. Sometimes, a shirt might not feature them at all, and their subsequent later reintroduction would bare the trace of novelty.
It’s time for a change. Why do we let them get away with it? They’re a huge company, and have the financial muscle and clout to dedicate time and resources to create more inventive designs.
I’ll leave you all with one thought: were adidas an emerging football brand, newly introduced into the sporting market, would you all tolerate strip designs so brazenly formulaic?
That’s my two-penneth. Sorry about the essay! Just had to get that off my chest.
Nick,
Thanks – I do love to see a constructive debate, so here goes:
Firstly, the Bayern shirt is entirely bespoke – it has a shadow pattern of the Bavarian diamonds, and the collar, while granted, similar to others, has a different layout of internal trim. The away shirt introduced last season was mostly bespoke too, with a standard collar but exclusive shadow stripes, and this season retained with a change in sponsor logo. And the new third kit shares its collar only with other strips – the ‘staggered’ stripe layout is unique.
So, the three stripes…Firstly I would have to disagree with you – from 91-95 the adidas Equipment era saw the stripes represented as large blocks over the shoulder, while the stripes returned for the Euro 96 templates, though sometimes placed in unique areas – eg Spain running through the badge, and Newcastles battleship blue with the stripes added to the chest band (Palace and Fulham also used some similar designs around this time). The marque went through a dip in form until ’02, when the World Cup templates featured drastically shortened stripes. Following that, the ’04 templates ‘pointed’ the ends of the stripes into a ‘claw’ like design, and since then, the length has been steadily dialed back, allowing for ever more elaborate tournament logos.
As a Bayern AND adidas fan, I always look for the three stripes, like a rock to cling to in a sea of mediocrity, but the simple answer is this : If people object to them so much, don’t buy them. adidas is a business like any other – if they noticed a dip in sales, they would change their strategy.
Bear in mind, as covered elsewhere, IMO being too radical with a strategy is what did for Umbro. adidas will sell an enormous amount of shirts across their roster this season, so will have no need to change their direction. And before I hear the ‘club loyalty winning out over design sensibility’ argument, I wouldn’t buy Bayern shirts if I didn’t like the designs, colourways etc. Fan will always think with their feet (figuratively speaking).
In closing, variety of templates is at least offered, with the ‘Big V’, ‘Wings’ and ‘Chest Stripe’ used this season – would you rather we went back to the late 70’s, with one interchangeable designs with only the colours varying? at least the different elements are mixed up these days.
Don’t diss the three stripes!
Adidas is my favourite brand (Arsenal, Cork City and Ireland all had it in 1990, my year zero!) so I see both sides here.
Re Nick’s point about subtler branding, I think Fulham’s 01-02 efforts were good in this regard, just tiny flashes of the three stripes at the bottom of the sleeves and shorts. And Martyn, I loved Bayern’s 04-05 shirt, which didn’t have them at all!
I would say that adidas are better than Nike in terms of templates, not least the fact that some designs offer (shock!) a third colour!
Celtic playing Shakhter Karagandy now and Shakhter have the Nike Flying-V design, which is now four years old
Denis,
Not to correct you, but the one you refer to was the 05/06 – the 03/05 was the Arsenal-esque all red with white sleeves. But yeah, that was a curious one, obviously designed to create the impression of a retro shirt (using the late 60’s/early 70’s badge design for one), where in fact it wasn’t actually based (directly) on any previous strip – the white shorts and socks also being a curious anomaly. adidas obviously had second thoughts, as in it’s second year of use it was radically remodelled, adding the three stripes, restoring the modern badge, and doing away with the white shorts and socks, returning to red. Personally one of my favourites would be the 07/08 with the three white bands on the front.
If you’re talking the Republic of Ireland, I loved the away strip from the ’94 World Cup, with the orange trimmed green stripes fading out halfway down. A stunning piece of design, and much more subtle, and stylish, ironically than Germany’s own from then.
Yeah I liked that away Martyn, adidas’s last for Ireland. It was indeed odd how the stripes were added in 06, can’t say I liked the 07-08 though
Hi Martyn,
On your first point – yes, the shadow trim featured on Bayern’s current home is a nice touch, but my point is that the central elements of the design, i.e. collar, trim, stripes, are essentially identical to the Chelsea home. The details you mention are mere window dressing around the main template, which in itself, on a superficial level, isn’t greatly different to the templates of the ’70s.
I don’t see the adidas ’90s era as any kind of halcyon years – far from it. The templates that marred WC ’94 are pretty monstrous, as well as the proliferation of template kits in itself; and that France and Rangers shared EXACTLY the same shirt design appalling. But that was very much the way the brand operated during the ’90s. In fact, there isn’t a single era that I would deem ‘golden’ for the brand in terms of design, or in underling my examples. In citing those Liverpool and Rangers strips, I was merely pointing out instances where adidas were at least willing to play around with the positioning and usage of the iconic three stripes, if not remove them altogether.
Both you Denis cite strips that underline my point about subtler branding, even if used as a template across a variety of strips – the Newcastle ‘denim’ shirt of the Dalglish era, and that Fulham home of the first PL campaign – welcome experimentation.
Your penultimate paragraph neatly underlines the very complacency of which I speak. Does the fact that people still buy adidas’ produced shirts in huge numbers excuse a lack of creativity? Thousands of WBA fans will purchase this season’s home strip, yet it doesn’t mean it’s any good. I share your attitude towards buying kits – but are most people as discerning? Fans can be sheep when it comes to this kind of thing. Look at some of the fans of my team, Manchester City. Willing to fork out in the region of £50 for a vastly inferior product, one that pulls all to easily. Granted, I’m sure some of them actually like it.
No, I wouldn’t prefer a return to the ’70s. But are the two eras really comparable? For one, a replica shirt market didn’t exist then. Secondly, templates that seldom changed were in vogue across all manufacturers then – see Umbro and Admiral.
As I said in my earlier post, I’m not letting Nike off on the template front by any means, nor comparing adidas to other manufacturers necessarily. This is simply my analysis of the brand.
I stand by my point, that adidas could afford to play around the three stripes and their usage, and on the occasional strip, do away with them altogether.
I LOVE the three stripes. It’s just how and the frequency with which they are used that I take issue with. Were they to disappear from the odd shirt for a season or two, then we would all (myself included) be calling for and then hailing their subsequent return.
Arsenal wearing blue shorts with home kit tonight
Nick,
Yes, the 90’s were a rough era for adidas, despite my love for the marque. The pyschedelic Germany home is arguably the worst one they ever produced, and was just as bad when carried over as a template post WC ’94. The Arsenal bruised banana…need I go on? They did however have a partial return to form from ’96 onwards, though the kits of this era were far too crowded – extra collar trim, little tags, shadow print everywhere…The red and blue striped Bayern kit of 95-97 (used in almost the same form by Crystal Palace in England from 96) was on the surface a good idea, but was marred by too much ‘over thinking’; but the nadir was reached from 98. Whoever had the brilliant idea of putting Bayern, a team nicknamed ‘Die Roten’ (the reds) in midnight blue as a HOME KIT…hang your head in shame.
The 90’s was a golden era IMO for Umbro (some classic kits for Man Utd, Everton, Forest, Chelsea, and Man City) ; Nike, who overcame a shaky start to produce some stunners for Arsenal amongst others ; Asics, who are sadly missed; Reebok; Puma; Kappa; and even some of the smaller suppliers like Le Coq Sportif…The over proliferation in England of adidas is surely down to these companies either losing inspiration or vanishing altogether.
But moving out of the 90’s, and using Bayern and Germany as twin examples, the 99/01 Bayern home, with it’s large areas of blue classily trimmed with white piping and, yes, three stripes, was a design classic, as was it’s successor, the maroon and navy (though it was a little on the dark side), and then there was the 02/04 Germany home, for my money one of the best international kits of all time – simple, restrained, elegant. Bayern then had the Arsenal-esque all red with white sleeves (actually based on a kit from the early 70’s), which WAS a bit pedestrian, followed by the overly retro kit as discussed previously, and it’s ‘too little, too late’ rehash a year later. Then adidas hit a creative brick wall in 04, with the black sleeved, peculiar collared Germany home, and Bayern’s metallic gold away shirt (which I have heard was one of the most unpopular aways worn by the club).
But then, we had 06 – my second favourite Germany kit of all time, with the organic ‘swooshes’ over it – the club templates that followed were stunners too – Bayern had a white away used from 06/08 with red and blue flashes, and Leverkusen had a black away strip with yellow trim (Liverpool used a black, white and red version).
OK, the international templates from 08/10, Germany included, were a bit uninspired (apart from the gorgeous red, black and gold away), but Bayern had the all red with white bars on the front, which does divide opinion, followed by a navy and white away (one of my favourites). The cut of these two was good too – the scalloped sleeves a nice and different touch.
10/11 – the short lived all red home with the perforated fabric, followed by, a season later, the red and white striped, which didn’t work for reasons out of adidas’ control (the ‘T’ from T-Mobile’s simplified logo meant seating it within a white cube that didn’t line up properly with the stripes…nightmare. Germany meanwhile paired a nice but not spectacular home with one of their best aways – the black, red and gold was mean and menacing.
12/14 – I’m still not sure that pairing the red Bayern shirt with gold stripes and trim was a good idea, but it was comfortable to wear, with it’s wide collar, and Germany, despite being lumbered with another slightly pedestrian home, had another stunning away – back in emerald green for the first time in nearly twenty years.
So up to now – study the Bayern home and you’ll see it’s subtly different from Chelsea’s. Similar, yes, but NOT the same – Bayern’s for one is a V-neck reinterpretation of a strip worn in the late 60’s, which had a round neck back then.
Phew! I’ll just say in closing that maybe adidas’ only failing is that they wear their heart on their sleeves – they know if they DO crash and burn (which as detailed previously, does happen), well, at least they tried. Better that, than coming out with a misguided new marketing direction and blaming everybody else when it fails miserably.
NB. Denis – as a Gunner, does the famous red shirt being worn for the first time with anything other than white shorts make you weep? I really feel football is dying a slow, FIFA strangulated death when one of the last bastions of football kit integrity is swept away…couldn’t Fenerbahce wear their home (which if they do their usual thing is white)? Paired with dark shorts, would mean Arsenal wouldn’t have to change…Wouldn’t it?
Most Liverpool fans would love to have this year’s Chelsea adidas kit – in red of course! Really like the adidas Entrada kit trailed above, the one with 3 stripes around rather than down the sleeve – it’s surprising that adidas has used that style so rarely.
Liverpool themselves (and Bayern for that matter) used something similar in the mid 90’s, so yeah, why not?
I still think that Warrior has had an horrendous start. But Macron have improved after their own shaky start, so I suppose anything is possible!
Well, I never thought I’d ever see the day Arsenal wearing anything other than white shorts with the home shirt. Must be the first time in what, 30 years or so?
Martyn – I don’t think you can say that the 90s as a whole was a golden era for Umbro – 94-95 kits were, almost entirely, terrible.
I didn’t mind the Arsenal shorts, my initial fear when I read blue would be worn was that it would be the away shorts, which would have been terrible!
Jon – 1982-83 at Everton the last time, as far as I can make out:
http://www.footballzone.co.uk/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=29354
Indeed, almost the same combination worn tonight as per that programme front cover Denis!
Doubt we’ll see Arsenal wearing navy shorts in the Prem any time soon however.
I certainly won’t be holding my breath!
The blue shorts worn against Everton that day had the green trim (from that season’s fabulous away kit), didn’t look good at all. When Denis informed us that blue shorts were being worn this evening I also thought it would have been the new away shorts which indeed would have been terrible. I mentioned this to Mrs Smith who appeared totally disinterested unfortunately (‘Emmerdale’ being “a bit good” this week apparently..) looked well though and they definitely won’t be seen again!
Apparently Emmerdale’s been that good this week even my own town got a mention on it. Looks to me like the navy shorts worn tonight are a standard pair that you can find in any good old teamwear catalogue, just with an Arsenal badge sewn on. Though reading some of the comments doing the rounds tonight on the interweb it seems as if some Gooners think the shorts should be used again just because they won 3-0!
We’ll be seeing Celtic, Liverpool or Real Madrid wearing their home kits with different coloured shorts next!
Jon at 128. Liverpool originally wore white shorts until according to i think it was either Emlyn Hughes or Ian St John (or perhaps neither of those two) recalled Shankley introducing the all red to make them look more intimidating.
I think Celtic may have changed to green shorts when they played Leeds back in 1970 in the European Cup.
Clashed really only arises where there is a contrasting shorts or socks colour to the rest of the kit. In Real’s case if they meet a team with too much white on their kit they normally change kit though they have probably changed shorts in the past if truth be known.
UEFA and FIFA are gone too far. What’s really needless is the totally solid coloured back on shirts. A simple patch to accommodate the name and number would suffice rather than spoiling the likes of the hoops on the Celtic shirt
Yeah I remember reading about Shanks changing it in 1964 for the European Cup against Anderlecht if I recall, and of course a kit institution was born……. but I seriously doubt they’ll wear any other coloured shorts with the red shirts again. I remember at Watford a few years ago they wore their white third kit, though ironically it was against the same club that I do recall the last time they wore red shirts with different coloured shorts – in this case, black, back in the mid 80’s.
Celtic most definitely wore white shorts against Leeds for both legs of the European cup semi in 1970 – they had to change socks however and borrowed a pair of orange socks for the tie at Elland Road. But whenever they face a team in white shorts, particularly in Europe, they tend to wear their change kit, just like Real like you said. I remember one time Real Madrid played at Xerez, who wore blue shirts and white shorts, so they turned up in navy because of the shorts clash, which in my opinion was more of a clash of shirts!!
Totally agree about the UEFA/FIFA rulings on kits, the solid back on stripes/hoops has been enforced for about 10 years now and I still disagree with it, and even though the regulation seems to have been relaxed for shirts of dark tones (such as Barça) or light tones (Argentina in the World Cup for instance), the likes of Celtic wearing plain backed shirts disgusts me. And they say it’s to help make shirt numbers stick out more in order to recognise players on TV? Well I’m sorry but I never had a problem picking out Celtic players in televised matches during the days when they only wore numbers on the shorts! And the one-colour kit that FIFA seem to like the idea of at present is a massive bugbear of mine.
I stand corrected on Celtic Jon. Liverpool had a horrific Red-Black-Yellow combo v Watford in the 70s which if anything could have confused matters considering all 3 are Watford’s colours.
Jon – there is a bit of confusion re the Celtic socks at Elland Road, apparently Leeds offered Celtic the choice of red or blue (!) and Jock Stein said that the red would look orange under the floodlights and the fans would think it was a nod to Ireland. We need Allan Clarke to come back on and tell us!
PSV wore all-red at home to Milan (all-white) last night even though their anniversary kit is supposed to red-white-white. All-red in the CL or just pandering to UEFA’s rules?
Oh and Arsenal are wearing their away kit on Saturday http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/49166/fulham-v-arsenal-matchday-strips
I’d love to know who decides that that fixture is a clash some years but not others
regarding odd shorts, Celtic wore green shorts with the hoops when they played at Highbury in The Paul Davis testimonial in july 1991.
Well spotted that man!!! looks like Celtic wore the 89-91 away shorts, and NUMBERED shirts too which if I recall were only used in Europe at the time due to UEFA rules: _
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-JQBuRRv-0
Good spot Scott, I had always thought a) I’d imagined that (only place I saw a picture was of Charlie Nicholas on a set of Top Trumps) and b) that they were black shorts
Here’s another thing with football kits that you’ll definitely not see ever again – Barcelona wearing WHITE shirts!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xtOxjKVH10
I knew they had done so in early 70s, didn’t realise it was that late!
Does anyone know why the chose Navy? If the away shorts had been Navy Id have understood it but why not choose Red?
139. Id agree with you Andrew. Red would have been far better especially with the red socks i would have thought it would have made more sense.
134. Cheers Scott. I remember now seeing that video recently enough but couldn’t for the life of me figure out how i was convinced Celtic had wore green shorts in the past with the famous hoops. I was getting mixed up with that European Cup clash with Leeds in 1970 where i read they had changed something.
It would seem that total contrast is the done thing with FIFA/UEFA from now on and yet they have no goal line technology in the big competitions. Theyve been pushed into it rather than embrace it.
It would appear that the Arsenal navy shorts were the ones from the training kit if the photo of Podolski and Frimpong on their Facebook page today is anything to go by…..
I think we all agree that this whole ‘no clash’ thing is a load of rubbish…It’s not quite as bad in Germany, where sensible choices do (mostly) reign. That said, however, Eintracht Braunschweig have the most bizarre kit set – amber/mid blue/amber home; all navy with yellow trim away…Defies belief, but then the culprits ARE Nike. Thankfully they have a plain white third to cut through the insanity. Reminds me of several teams in England that have had lighter blue homes and navy aways in the past…
Jon Barcelona also wore the white shirt’s at Ipswich in the cup winner’s cup in 1978. The Celtic green short’s at Arsenal was the last time they wore that kit as the following sunday they played Spur’s at home wearing the people’s ford sponsored kit. It probably was all they had left of cr smith kit.
@Andrew – I’m at a loss too, red would have been far better
As would predominately yellow socks with this away kit
As a traditionalist I’d agree, but I’ve no real problems with these, although I do prefer wider hoops.
I’d love to see navy and white hoops return on the home
sheff wed v millwall. apparently millwall have forgotten kit. lets see what happens!!
They’re wearing Wednesday’s 2012-13 yellow away, apparently!
One other thing I really dislike is that the shorts for the adidas goalkeeper template don’t have matching stripes with the shirt.
I’ve noticed that the yellow and navy kits have white stripes on the shorts when the colour doesn’t really feature on the shirt. Sloppy, but they did it last year too.
Aberdeen’s away kit was yellow/black but the shorts were black with white trim.
On the subject of mis-matched adidas kits – Swansea wearing purple shirts, yellow shorts and WHITE socks at Spurs right now.
Still, can’t be as bad as Man City wearing blue at Cardiff*… shocking!
(* yes I do still find this re-brand thing an absolute disgrace)
That’s terrible Jon, can’t believe that adidas didn’t give them a yellow set
Alternative socks seem to be a late afterthought these days – it was well into last season before adidas gave Bayern an orange pair to alternate with the white away…that seems to be the rule with a lot of kit suppliers – even mighty Nike don’t give a bespoke pair of home change socks to Man Utd (the away kits pair are usually worn). ENOUGH WITH THE adidas BASHING ALREADY!!
I think that, this season, United have a white and black set of socks which are designated as the change for both kits
I think maybe Swansea were caught on the hop and the officials made them switch from purple?
That was presumably the case, though if purple clashed with navy, it was odd that Vorm was allowed to wear a charcoal shirt, from behind it was hard to tell him apart from the outfielders
I’ll be honest Denis, I was more surprised that the Ref wore yellow, what with so much of the Swansea shirt being yellow.
True, quote a lot wrong with that game, practically and visually!
Good to see Tottenham in their home kit today:
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-v-tottenham-matchday-strips
I thought the rules would insist that as Arsenal have navy trim Spurs would have to change…?
…Sarcastic, Moi?
Somehow Olympiakos managed to use fully red and white striped shirts in the CL in 2011-12 as at various points in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wwaSUpur3w
Not sure how they got away with it – presumably argued that black stands out sufficiently on red and white – but they’ve reverted to plain backed shirts since.
A bugbear of mine remains teams wearing their away kits unnecessarily and creating a greater clash with the home team than if they’d worn their home kit. Newport wearing white instead of yellow at Scunthorpe whose kit is predominantly light blue this season was a bad example on Saturday.
Lloris wore last seasons GK kit with this seasons sponsor today. Sadly that was the highlight of my day.
As a referee Id sooner have seen Swansea in their home kit at West Brom than in Purple & Yellow.
I was thinking the same, was wondering yesterday before I saw it if they’d have to use a third
Personally I think if Swansea wore their home kit at West Brom it would have been more of a clash, given that their shirts are the same template with a white sleeve and dark coloured “bat wing”. I think its fair to say the West Brom kit is more “predominantly white”, but to tell the truth they could have done with a third kit.
Ever since the Jacks have returned to adidas they only seem to have two kits, when there have been occasions where a third kit could have been necessary in each of their three seasons?!
P.S. another potential (maybe) colour clash unexplainable – why did Joe Hart wear a yellow kit against predominantly amber Hull City on Saturday, when his usual first choice kit is green? Odd.
I wondered that too Jon – Hull’s only real clash is with Norwich, so surely a GK shouldn’t be allowed to wear it against them
Jon,
I could be wrong, but I thought Swansea had worn the all black last season instead of the ‘Wales’ away – possibly against Sunderland?
And in other news…
What do the regular TC contributors think of Bayern’s new away kit?
As a Bayern fan I’d have to say that first and foremost, any critics of ‘standard’ templates on the shirts, leave now. The only ‘shared’ element is a tiny bit of green piping down the side. The collar – bespoke; shadow pattern (of ‘Bavarian’ style checks) – bespoke.
So…brown…I’d have to say that normally, in my eyes (apart from St Pauli who have a subversive reputation and probably use the colour ‘just because’), brown shouldn’t belong on a football kit…however, Bayern (which means ‘Bavaria’ in German) take their roots and heritage very seriously, so in that context it makes sense. At first I wasn’t sure, but it’s growing on me. My only misgivings are that 1860 got there first last season (though that was only a short term special).
Conclusions? Well, hopefully those who have criticised adidas for not being daring enough and not thinking ‘out of the box’ should look at this kit and reasess their views of the company.
Me? as a Bayern fan, despite initial misgivings, its growing on me, and is unlike anything previously worn by the club. And for that, it should be applauded.
As a boring traditionalist, I think all Bayern aways should be white with red trim, maybe navy occasionally. Is this the first time Bayern have changed the away after just one season?
Swansea wore all-white at Sunderland last season, no real clash IMO
Regarding that Bayern kit, I happen to have written a news story on the launch on a popular kit news website and also had fun sharing pictures of the Alpine jacket and hat they’ve released. I think it’s great – particularly the, on the face of it, mismatching shorts and socks.
Interestingly, the official release was brought to my attention by a friend seeing the adidas tweet and once I had published the story I went and chatted with him. He’s not a massive kit design fan and asked me “How often do adidas/Nike do those parody kit launches?”
Everton white and navy third kit, which will make its debut at Upton Park
http://www.evertonfc.com/news/archive/2013/09/03/third-kit-unveiled
Swansea wore their home kit at Sunderland, and wore black change shorts and socks with the home shirt at Stoke. They also wore that combo at Crawley too in the League Cup, with Crawley wearing what I’d describe as a “reverse Ajax” or for those of you who’ve watched before my time, a red equivalent of the Birmingham “penguin” shirt. For me a third kit would have made sense.
As for the Bayern away kit it has to be my favourite of the season so far, wonderful design and very original, full marks to adidas!
As for Everton’s third kit, hmm let’s take the away shirt, swap yellow for white, blue for navy and bingo………. call it done.
Bayern Munich away kit – Wunderbar! Just excellent, however it is a slight shame 1860 got there first last year but much better than last years fluo orange effort
I also like the new Everton third kit, also am I right in thinking that the designs are bespoke to Everton (granted the home kit is based on Arsenal design with a different collar)? Maybe the bonus of being Nike through kitbag compared to Just Sport like most other non A-Grade Nike teams
IIRC was last seasons white Everton third shirt not the same template as the black away shirt? Albeit paired with different shorts
Nah, the design of the Everton change kits is also used by Montpellier, but in navy and orange…… which in turn resembles a similar design by adidas last season.
Also, yes the Everton third shirt last season was the same template as the away shirt.
Is anyone else using the same design as the Everton home shirt?
May well appear in Nike’s 2014 teamwear catalogue
Either way at least they have got matching gear, especially compared with the away monstrosities Just Sport have have provided Dundee United with, mainly the black shirt with white sleeves and tangerine shorts of about 2 years ago and this seasons white and black shirt with tangerine shorts
I’m sure there’s a couple other teams who have had some unfortunate mis-matches through Nike/ Just Sport
That’s what I like about the Adidas ‘B-Grade’ sides who and Puma/ Genesis as they still use clubs’ bespoke colours and will slightly alter designs for teams
Denis,
Good question! Over to stickerfreak.de again, and as far as I can tell, the last time it happened was a couple of times in the late 80’s/early 90’s, though it was just a change of collar on those occasions, rather than the total remodelling that has occurred this time.
They did have two away kits in 95/96, and the white one used then (which used the same template as Liverpool’s yellow third kit from around the same time) was superceded after one season, though strictly speaking it was a third kit (used when Bayern beat Forest 5-1 at the City Ground).
Glad to see the feedback on here is mostly positive – yes, it might not be ‘traditional’, but as a celebration of Bavarian local patriotism and tradition, it is second to none.
I bought FourFourTwo today and there’s a picture in it from the late 80s/early 90s of Milan playing Juventus, both teams in stripes with white shorts and socks
I used to see that quite often on Football Italia back in the day, they wouldn’t allow shorts/socks clashes like that now would they?
Absolutely not! Milan v Marseilles in the 1991 European Cup had similar
I remember a time when Refs wore Black, both Keepers wore Green and they also wore the same shorts & socks as their team mates!
I still don’t get why a ‘keeper wearing the same shorts and socks as teammates is a problem.
I always remember when I was little rather than wear the same shorts/socks as outfield players the Hibs GK would wear a yellow shirt with the black and purple away shorts and socks, of sorts this happens today as the GK shorts are the away shorts and when made to change the GK wears the home shorts so maybe not something that’s completely dead
Watching the Scotland game tonight and a couple of issues regarding kit
First of all still glad that Scotland have chosen to change to white/blue/blue (finally wearing the correct socks at about 4th attempt!) rather than wear change socks with the home kit, which we tend not to do, which I like, only time since 2002 that I can remember us changing home socks was Spain away in 2011 and of course we changed to blue shorts v Croatia as we couldn’t wear white away
However Macedonia have a couple things which bug me,
First of all on their shorts the logo’s are the ‘wrong’ way round, never think it looks right with manufacturers logo and number on right leg
And secondly I don’t know why this annoys me so much but I can’t stand it when a team in red have a GK outfitted in orange, surely black, yellow, grey or green (if Scotland weren’t already using that colour for GK)
Last season in the English Championship Bristol, Hull and Middlesborough all done this many a time
I know it’s not the worst clash but surely a better choice could be made!
Looking at this image of the home nations’ current kits it could almost be the 1980s again:
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/69736000/jpg/_69736144_footballpics.jpg
Agree re red and orange David, the Ireland goalkeeper shirt to go with the black away is orange and it has been worn against Spain and Austria in past couple of months
@Denis that’s madness, surely a contrasting GK kit would be available to the ROI to use
Still not as bad as my own team Hibs last season having a dark green home kit paired with a light green GK kit whilst having a perfectly contrasting pink GK kit available which was only used in 1 game all season and no doubt had a third GK kit (as we always do) which didnt see light of day either on pitch or in club shop!
I’m not quite FIFA/UEFA regarding clashes but some common sense should prevail in GK outfit choices when clear alternates are available
I’d imagine there must be a second option David, though on the FAI official site there are no GK shirts for sale (quite a change from the days when you could buy full ‘Packie Bonner kits’!).
You often see bad GK clashes in FL72, as Sky now want us to call it, whether it’s the keeper of a white-shirted team wearing silver, or else, say, a black-and-white striped team with a solid black back and the keeper in navy or dark grey
Thank you Denis for mentioning the Silver/White shirt clash, so often they are listed as Grey but the shade used is so light it is clearly silver.
It’s a common issue I have in parks football on a Sunday. Trouble is they often seem to think I am joking, I’m not!
I’m just a strong believer in GK’s being totally contrasting from outfield players, that must be very frustrating Andrew! I seen pics of a friends Sunday league team last week and his GK was in pink and the opposition was in red!
In 2010-11, Arsenal had four different goalkeeper shirts, one pink, and that was used more with the red shirt than with the yellow. John had a feature on these four kits at the time
I came across this today (while actually researching colour-clashes in rugby!), interesting to read it at a remove of 18 years: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/clash-of-many-colours-1574505.html
Law 4 states “The goalkeeper must wear a jersey with colours that distinguish him from the other players, the referee and the assistant referees” So shorts and socks can bee the same as team mates or technically the opposition.
If both keepers have the same colour jersey, and no alternative can be found the referee shall allow play to start.
190. – “A lot of people have lucky colours. For example, Arsenal have always been lucky in yellow,” Jim Pearson, of Nike, said.
Not just in yellow Jimbo, they’ve always just been lucky!
Interesting – Fulham and West Brom are wearing almost identical adidas shorts! That’ll get a few kit people frothing no doubt!
Also nice to see Cardiff City are in their proper colour today, even if it is all blue with red trim.
Also hold that back page – Bayern Munich in wearing their away kit at home shocker!!!
Any reason given for that, Jon?
Interesting to see Man City’s white socks allowed away to Stoke, who have hoops this year. I recall in 1994-95 that Tottenham Hotspur had to wear navy socks at Highbury when Nike had given Arsenal hooped socks
Jon/Denis,
No specific reason for Bayern wearing the away kit at home, but it was announced that that would be the case when it was unveiled. Possibly because it has such close ties to Bavaria, but it was planned. It certainly has nothing to do with Hannover’s kits as their home is red/black/red, away (which was worn) is green/white/white, and third is all white.
Is Oktoberfest on now? It would make sense if that were the reason
seems as if a little something from Umbro is still living on at Man City – tonight they wore the white third kit with the Umbro serif numbers (a font called “Prestige 12” for you graphic designers out there!) that they had used in cup matches for the last few seasons.
Good spot, Jon – I think maybe a jacket design or two also crossed the fence?
Goalkeeper/ref clash at the Emirates on Saturday: http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-v-stoke-city-matchday-strips?
Back in my day foreign goalkeepers wore black and always clashed with the ref.
Goalkeepers for ‘crack’ European outfits, was it Jon?!
oh no doubt about it, every European team, particularly from the Eastern Bloc, were described as a “crack outfit” 🙂
I see Celtic are doing their best Norwich City impression at AC Milan tonight, despite the fact the Rossoneri have no green or white in the shirt at all. Oh it’s the shorts!!!
Looks fine to me, but that’s because it conforms to my ‘Kits are okay if they resemble how they did in 1990-91’ test!
Dennis (197),
Oktoberfest starts in a few weeks time; despite the marketing saying it was ‘inspired by’ the Oktoberfest, they’ve also been stressing the Bavarian tradition – then again Bayern always unveil new kits a bit early these days (witness the new home kit being worn for the last few matches last season).
Re. GK shirts – watched Man Utd/Leverkusen the other night, and I know things are getting REALLY silly, when even the ref has to wear change socks! though curiously, if they were worried about the black clashing with Bayer, then I don’t understand why they didn’t change their shorts too…If Man Utd was the problem, didn’t anyone tell the refs that they wear white socks in Europe? oh, I GIVE UP!!!
Jon (203),
Milan have a tiny bit of green trim in their strip; perhaps under new regulations, that constituted a clash…?
Martyn let me stop you right there, no officials have had to change socks. This years kit has socks that match the shirt colour not the shorts. Check pictures of the othe CL games.
No surprise that Celtic wore yellow last night, still much better than in 2007 when they played in the San Siro v Milan, where they wore a dark green kit, which clashed much more than the home shirt would have due to the dominant black in the Milan kit of the time and the green being so dark, and if I remember right Celtic used special away change socks in that game which were identical to the home socks of the time with the Nike swoosh in dark green instead of emerald, common sense should have dictated that Celtic would have worn their white ‘European kit’ with green shorts
interesting that the Millwall Keeper David Forde wore an all black kit today at Charlton while the Millwall team wore all navy – is that a clash or what?
The Football League is very bad for ones like that, john.
Sock-clash in La Liga now, Valencia in white against Sevilla, whose sets have a bit of red at the front but are mainly white.
Swindon and Chelsea – both sponsored by Samsung – playing tonight, though Swindon goalkeeper has FIFA14
Spurs wore their cup kit at Villa, but with Premier League font and numbers on the backs.
I would have thought that competition rules would have prevented team mates from wearing different sponsors from one another with the Swindon keeper wearing the FIFA 14 sponsorship, I always presumed that teams who had different home and away sponsors would have had GK kits produced with both sponsors?
Also regarding sock clashes am I being too pernickety by thinking the Hull v Huddersfield game came into this category? with Hull wearing black and amber hoops (black definitely predominant colour) and Huddersfield in black with white trim
What about Birmingham wearing their home Blue shirts/white shorts v Swansea’s Purple shirts/Yellow shorts – another crazy clash
Just seen it on SSN John and came on here straightaway!
Brum have the ‘penguin’ style this season so understandable that Swansea would have to change but amazed they didn’t have a third or even last year’s away
As Birmingham’s shirt is predominantly Blue I would have been happier for Swansea to wear white if they had to wear one of their kits. Personally I’d have made them wear Birmingham’s Yellow away shirts. It was more riduclous that they wore the purple socks, when you consider they changed to white v Tottenham earlier in the season.
I wasn’t all that happy with Watford v Norwich, as both teams had black sleeves, how can the officials correctly judge a contested handball with any certainty?
Have to agree that Swansea wearing purple was crazy, the red away from last season should have been given another outing, quite right too as it was a cracking kit as well
I don’t see fuss about Watford v Norwich, sleeve clashes aren’t much of an issue that would be like saying Arsenal or Hibs can’t wear green or red against a team wearing white
What I did find strange last night was Falkirk wearing white v Aberdeen at home, can only assume it was for promotional/ commercial reasons as there are no parts of the Falkirk kit that is red, even the first choice socks this year are white (which they wore last night) instead of red which was used last year
Again noticed some kit inconsistencies in Scotland as at the weekend Motherwell used their black away shirt with white home shorts and change white socks, as Dundee United have black shorts and socks, last night they played Livingston in the cup, they wore all black despite Livingston wearing black shorts, so apparently back shorts only clash when work with black socks
I think this whole thread is getting rather pedantic now…FIFA/UEFA might be muddying the waters with their rediculous ‘no clash, not even the shorts with the opposition shirts’ policy, but really? I started watching football in the mid 90’s, when sock clashes were not always an issue, because the clubs/officials recognised the law of common sense above all else. IE white and yellow is most certainly not a clash, sky blue and navy is not a clash…back then, GK kits were always so garish that only two were needed on a given season (I remember Schmeichel almost always wearing green because it was a ‘lucky’ colour for him, similarly Barthez with black). If clubs are going to be issued with three or even four GK kits per season, the chances of clashing with the refs/opposition outfield goes up exponentially.
Ajax have played Barcelona and Milan in the Champions League this season and first-choice shirts have been worn in both games, with Milan wearing black shorts last night.
This is good to see, it shows that common sense can sometimes be applied.
Be interesting to see what Ajax will wear in Milan though as Ajax’s away kit is black and they usually do not put different colour short’s with the home shirt.
Good point Scott, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Milan in black shorts again
retro kits feature on the Guardian site today.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/gallery/2013/oct/03/retro-football-shirts-guardian-witness-assignment-gallery
In the European Super League from Moscow we have Anzhi in all yellow v Tottenham in all white. That’s frequently considered a clash these days in international football. (With some exceptions I know)
And not a little ironic, given how Spurs needed little excuse to wear their third kit last season
Everton in all-blue at City now. No real clash to be fair, though you’d think they’d have taken advantage of the opportunity to use the yellow and blue away kit.
I didn’t get Newcastle changing to their navy away kit at Cardiff. The only element that clashed was the shorts (not an issue) but the navy ones they wore we’re just as much of a clash.
Aggree with the above post. Seemingly unnecessary change for Chelsea today. White instead of blue against Norwich’s Yellow/Green. Cech in goal was (imho) a little bit of a clash.
Socks!!!!
I am trying to work out the socks Man Utd wore at Sunderland. I know they where white but its the colour of the band, was it black (home change socks) or blue. If it was blue then Utd have a different set of white socks for each kit and will have worn 5 different sets of socks already this season (navy blue and Black being the others)
As far as I’m aware, the stripe was black (matching the black used on the gingham pattern on the shirt), with the same socks being used as home and away alternative sets.
Surely nothing will match 09-10 for sock-based frivolity from United – two blacks and three whites.
Australia in all yellow v France in all navy last night. Another example of the over zealous FIFA policy IN A FRIENDLY.
Australia actually wore gold-green-gold last night.
However one thing I have noticed from some leak from an adidas photo/video shoot is Argentina’s home kit with WHITE shorts and Spain in an all-red kit…….. if that is what the kits are going to be then that is really taking the proverbial. For me Spain have always had blue shorts, whether it be royal blue or navy blue, and Argentina always had black shorts (save for the Reebok era of navy shorts – but never first choice of white shorts). What next, Germany in all-white?
Though the new adidas Mexico kit does, thankfully, retain the green-white-red tricolour…… though whether FIFA and their truly pathetic policy (right up there with sock tape colours – don’t get me started!!!) will force them to wear all-green or that horrible green-red-red combo as seen in the Confederations Cup remains to be seen.
Think I might sell my HD television set and buy a 14″ black and white box to watch football on.
I stand corrected Jon. I had seen a quick sort of birds-eye view of Giroud’s chip goal and for some reason i though the Aussies were in all yellow.
I’m doing a Spurs podcast on Weds and we’re talking kits, best/worst Spurs ones and worst kit since the Prem began. I’m not a fan of either the Liverpool away or third kits from this season but rank Newcastle’s 97/98 Blue, Green & Orange away kit as the worst, what do you guys think?
That Newcastle one was a shocker, others I’d consider would be Manchester City’s silver away from 01-02, Arsenal 92-93 away and Chelsea 94-06 away (obviously, almost passé to include those now) and Liverpool’s 04-05 away.
I think Spurs’ best kit was 08-09 or 11-12, worst I’d be picking from 93-94 third (90s excess), 97-98 away (shorts), 05-06 away (not a bad design but not Spurs) or 06-07 third (brown).
As a set, i thought the 04-05 kits were magnificent
Denis have you heard that Arsenal will wear yellow in all remaining away games in the PL this season except for Norwich and Spurs
No, I hadn’t but it wouldn’t surprise me, well apart from Chelsea maybe! A Nike edict or a club decision?
Not sure, read it on Facebook, a ‘mate’ who is a rabid Gooner said so.
Sunderland changed from black to red socks at Swansea yesterday. Even though it looked far better there was absolutely no need for the change as there wasn’t a clash.
Am I the only one excited about whether or not Arsenal may wear change away shorts at Palace next week?
All yellow will look good if that’s what they go for, i do sometimes wonder if Nike have ever manufactured red shorts for arsenal and they have just never seen the light of day, as obviously there have been plenty of occasions where teams have had change items produced (even full kits) that have never been used on the pitch
Talking of change items, am I right in thinking that the shorts Man Utd wore against Sunderland the other week were identical to the home shorts bar the colour of the badge? If so I think that’s completely ridiculous, however Man Utd are no stranger to that sort of thing when they had the chevron kits the had 2 identical pairs of white shorts and socks except on set and a red stripe and the other had a blue stripe
Keeping on the topic of Man Utd I see that with Fellaini’s move that they definitely stopped providing regular long sleeve tops to their first team players, sad to see as I bag fan of the long sleeved shirts as more and more teams seem to be only providing short sleeves with compression shirts underneath, I was happy to see that bucking the trend are my team Hibs who hadn’t issued a regular long sleeved shirt to a player (and continuing to sell them as a replica) since season 08-09! have this season started to let players wear long sleeve shirts so maybe the death of the long sleeve isn’t quite so imminent!
What was also strange about Hibs not using the long sleeve shirts for players was that the kit room were definitely still taking delivery from the supplier of the long sleeve shirts and just choosing not to use them which I find really bizarre and wonder if Man Utd and others have stacks of long sleeve shirts at the dark end of the kit room!
David, Arsenal had change versions of the 08-09 away shorts and socks which were never worn, there are examples for sale on http://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk.
United in 09-10 were even worse than you describe, as they had a third set of white socks from the third (08-09 away) and also two sets of black shorts and socks, only differing in terms of red/blue trim.
David I too only get long sleeved shirt’s. I get Ipswich and Celtic shirt’s. I got annoyed that Celtic did not sell the white anniversary shirt last season in long sleeves. I have since got a player issue shirt so I am happy to have that shirt. Ipswich this season are only selling the white sleeved home shirt with long sleeves so at the moment I have not got the red and black away shirt. I am hoping that the Ipswich players have been issued with long sleeved away shirts and with Ipswich likely to be leaving mitre at the end of this season be able to get one. David McGoldrick became the first Ipswich player to wear a long sleeved shirt on Saturday, which pleased me as most Town player’s have worn the lycra shirt’s under the shirt. Did anyone else see Barcelona away at Osasuna ?. They wore the red and yellow away shirt and what looked like last season’s yellow short’s. They also wore plain yellow sock’s with a red nike tick , though it appeared the sock’s had the red/yellow stripes on the back of the sock at the top.
David, something along these lines perhaps http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/arsenal-away-2010.jpg
Had a look at Barcelona v Osasuna, looks like they shorts are different I last seasons as there was only a blue stripe down the side, last seasons on had red and blue
Talking of Barca, I see that the players who wear compression shirts are given blue, when the long sleeves end in red from elbow down, is it not UEFA rules that under garments should continue in the same colour that the sleeve would be below the elbow ie red?
That’s one of Jay29ers’ hobby-horses David!
Ha. Denis gave me a heads up on this one. Messi on the cover of FIFA wears a blue baselayer and I assumed it was just EA using a photoshopped image from last season – which it probably was – but it seems Barça/Nike have got it wrong themselves.
It probably looks better that way actually – do you know if they’ve done the same with the Away, because I’m sure that would.
The undershirt should be the predominant colour of the sleeve, not the cuff.
The only time there can be a choice is if there are stripes or hoops of equal width, and if that is the case all players (that wear them) should wear a matching colour.
But Andrew, David and Jay’s point is that the rules state the undershirt should match the appearance of the regular long-sleeved shirt.
The Barcelona kit in long-sleeved format has the blue-changing-into-red effect with the red continuing to the cuff.
Nasty (IMHO) mixture of kits for Schalke at home to Chelsea today in the U19 CL. White away shirt with home shorts sporting a lighter blue trim plus unknown white socks, all bearing in mind the senior team have a specific home CL kit in green and black or they could have worn their blue/ white kit and forced Chelsea in to their third kit. Just don’t get it! It’ll be interesting to see if the senior team do the same thing in a few hours.
http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/3506027/title/uefa-youth-league-report-schalke-0-chelsea-2
Was there not a regulation ‘anomalie’ in reference to Nike GK kits last season, and an example would have been Szczesny for Arsenal, he had a green shirt with dark green sleeves above the elbow which the long sleeve version had lime green under the elbow however he wore a dark green compression shirt
I think the Barca shirt does look better with blue below the elbow which is hard to say as a dedicated long sleeve shirt fan!
Yeah that’s correct re Szczesny, David
David, it would have been easy to have made the gradient cuff one that, er, recedes again on the long-sleeve shirt so then, like Arsenal and Everton shirts, the s/s shirt and baselayer combination would more or less resemble the l/s version.
I’m trying to get my head around those Barça Away change shorts and socks. I understand why they’re the way they are – as an alternative to the standard Away versions as well as following the logic of that kit – though I suppose you could argue the Swoosh and “Barça” legend on the socks should be blue.
That kit looks so much better with the change items and the long-sleeved shirt would be much nicer with yellow long sleeves and/or yellow baselayers – I don’t think anyone wore a baselayer in the Osasuna game did they?
Why did they change socks at the weekend and not tonight?
A very strange fake http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vtg-Adidas-Arsenal-FC-England-Soccer-Jersey-Football-shirt-70s-80S-Wright-Quinn-/300944899989?pt=US_Soccer_Fan_Shop&hash=item4611b6bf95
I dunno, Denis, but I want all of this season’s Barça socks, including the change ones.
I always wonder why the big clubs such as Barcelona and Man Utd etc don’t make replica versions of change items, even as ‘limited editions’ as people would buy them!
Man U have often sold home change shorts, haven’t they?
They have the home ones but not away change items which is what I meant to write!
Then again if clubs brought out every change piece of kit the media would have a field day of fans being fleeced and would also give clubs more of a moral obligation to wear every piece of kit produced if it were being sold
And more to the point what would us kit geeks have to be excited about if we didn’t find unused and rarely used bits of kit :p
I’m at League of Ireland game now, Cork City v St Patrick’s Athletic.
It’s typical end-of-season fare, so the most notable thing is that the two goalkeepers are wearing identical shirts, basically the same as this http://www.sportsfile.com/id/636574/
Oh and I was wondering if Arsenal might avoid a shorts clash tomorrow – they won’t but they will be avoiding a socks clash: http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/c.-palace-v-arsenal-matchday-strips
The stockings of the Eagles are mostly blue with a bit of red and yellow trim, so the Gunners really should change to mostly yellow stockings.
On the subject of Palace shirts, Im I the only one who thinks that Palace should revert to white shirts with a red and blue sash, for the reasons that its instantly recognisable as Palace and is a great look? Im not a fan of the current psuedo-Barcelona look they are sporting this season.
In other news, the first shots of the new puma kits for the world cup have been released, and most of them look wonderful. The home kits for Uruguay, Ghana and Ivory Coast look awesome, and the change for Italy is not bad looking too.
Woolwich wearing unbranded white socks for the big South London Derby
…..”It’s just like watching Brazil!!”
So Andrew are Arsenal the probably the only team ever to have won a North London and South London derby the same season 😉
That would be every season David……
Watching NUFC v Sunderland. This is a prime example of where there probably isnt a clash on paper but side by side on pitch ther certainly is!
Southampton v Fulham yesterday.
Both Goalkeepers in IDENTICAL Lime Green Adidas kits.
Spiderbait – where have you seen images?
Have to agree Mark. Although at least there was no sunshine to make matters worse.
Similar incident with Bolton in 2012 aswell IIRC.
I saw the images of the new Puma WC shirts at Todosobrecamisetas.blogspot.com. Puma has come up with some great designs for Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory Coast, and they are using 3 or so different templates for the kits, so there is quite a bit of variety, in contrast to nike, who look to be using just one.
On Palace shirts, Im I alone in thinking that the white shirt with a red and blue sash should be the first choice for the Eagles?
Regarding keepers wearing identical kits, why does anyone have an issue with it? How often are they stood together to creat a problem? I don;’t even have an issue with the clashing with the Officials.
What if a keeper entered the oppositions goal in the last minute of a game and something controversial happened.
Different shirts would be an absolute must for me in the event of situations like that Andrew.
I’ve no problem with it at all Andrew, I still think that all keepers should be in green with yellow as the second choice.
Ciaran, has it ever caused a problem, in any game, ever?
Like Denis said, if only keepers wore green, as they did for many, many years and there was never an issue!
You’ve got me there Andrew!
Although you could have an incident like one I mentioned above sometime in the future.
It’d be like Fr Ted when he claimed no one would ever need a pair of joke arms under any circumstances!
Wearing Green isnt a bad idea but the executives at Adidas, Puma, Under Armour etc might not see it that way.
Speaking of goalkeeper shirts: I forget if it was here, but recently I saw someone (probably Jay) comment on a variation in Manchester City’s goalkeeper shirts this season, with the white stripe changing position.
As you can see here by clicking on one of the thumbnails, the yellow stripe on the Arsenal GK shirt should be near the cuff http://arsenaldirect.arsenal.com/home-goalkeeper-kit/adult-201314-home-goalkeeper-shirt/invt/542831b but before tonight’s game the Sky Sports graphic showing the teams had Szczesny in one with the stripe near the collar
These pics show the City variations:
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/oscar-of-chelsea-scores-a-goal-against-richard-wright-of-news-photo/169389506
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/manchester-citys-english-goalkeeper-joe-hart-clears-from-news-photo/183151395
This stuff never ends does it? How random.
O’Neills-esque!
Usually it can be explained when it comes to Nike. Very confusing.
Whilst we’re on GK shirts, I was surprised to see Norwich’s John Ruddy in a green jersey at Eastlands, what with his teammates having green sleeved shirts.
Probably due to my experience of Gaelic games, I always like when a GK shirt complements the outfield one, as Ruddy’s did, though I do understand your sleeve concerns as a referee Andrew.
Also, did anyone notice that Lee Cattermole seemed to be wearing a shirt a size or two too big? It looked very baggy on him.
The abiding thing I notice about lee Cattermole is his shirt tucked in and shorts pulled up to the armpits look he goes for!
Seen a teaser for the new Scotland Adidas shirt today, cannot wait for its unveiling, I think Adidas have do far done a brilliant job with Scotland so far and hope it continues, I’d definitely rate the current (outgoing) Scotland home top to be the best we’ve had since the 94-96 Umbro tartan one
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BYQ0jhSCUAAQ7JV.png:large
Mock-up of new Germany shirt. Is FIFA/UEFA’s four-colour rule still in place? This surely contravenes it if so
I s’pose their argument would be that it’s tonal/gradient, and watermarks are technically a combination of various shades of the same colour too. And are white and black colours or neutral? I would guess they would have to be classed as colours, in which case this is surely an issue? http://goo.gl/tpuiV2
Actually, re the Germany shirt, it’s not shown in that mockup but I believe there’s silver on there too. So even if we ignore the different tones of red, they could be exceeding the four colours.
Looks like Germany in all-white will become a thing http://www.footyheadlines.com/2013/05/germany-1314-2013-2014-world-cup-home.html
The world’s gone mad! If Brazil are made to play in all yellow there will be anarchy in South America!
I may actually boycott the World Cup in protest. I’m not even joking
I fully expect Brazil to be an exception. In fact, are their yellow shirts considered “light”? In which case, could their shorts be lightened so they are considered to be wearing a “light” kit? That would mean some good coming out of all this.
Denis I couldn’t agree more, FIFA trying to sap any soul left in the World Cup
I like the Wales and Northern Ireland kits adidas have revealed today. Can’t think why Wales have gone for all red though? FIFA only made teams who’d actually qualified for tournaments wear one colour kits!
@278 Re: Stripe on the GK shirts…
One is S/S one is L/S… is that why?
I should have said, Matthew, the Sky Sports graphic with Szczesny had him in an LS shirt and the stripe near the neck.
Tonight, we almost witnessed something big which would have set Jay off, but alas it was a near miss:
Jakub Blaszczykowski started for Dortmund wearing a yellow baselayer http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/arsenals-spanish-midfielder-mikel-arteta-and-dortmunds-news-photo/187132204 but he had gone off by the time Julian Schieber came on wearing long sleeves http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/dortmunds-midfielder-nuri-sahin-reacts-after-the-uefa-news-photo/187147079
Utterly ridiculous the yellow base layer, does common sense ever apply?!
I think their Bundesliga kit has yellow sleeves and that’s why the players have a yellow BL?
That’s right they would wear yellow ones in the BL but isn’t their away kit black? So is imagine they’d have a set of black ones kicking about anyway?!
Jakub Blaszczykowski was wrong to wear a yellow undershirt, he should have worn black. “if undergarments are worn, the colour of the sleeve must be the same main colour as the sleeve of the jersey”
Yeah that’s the point I was making.
Also, the officials in the Man U, Arsenal and Chelsea games all had black shirts and shorts, but in the United and Chelsea matches they had yellow socks and black in Arsenal Dortmund.
I know you said above that sock-clashes were not being taken into consideration, but surely it must be the case?
Yes Den that appears to be the case, United were in white I assume as this is Europe we’re taliking about?
Sociedad had white shorts and socks so United had black
Going back to the World Cup shorts thing, Colombia have launched their kit, which was semi-traditionally yellow shirt, blue shorts and red socks and is now yellow shirt, white shorts and white socks (with yellow and blue top half). This leads me to believe that my theory on Brazil is correct – that they will be wearing the very light shade of blue shorts that we associate with the teams from their first three World Cup wins (albeit possibly due to poor photography development/reproduction techniques).
The GAA strikes again https://twitter.com/Denis_Hurley/status/399533701635129344/photo/1
That’s just ridiculous Denis, even by GAA standards. Who is the home team St Colums or Mitchelstown?
It was a final so both would have been expected to change
Germany kit with white shorts confirmed. Four horsemen just rode past my window.
You must have walked out in disgust when you saw it Den. Nemo Rangers and Douglas under lights back in September was bad aswell.
German kit isnt great.Surprising at its nearly always been nice in the past.
Impressed with the new Scotland and Japan kits.
If the chevron on the Germany kit was black/red/gold with black shorts I’d love it
Hitler’s not happy either https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoeA3zDD3Gs
Totally and utterly disgusted with Germany, can’t believe they have sold their soul to FIFA’s one colour policy, what a disappointment this World Cup will be with just solitary colours, hopefully this is a brain wave of Blatter and will disappear when he eventually goes
On a positive note, I LOVE the new Scotland kit, the blue shorts work a treat with the red socks, like they did in Croatia, in 2 years time if like to see white shorts return but for a one off I love it!
Sweden and Brazil can have Blue shorts as they are a light shade of Blue.
By that rational Engalnd can have the blue shorts they wore in the Umbro 2010/11 kit.
Whoever at FIFA came up with this contrast rule needs to be shot.
The new Scotland kit is great – Apart from the one colour crest, quite often monotone crests rob a crest of some meaning, and considering the colours on the Scotland crest have quite a bit of meaning, it was a bad move.
“Brain wave of Blatter” is an oxymoron in my view, and Im totally against one colour kits in most cases. The new Spain shirt would work much better with navy or medium blue shorts, as would the Japan shirt with white ones.
@spiderbait A brain fart would be more like it
White shorts for Argentina also next summer.The regulars here will be raging!
http://www.footballshirtculture.com/14/15-kits/argentina-world-cup-2014-adidas-home-football-shirt.html
Its the most absurd kit ruling since some bright spark (also within FIFA) had that idea that striped kits had to have plain backs all so the number could be “more visible”.
I may as well watch next year’s World Cup on a 14″ black and white portable TV, make full use of the contrast. Ho hum!
P.S. Denis, that Downfall parody proper made me laugh, nice one! 😀
Thanks Jon, glad you liked it!
White-navy-white v red-white-navy at Wembley tonight, anybody have trouble distinguishing?
No problems there for me anyway.
Nice Chile shirt. Pehaps not as memorablle as the Reebok shirt of 1998.
2nd 2-0 win in a row at Wembley against England.
The previous one always reminds me of Marcelo Salas. Not sure why that jersey only had half the Reebok logo though, whereas Russia had the full one, maybe FIFA clamped down on the rules?
Something I noticed last night, by the way – Arsenal wore long sleeves at Old Trafford last week (after captain Thomas Vermaelen had decided on them) but Mathieu Flamini cut off his
Only realized that the kit worn against England in 1998 was different to the one worn in that years world cup.The one worn in wembley was a far better shirt really.
Youd associate Salas with that shirt becuase of that wonder goal I suspect.
Its noticeable how baggy Chile’s shirts were back then.
Staying with the international scene Nike must be worried about France now.
They will surely pull out all the stops to keep Man Utd if France dont make it to the World Cup next year.
I had no idea the England shirt of 1998 was different to the World Cup one, what was the difference?!
I do remember Scotland having the purple diamonds removed from the sleeves and shorts of the 1996 tartan kit for Euro 96
I’m finally getting round to watching last
weeks MotD, 2 issues regarding kits so far, firstly who do WBA wear the wrong colour of compression shirt, I should be white with home and red with away and the sleeves are plain other than the bat wing so it’s fairly obvious!
Also Hull have changed their red away socks v Southampton as they have red socks, but Hull changed to white socks which makes no real difference as the Southampton socks have white hoops and Hull DO have blue change socks for that kit as they wore them pre-season!
David, Ciaran meant that Chile changed their shirt for the World Cup.
The Daily Star on the sleeves issue, with quotes from “a source”: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/351217/Mathieu-Flamini-under-fire-for-Arsenal-shirt-gaffe
Ah! Helped if i read it properly!
And quite right Flamini got in bother for cutting sleeves off, it’s one of the good traditions and football and he should respect the club policy
The Hull issue was strange as they wore blue socks in Portugal in pre-season. The most annoying part was that they went out looking just like Chelsea.
What is the FIFA reasoning behind these one colour kits? In this day and age its ridiculous!
@ Davidr1986 (post number 326).
Tell you the truth Dave i think if the players want to wear short sleeves then they should have the choice. I realise its a tradition and all but to be honest im not sure the end to such a tradition would be so bad.
Personally i prefer short sleeve shirts while i respect many others would prefer long sleeve.
I see Argentina did wear a more traditional representation of their home kit in last night’s friendly against Bosnia.
Though I think Denis would have had a word or two to say about the kit clash.
When I saw your post Jon, I was ready to go off on one about ‘paper’ clashes, as I presumed that Bosnia had worn royal blue, which I wouldn’t have had a problem with.
What actually happened, well, let’s just say I wouldn’t consider it ideal
Denis is right, no clash due to the sensible, and correct use of their shorts and alternate socks. I bet come the World Cup it will mean use of untraditoinal change colours.
Andrew – I meant that I did think last night’s game (Bosnia in white shirts and Argentina in stripes) was a clash!
How is your Glaucoma Denis?
So you’d allow England v Argentina to go ahead without a change of shirt, bearing in mind Argentina have predominantly white sleeves, your pet hate?
I actually would say it’s ok, but a close one. Generally I think blue and white stripes v white shirt is ok (assuming no back panels) but Argentina’s blue is very light and Bosnia’s shirts had too much blue to not be controversial.
It’s very reminiscent of the Auxerre-Olympique de Marseille match from 2007-08, when l’OM took their Argentina-styled Away kit and ended up having to wear some brown and pink monstrosity of the home team.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eh8w3g0-QGo
Yep, too much blue on the England shirts, the shorts blue. I think England in all white – one of the plainer kits – may have just about been passable but, as I say, the Argentine blue is very, very light.
By the way, I was talking about Bosnia-Argentina, not England-Argentina.
I know you were, I was just putting an example out there of white v sky blue/white stripes. I had perhaps naively always assumed that everybody accepted that that was a clash.
This is the game from the other night – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9_dKdlgiy8 – maybe some might say it’s passable due to the black shorts and socks. I just feel that it’s too problematic on long shots.
Hmmm, yeah it’s not great. I think if the Bosnia numbers were in red, for example, it’d be better. My first reaction was it was equal to Uruguay v a team in white but when players came together it all got a bit light/dark/light/dark (with the darker blue Bosnian numbers combined with the Argentine shorts and socks) too.
Probably a clash, yeah, you’ve convinced me. The Argentine sleeves are a big problem.
New matchday suits for Arsenal – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/10463403/Arsenal-manager-Arsene-Wenger-reintroduces-club-suit.html – I heartily approve.
Like to see a team turn-up wearing a suit, Hibs done it during the Mowbray years and signed a deal with Ted Baker only for John Collins to take over about a month later and he preferred track suits. Even to last years cup-final track suits were used which I found particularly disappointing
Mirror article on monochrome kits http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/fifa-new-world-cup-kits-2816201
Very, very, very good article. What he seems to allude to – though isn’t explicit about – is that the over-25s don’t matter a jot. We don’t buy shirts anymore, we’re getting disillusioned with the sport through ageing as much as anything else and, in football marketing terms, we’re dying out. The target markets don’t feel as strongly about one-colour kits so there’s nothing to lose.
In my game today, only 4 of the away side had matching shirts. Navy & White hoops, 3 wore England shirts, 2 white t-shirts and one in the white Woolwich third shirt from 09/10. Imagine my surprise, when making a double substitution, both subs already had the proper shirts on under their tracksuit tops!
That must have made you ‘six’ to your stomach, Andrew, though I don’t think the Laws of the Game actually specify that shirts should be the same, rather than teams can be distinguished?
Also, can you elaborate on your opinion that Argentina and Serbia wasn’t a clash even though both had white sleeves?
Denis, I would say the Serbia Argentina game was OK for the same reason Spurs & Arsenal have played 170 odd times without an issue.
You are right about the distinguishable shirts but it doesn’t bode well for the game if they are such a disorganised rabble that don’t have full kit 3 months into the season.
I have to say that I’m shocked that you don’t consider sky blue and white to be a clash.
When I saw it (on an HD feed) I was amazed how dark a shade of sky blur the Argentina shirt was.
Been taking a look over old world cups on Historical Football Kits. This dark versus light has been around a while but I did come across some anomalies. In Group F. Egypt had a dark green and dark red Kit. Forcing other countries to always wear white (Holland and Ireland). They even wore an away kit when not necessary. I don’t know if the red or green was home. WHY?
Argentina Romania was both lights (light blue/white stripes v blue) as was Soviet Union v Cameroon (white v yellow) yet Cameroon wore green v Argentina and Romania wore red v Soviet Union.
And of course we shouldn’t forget the most baffling change of all-time – England v France in 1982
Sorres Dennis that wasn’t even France’s most baffling change of all time. France v Hungary 10 June 1978, when both teams changed, to white!
I’m aware of that, but both changed on the understanding that there was a clash.
England-France was white v dark and changed to dark v white.
USA v Czech Republic in 2006 was another example of this.
Someone should tell FIFA that black and white TV’s are only still used in about 1% of the world population. Absolutely no need for this dark vs light nonsense.
This isn’t NBA,
Agreed, Jon. Spain and Italy both wore home kits in their two Euro 2012 games and the world failed to implode.
Flamini cut his sleeves again tonight, incidentally.
I see Arsene Wenger said he was not
Happy about Flamini doing it again
I’m also at a loss as to why Chelsea wore away specific socks last night? Surely the home socks would have been sufficient as the they are white and blue and the alternate away socks are white and blue whith a touch of red being the difference!
Good on Wenger – so Flamini should wear long-sleeves like the rest of them. I’m not even an Arsenal fan, but while the tradition might seem quaint or strange to some I think it one worth having, and as such all players should adhere to it.
If they’re that fussed about tradition they can go back to Woolwich where they belong!
Don’t see the problem with one colour strips. As a follower of German football, the side played in all white for several years in the early days anyway. But that aside, the away shirt will apparently have black shorts – the trick being that when there is no clash (in FIFA’s eyes) the teams will revert to their ‘traditional’ colours. So therefore, expect Spain’s away when unveiled to be all dark blue/navy; Argentina to be all navy/black, and so on. It might annoy the purists, but what I’m saying is at least wait for Brazil 2014 itself before you all start throwing your arms up in protest – after all, it has been the norm for several years now for new strips/strip combinations to be unveiled in friendlies. And even if Germany do end up wearing all white, IMO the strip is a thing of beauty anyway.
I think I seem to be the only person who really doesn’t like the new German shirt!
Maybe I’m just prejudiced against it because I just don’t like the colour red, seen the new Argentina shirt in the flesh for the first time, now that is a thing of beauty…..just a shame about the first choice colour of shorts
Also while I was waiting at Birmingham International departures I saw the Aston Villa away shirt in the flesh for the first time and I think by far that’s my favourite of the season, the colours are excellent and the design great, unfortunately I was there 2 days before payday as if it had been after I might have had to have it!
I don’t like the German shirt either David
Whilst I preferred the two strips that preceded it, I love the new Germany strip, although like many I think it would look better with the traditional black shorts. I love the way it seems to reference past designs yet still seems fresh.
Martyn, I believe the new Mexico and Germany strips have answered some my criticisms from my past posts! I’m a big, big fan of both, in particular the way they marry adidas design hallmarks (ie. the three stripes) with innovative and tasteful designs. Fantastic!
On the other hand, that ‘Oktoberfest’-themed Bayern away…
Did anyone notice Brad Friedel wearing a pair of Black cut offs (shorts) last night? All of the Spurs GK kits this season are all one colour so he should have been wearing Green shorts.
According to his twitter feed today, it is a UEFA directive that if a player wants to wear tights/leggings (it was minus 5 degrees and played on an artificial pitch) they must match the shorts, as they only had black leggings they had to improvise and make the shorts match!
Nick,
Like I said, we’ll have to see what happens next summer – the ‘one colour’ rule could cause problems with Nike teams, as a lot of them don’t seem prepared yet…so we might well get some bizarre combinations like the Confed Cup.
I personally would have preferred the Bayern away if it was paired with any other colour than brown…black would have worked. Prefer the third kit – stunning.
The third kit is stunning, isn’t it Martyn – love the colour scheme or alternating shades of blue, offset beautifully by the contrasting red trim of the three stripes. Superb.
I have something brilliant to say regarding the Bilbao-Barça game but TC’s blocking me again…
Ah, ok. I’ll try it in stages…
Yesterday, Bilbao beat Barcelona and Barça were wearing their Away kit. Several players wore yellow baselayers when the long-sleeved version of the shirt has red lower parts to the sleeves. However, as far as I’m aware, no one was wearing a long-sleeved version so the rule about matching that shouldn’t necessarily apply…
I was more bothered about Barça’s decision to wear their away kit to be honest, felt the home shirt may have been a better option against a shirt clash…….. or better still the rather under-used black third strip.
The problem with that, Jon, would be the dark shorts and socks of the Home and Third. I’ll try to continue…
Please do Jay, the suspense is killing me.
I agree with Jon btw, going from blue and red to yellow and red against red and white is pointless. Black/yellow/yellow the way to go.
I can’t. I keep on trying and it won’t let me. I hate this site. There, I’ve said it.
I don’t mean it.
If I write more than a couple of sentences it blocks me. I give up.
Jay, Sid Lowe in the Guardian might have explained the baselayer conundrum:
‘For the first time, they played in their away kit at San Mamés. Referee Juan Martínez Munuera saw a clash, so Barça played in yellow and red and in short sleeves – the red on the long sleeved version clashed too’
Hence the rare (first time?) sight of Pique sans long-sleeved shirt, likewise the first time we’ve seen Neymar wearing a baselayer instead of long-sleeves in a Barca strip.
I just found out you can drag and expand the comment box. If only you could comment, eh? I have so much more to say on the matter but it seems Sid Lowe’s word will be final. That’ll please Dr Lowe.
Incidentally, I wonder if the yellow socks we’ve seen previously are actually change socks from the black Third kit, as they follow that template.
Denis, you took the words right out of my mouth.
That comment was one of the ones Jay wanted to post, btw, as is the following:
I can’t post it either, but basically he wondered if there was an effort to increase the yellow and decrease the red
As for Nike, it seems that long-sleeved versions of their player-issued kit are thin on the ground as, barring Arsenal obviously, very seldom do players for Nike-supplied clubs wear them. I can only think of Lescott for City and a couple of Everton players.
As I think others have previously mentioned, the fact that Fellaini at United – himself previously a proud exponent of the long-sleeved shirt! – is wearing baselayers seems to indicate that the club no longer issues them for players. As does the absence in imagination in cuff designs etc for that club – I can only think that Nike’s focus now lies in marketing their baselayer range alongside replica kits.
Fear not, lovers of the long-sleeve, as they will never die out. Though I recall with not a little sadness the likes of Darren Anderton and Steve McManaman gripping the cuffs of theirs in distinctive fashion, a la Best, Law and Summerbee in the 60s.
At least Everton don’t look too bad this season when players wear long sleeves as the blue hoops are in the same place, last season it was a real mish-mash when some wore long sleeves and others had baselayers
We’re gonna see a few away kits used in Groups B, F, G & H
I wonder if it’ll be blue-white-blue v white-navy-white or all blue v all white when Italy and England meet, sadly I think it’ll be the latter
There is a piece in the new When Saturday Comes on the subject of one-colour kits
On the subject of clashing my clubs Hibs have been taking a strange approach, this season we do have green change shorts at our disposal when playing against teams with white shorts, but have chosen never to use them
However when playing teams with black/dark shorts and socks we have made our goalkeeper change from his black shorts to white, meaning that he looks fairly ridiculous in a dark purple GK shirt with white shorts and white socks
Why does 10 outfield players not clash shorts but 1 goalkeeper does?!
Another pet hate of mine in the modern age is dark GK shorts with light shorts, if the keeper has to change to white shorts and socks I’d rather he changed to the white GK shirt we have too
On the nike player long sleeves. Commons and Samaras of Celtic, 99% wear long sleeves with a few other Celtic players wear them. I think a few Inter Milan players have started wearing them as well.
Should have said 99% of the time.
I’m still quite surprised Celtic let their players wear conpression gear, I think it’s only in the last 3 maybe 4 seasons that any Celtic player has been allowed to wear long sleeved compression shirts with a short sleeved shirt
Out of interest are there any teams left who ban players from wearing long sleeved compression with short sleeved shirt other than Arsenal?
The closest I can think of is no Hearts player has worn a long sleeved compression shirt with a short sleeved shirt in the home kit, however they seem to permit players to do this with the away kit which is strange!
MAybe its as simple as Hearts not having the correct colour long sleeved compression shirts to go with the home kit, but white ones are easy to obtain?
I thought that initially but St Johnstone managed to source some for an away kit they had a few seasons back so finding maroon ones can’t be that difficult?!
Speaking of baselayers: Swansea-Hull on now and I noticed something.
Both team have the same sleeve design with black in the same place, but Swansea have white undershirts while Hull’s are black.
You would have thought adidas, with all their wealth and expertease, could make a baselayer, in the same colour/shade as the shirt itself?
Andrew, I think it was you who said you had heard that Arsenal would wear yellow in all away games bar Tottenham.
I’d certainly have expected it for Sunday as they’ve often done it at Man City, but looks like it won’t be the case:http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/man-city-v-arsenal-matchday-strips
Warm-ups pics in Naples seem to show white shorts and socks too, but do Napoli wear their normal home colours in the CL?
Napoli obviously looking to sell more units of the yellow kit…
I see Barça (well, Neymar at least) wore red baselayers tonight. Perhaps the Uefa rule is only being followed in Uefa competition?
Do we have any pics from a previous game of Pique wearing LS next to a team-mate with a blue BL?
Anyone see Torquay v Southend highlights? Surely Southend could have worn their first choice colours instead of their yellow and black stripes? In one way you can see the sense in Fifas mad policy
@392 Denis. I doubt Arsenal will wear yellow at Hull either. Red and white shouldn’t be a problem there tbh
Looks like Manchester United wearing third kit against Villa.
Cardiff have the best idea with their change kits. None of them are actually defined as second and third kits but picked to suit the opponents. If only they would revert back to royal blue, white and blue though and do their fans a favour.
Totally agree with David about Southend’s choice of kit yesterday. Bad enough having a predominantly black change strip when your home kit is navy anyway, but quite a ridiculous choice given that the only element of the home kit that clashed with Torquay’s strip was the socks (easy to sort out!).
I can’t understand teams who decide to wear a change kit for no reason and cause more of a clash than their home kit did. Peterborough did just that at Sunderland in the League cup earlier this season, and to my knowledge I recall them wearing yellow at Boston United in a League game about 7 years ago, which caused a shocking clash that wearing their home kit would have averted!
Not to mention this recent trend of teams wearing their away kits at home all the time. Bayern, Napoli, Lyon, and I’m also looking at you Cardiff!!
In 1989-90, Chelsea wore a mainly red away kit at Villa Park, presumably to avoid a sleeves and socks clash
@ Denis no 400. Arsenal also wore the red/white at Villa park in the premier league 2 seasons in a row in both 94/95 and 95/96. Presumably because they had the navy and teal away strip which probably clashed more and no designated shorts and socks for the yellow third (although they did wear this kit in the league cup in 96)
Oddly, Man U also wore red at Upton Park around this time David
Southend wearing their away kit was pointless but it looked fine on TV to me – Torquay’s away kit looks virtually white from a distance whereas Southend’s was much darker. Northampton’s kitman made a far worse decision to bring their lime green kit to Torquay last year when Torquay wore solid yellow – Torquay ended up having to change at HT despite being the home team.
Was interested to note given the rules about goalkeepers which occasionally get discussed here that in the Hanover-Nurnberg game both keepers were wearing yellow shirts and black shorts – which got a tad confusing when the Hanover keeper came up for a last minute free kick. The ref didn’t seem to mind though.
Chelsea wore blue socks at Sunderland tonight, not sure why.
Lucky Cup socks?
At the weekend I also noticed that Man Utd have tweaked their third kit, I thought it was just to be straightforward last years kit but on closer inspection they used this seasons change home shorts (makes sense) but new socks altogether, with using this seasons change home shorts I’d have expected them to either wear this seasons change home socks (white with 2 thin black hoops in middle) or at least last seasons away socks that were designed alongside shirt (white with thin red hoop on turnover), however the ones they used were white with black turnovers and a thin red hoop at bottom of turnover
So this season Man Utd have 2 pairs of white shorts, with only difference being colour of badge and 2 pairs of white socks with only real difference being colour of turnover, bit pointless if you ask me!
On saying that it’s nothing new for Man Utd, best example being the season with the chevron shirt where the had 2 pairs of white shorts, 2 pairs of black shorts, 2 pairs of white socks and 2 pairs of white socks and the only difference being that one set had a blue stripe/ chevron and the other a red stripe/ chevron.
Within reason I like a bit if mixing and matching between home and away kits rather than having often multiple kit elements that are identical bar one slight change of colour
Don’t forget that they had different white socks with their third kit that season too David!
Puma giving Arsenal a yellow and blue away again next season apparently, while the third will be blue and green
You’ve been reading the best blogger in football Denis..
Every single day!
Can someone please explain to this confused football fan (and staunch kit traditionalist) why Arsenal don’t, as they evidently should, wear red socks to match their splendidly unique kit? Every time they turn out in those red numbers away from N7 the effect is much more pleasing on the eye.
Nick – I think it must be at the insistence of Arsene Wenger, given how ubiquitous the white socks have become. The 2011-12 kit was shown in launch pics to have red socks but there was never any announcement as to why it was then worn with a white pair
It is Wenger apparently. Must be a good omen thing because Monaco wear white socks and that’s where he started out. Ruud Gullit did a similar thing when he was (briefly) Newcastle manager – all of his clubs as player and manager wore white socks so he insisted that the Magpies changed theirs.
Ah yes, I do remember that Denis – as I said I think that kit (and in particular the one before it) looked much better with red socks.
Thanks Martyn, it’s interesting that, isn’t it? Perhaps it’s related to visibility? And yes, I do remember Gullit doing that! Sadly, the calibre of players at his disposal was somewhat short of what he was used to – and let’s not bring up his managerial record at St James’s!
Interesting (and pointless!) combination worn by Man City today at Fulham, sky blue shirt, sky blue shorts and navy socks
Also definitely a fan of ‘proper’ red socks for Arsenal
I wonder what Denis made of Newcastle’s decision to wear their third strip at Crystal Palace today. In fact I think I can just about hear him a few hundred miles away going berserk about a clash of shorts! 😉
David, I agree. Why, having provided City with a pair of sky-blue change shorts, did they not do the same for the socks? Unless the referee deemed blue too close to Fulham’s white? And why were the shorts changed in the first place?
This City fan would like to see an all-blue look for matches when such changes are required.
On that Newcastle third shirt – in my view, it’s ugly. Puma are pretty underwhelming these days, I have to say.
I never mind seeing shorts clashes Jon, I’d always prefer to see Arsenal in home strip at places like Everton rather than change because of shorts.
Wearing a third kit when there’s no clash is just silly, however
Forgot to say that it was former contributor EricGeneric (where did he disappear to?) who hated shorts clashes
Being a fan of Scottish football short clashes don’t really bother me as often about 3/4 of the league wears white shorts without changing or when they do change it is when needless or creates a clash (Hibs have been very guilty of this in past 2/3 years!)
But it does annoy me when a needless clash is created, surely even black shorts could have been used if they wanted to insist on using the yellow shirt!
I also agree with previous poster about Puma they don’t really do it for me, they come out with occasional cracker like last seasons Newcastle home and Dortmund equivalent but on the whole all a bit meh in my opini
Are Recreativo Huelva the first team to use the 2014 adidas template with the stripes around the ends of the sleeves? http://i.imgur.com/28Inq5L.jpg
I’ve only seen that design in catalogues so they may well be!
Very Rangers 1994 in design! About time they brought it back, I know that Adidas have had to be a little more creative with their 3 stripes since 2008 but nice to see something totally different from stripes running from neck to elbow
Just need to get Adidas to issue a modern version of the ‘Equipment’ era that would be interesting!
Why are united in white? And de gea in pale yellow. Red has been fine in the past and there is a blue goalie kit!
Hulls shirt is horrible. The amber under the sleeve stripes doesn’t match tge rest of the kit!!
It’s fairly bad alright Stuart!
United have done that in the past too, quite odd really
No need for united to wear black shorts today. Any chance the kits were chisen due to the closeness of the two games??? No item worn in both matches. I know the team coach set off for Norwich at 10.00am on Friday as I saw it on the motorway.
Fulham wearing red at Hull yesterday despite there being no clash. Much good it did them mind you, getting tonked 6-0!
Serves them right!
Interesting theory re United Stuart, though surely they’d have more than one set?
Glazernomics…
Swansea goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel had to change his shirt against Manchester City today, but it was not until a few minutes into the game that anybody realised that navy clashed with black.
shades of Balotelli’s bib when Tremmel tried to put his orange jersey on.
but still, short-sightedness on Swansea’s kit man’s part, surely it was known Man City were going to wear black before the kick off?
Goalkeeper colours are indicated beforehand too (on the teamsheet at the very latest) I’m fairly sure, so fairly remiss of the officials.
Jon #426. Fulham interestingly quashed any fears that Hull v Arsenal might cause a kit dilemma. I would imagine it is the only away league fixture this season where Arsenal will be able to wear their first choice home kit?
Another thing i wondered is why isnt there reversible socks these times? Like Palace v Arsenal for example. If Arsenal had solid yellow on the reverse side of their stripey socks then we could have avoided having to get white socks. While they didnt look the worst with the kit it would have been just better to match up.
David, Arsenal wore their first-choice home away to Newcastle!
Liverpool and Manchester United change from red when they go to Hull but Fulham change into red when they go there. I can’t even begin to understand why……
Modern football is rubbish
#433 Denis your absolutely right of course they did
Leeds wearing gold at Rochdale despite there being no clash of shirts…….. but……… and a big BUT……… their goalkeeper wearing white!
Defies logic if I’m being honest!
Last year, they wore their light blue away with blue shorts at Millwall (who were in navy and white) and the keeper wore all-white that day too. Sheer madness.
I know it’s unrelated to recent posts, but does anyone know if the new, retro-flavoured France badge as featured on their rather lovely new home strip will be retained post-Brazil?
I very much hope so, as I loathe the modern version introduced a few years ago; it looked dated from the point of release – keep the old cockerel!
Not sure Nick, I do think the new strip is lovely though.
BTW, did anybody notice Cardiff’s strip at Newcastle in the cup on Saturday? They had to change shorts because of the clash and went with white rather than those dark red ones which had been initially mooted.
In addition, though, they wore white socks even though there was no requirement to do so.
Denis I wonder if OGS had an influence over that choice of kit.
I seem to recall he wore the same colours, with some success, one night in May 1999
An interesting theory, could well be the case
Cardiff did wear red-white-white in pre-season too, which raised a few eyebrows and comment from us northerners…… there’s only one Welsh club who wear that colour combination (and Swans fans noted it too in the derby!) 😉
I recall this was during the time when the original dark red shorts were rejected, so they asked their fans in a poll what colour the replacement shorts should be. I’m sure the poll had plenty of votes, must have been well into single figures! 😉
With regard to Cardiff muscling into another club’s territory, I was thinking that Swansea should have brought out a blue and white away!
ironically, Swansea’s away kit colour combination was used as an away kit by Cardiff before my time, in the early 70’s – purple shirts, yellow shorts, though it was a rather superfluous kit in all honesty!
BBC making out in their live text commentary that Man City v West Ham in the League Cup tonight is a colour clash. So, sky blue-white-white versus white-sky blue-sky blue? Not a clash for me, though quite why West Ham couldn’t wear their home kit I don’t really know!
The Hammers do of course have a black third shirt this season, not that we’d probably ever see it on active duty
I have been told by a West Ham supporting friend that the West Ham black shirt is only going to be worn at Sunderland.
Stranger still, as we often see West Ham and Villa wear home kits against Sunderland and Stoke
funny how West Ham are only going to wear the black shirt at Sunderland, and yet not at Stoke?
They really do deserve to go down.
Ah Denis, spoken like a true kit aficionado! I too have wished similar ill luck on other teams based on the arbitrary dislike of their kit; this season, Cardiff, due to THAT red kit and new badge.
Oh well that just goes without saying Nick, their should be continuous down through the divisions
Čech wearing the yellow kit with black sleeves at Hull again *rolls eyes*
Amazing West Ham hadnt even the cop on to either wear their home or the third midweek v City. They were basically wearing the reverse of the City kit. In instances such as this i can see the logic in the contrasting monochrome rule from FIFA.
Palace wearing their yellow third at Spurs today, despite neither the home or away clashing.
Also, I wonder if maybe Swansea might wear their home kit at Old Trafford today, despite using their away last week? The cup doesn’t appear to allow shorts clashes but the PL doesn’t really have a problem with it
you were right Denis…… though the Jacks probably wished they’d turned up in purple, they might have had a repeat of the cup result!
Personally I think Palace made the right kit choice. Blue shirts and socks with the home kit could have been an issue and Black shorts and socks from the away kit are a definite clash.
Did any anyone else questions Liverpool wearing White shorts and socks at Stoke yesterday?
White shorts odd but not a real issue, annoyingly at Hull they wore the away kit with black shorts which also created a shorts clash. I don’t think there’d have been any issue telling the teams’ socks apart.
I think short/sock clashes are more exacting depending on which country you’re talking about – in Germany for example it is strict but not OTT; Spain and Italy seem riddled with inconsistency; England they make up as they go along…in many ways I yearn for the mid 90’s when third kits were relatively rare and only required on a few occasions. I suspect that it is of course a money making exercise, and if the clubs / suppliers were a bit more sensible in anticipating clashes (ie. looking at the other teams in the league before selecting their kits), then we would have no inconsistency. To me it is still bonkers that Liverpool have a white and black away and NOT a yellow third – even with psychedelic graphics all over it it would still work I’m sure.
Martyn – I don’t think it’s something which is made up as they go along in England, rather that it’s not a rule but some teams change of their own accord.
Liverpool have not worn change shorts with their away or third this season despite having sets available – I feel that we could see them in all-white at Bournemouth in the cup though as that does seem to have stricter rules.
Arsenal v Fulham kits. Fulham wear their navy 3rd kit.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-v-fulham-matchday-strips
Denis,
Surely there must be some adhesion to rules and regs? If the FA have rules they should stick to them? Going back to the mid 90’s I can remember clubs being much more sensible with away shorts – obviously you would have situations eg. Arsenal, where they didn’t wear them, but the likes of Man Utd with their black change shorts, Everton with blue, Blackburn with blue, etc. , and sensible non clashing third strips, these situations were (mostly) avoided. My point was the FA and kit suppliers / clubs need to think things through a bit better. If the rumours are correct for Puma’s first year with the Gunners, the away is going to be the old faithful yellow but the third is (early 80’s Umbro-esque) green and navy…it’s OK but for me won’t cover EVERY clash – the shorts colour is the same, so what will Puma do? bring out YET MORE third/third and away/away shorts? it has gone mad recently IMO.
The third will be primarily navy so the shorts might actually be green.
When Arsenal have a yellow away I don’t think there’s any real need for a third (bar Blackpool or Lens, but we saw in 2010-11 that they think yellow works against Blackpool) and a blue third would solve those.
I don’t think the PL has ever had a rule about shorts clashes, I think there’s something in an Arsenal programme from 1992-93 on this subject
Thanks Denis,
didn’t realise there wasn’t a specific rule – always assumed that there was in England because short changes have been around since the 70’s – Leeds used to alternate different bits of their (h) all white (a) all yellow (t) all blue kits to make some different combinations (there is footage I believe of a game at Derby where they wore blue/yellow/blue).
This is however a very muddy area – in the Bundesliga it seems to be sensible, though their are anomalies – Bayern for one haven’t used away shorts for six or seven seasons, so usually change if they are playing a team in red shorts.
All we ask for as fans is a bit of consistency!
Blue with yellow shorts (and yellow socks) was actually Leeds’ first-choice away for a time! http://www.mightyleeds.co.uk/misc/kits.htm
Here is the Arsenal programme piece from 1992 on the issue (apologies for poor quality): https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/399x532q90/542/7e4x.jpg
Interesting, isn’t it? I think it does make sense to have it (though not to the Confederations Cup ie. FIFA level of pickiness), but where is the line drawn? I still think it is the responsibility of the FA to protect the fans by at least approving new kits – we would avoid the nonsense situations of teams playing in royal blue with navy away, and the fans would get a better sense of identity. While Liverpool’s home shirt has improved in Warrior year 2, the away and third selections are bonkers. If the FA said ‘OK, if the home colours are A and the away is B, then here is a selection of approved colours for the third’. I don’t particularly care about GK shirts, as I feel that the keepers have enough distinction regardless, but these ridiculous scenarios where clashes occur even though a PL team (and kit suppliers) know which teams they will play as early as mid May, need to be stopped. It’s not really been touched upon here, but it’s always irritated me when a team in coloured and white stripes then has a white away shirt (or an away shirt in the colour).
the Football League were pretty stringent on colour clashes during the late 80’s/early 90’s and to intents and purposes the regulations worked – teams would only wear their change strip if necessary, so for example seeing Norwich City playing in anything other than their usual yellow and green was extremely rare. Likewise, the Tyne & Wear and Sheffield derbies often resulted in one team wearing a change strip, unlike the inconsistencies of now.
I’m sure they would also veto change kits if they regarded them as being too similar to the home kit, I seem to recall an instance when Brighton & Hove Albion tried to register an Inter Milan-style away kit, but the Football League wouldn’t allow it because they thought it too similar to the home, despite the fact it was intended for use against teams wearing white.
As for Bundesliga I’ve noticed they’re pretty stringent on colour clashes too, but seen many occasions where teams have been wearing away kits at home. It’s happened in Italy too, and Cardiff City do it every home game (nudge wink) – what’s all that about?
Jon,
In the Bundesliga it’s usually done to unveil a new kit, but the DFB (German FA) allow Bayern/ 1860 to wear their special ‘Oktoberfest’ kits in and around the festival, because of the prestige.
This season, Leverkusen are ‘officially’ in all black at home, similarly Augsburg are supposed to be all green (despite all white being traditional)…They have however switched this season, seemingly without explanation. I think the difference is that whatever the reason for the change, it has to be OK’ed by the DFB. So Leverkusen have had some games in all red and Augsburg in all white. Similarly, Hannover 96’s shorts were red when unveiled (similar to Cardiff the strip was two tone red but unlike them it worked) and last season Wolfsburg switched half way through from green shorts to white.
Sorry, Hannover shorts now black.
http://www.wsc.co.uk/wsc-daily/1172-january-2014/11114-jarring-inconsistency-with-which-teams-change-kits
Nothing new here for any kit nerds, but hopefully I’m helping to bring it to the masses!
Have Liverpool had a rethink since the Stoke match?
http://www.arsenal.com/match/report/1314/gallery/reserves/u-21s-arsenal-2-4-liverpool-pictures
I think the kit looks even worse with purple shorts and socks, looks like a reconditioned shellsuit from the 90’s (excuse the pun) 😉
Agreed Jon but at least this way it avoids a shorts and socks clash. That whole third kit is a catastrophe if you ask me. Tje away not much better although at least its in traditional Liverpool away colours.
Why couldn’t Warrior have done an all yellow for the third kit? Plain, with red logos, trim and a V-neck collar, it would I’m sure be a huge seller. The only purple away in the PL worth anything this season IMO is the Villa away. Good job Macron.
Ironic that an underage Liverpool team would wear the third against Arsenal seeing as they wore in the away in the PL.
I think it’s equally bad whether shorts are purple or white tbf.
Liverpool haven’t had a yellow away kit in recent years because the last 2 yellow kits they had weren’t big sellers. The rumour is that they will have a yellow kit next season though.
Yellow is more traditional I think, but if sales figures are the issue, why not black? I believe the black and grey Reebok away was a popular one, and coupled with a PLAIN white (without the psychedelic garbage) would provide suitable distinction – white away shorts as an alternative could be swapped with the third pair when required, producing an opportunity for an all white/all black/mix and matched away/third. The problem is, I acknowledge, all to do with sales. Bayern had a gorgeous all navy kit in 08/10 that although I loved it, I understand it wasn’t as popular, so all the away kits since have been white. Similarly, the gold/graphite strip of 04/06 wasn’t popular so that particular cue hasn’t been used on an away or third since. Of course, in this day and age, owners/suppliers talk about ‘global brands’, in other words: “how many shirts can we sell in the far east/US etc.” Thus we have the Cardiff ‘lucky red’ situation (and of course red has never done Man Utd’s far east sales any harm). My argument is always this : why can’t a compromise be reached? perhaps the Cardiff fans would have accepted it better if it had been introduced as a third colour in the home. OK, the traditional colour has always been yellow as a trim with white, but red would surely satisfy both camps? even doing something like halves in red and blue? (after all, Werder Bremen introduced orange into their kits in the early 00’s as a reaction to years of mainly green and white kits, and it gave a new visual identity AND was popular with fans)
Watford wearing their away kit at Man City despite there not being a clash. Even more strangely Costel Pantilimon is wearing a yellow strip. Bizarre.
Interesting to see Rochdale are wearing their away kit at home against Sheffield Wednesday, who turned up in black. It’s like the old FA Cup rule on colour clashes had never gone away……. (I thought Wednesday retained the yellow kit from last season as a 3rd strip?)
Rochdale also wore their away strip at home to Bristol Rovers just after Christmas.
I think Watford wearing their away strip is purely due to shirt sales, and nothing else.
Looks like Swansea are having a red away kit next season.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25700900
Opening 20 seconds shows the back of the Adidas Condivo 14 shirt. Although the font looks strangely European so it could be the Europa League shirt.
What do you guys think?
Is that not the Welsh national shirt?!!
Whats the rule regarding shorts clashes in the FA cup? Liverpool wore a white pair to avoid a clash with Bournemouth’s black shorts, meanwhile Hull wore their home kit (with black shorts) away to Southend who wear an all navy kit. I see now that Fulham are wearing their all navy 3rd kit away to Sheff Utd who wear black shorts. Surely black and navy constitute a clash?
Davidr1986 is right, that is the Welsh national shirt.
Good spots john, I had just assumed that shorts clashes weren’t allowed in the cup but it seems they’re not as strict as I thought!
Unless my eyes deceived me Ashley Young is wearing long sleeves tonight against Cardiff.
Your eyes deceived you unfortunately Scott! http://cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/465647953-ashley-young-of-manchester-united-celebrates-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QeLsOYSg06hKf%2faSocOTVykcedAe6yn6xnmDRzIQUJBkCNbpMU8B0XQfqtx9e0AXN%2fTkM%2fLKqmUfcIgPaFngvrw%3d
only got a quick sighting on sky sports news.
It’s definitely not as clear-cut as normal baselayer usage.
West Ham changed shorts again tonight despite there being no need.
Baffling to see Sunderland and Stoke’s goalkeepers wearing identical kits tonight. Not sure about Stoke, but I know Sunderland also have one blue and one yellow keeper kit.
I think it’s much harder now to spot baselayer and long sleeve differences, I think it owes much to fact that sleeves on short sleeved shirts being much tighter and shorter than 6/7 years ago when baselayers started appearing widespread
True David, though oddly Everton do have rather baggy sleeves compared to others
#480 – Some clubs have an Home and Away sponsor… Huddersfield are another example – They had to make 2 Away shirts to ensure their sponsor was worn at all away matches
Do you mean two home shirts, Matthew, i.e. one to be worn at home and one away?
Interesting approach, similar to Nottingham Forest in 1992-93. Generally, they had Shipstones on the home and Labatt’s on the away, but when televised live they had Labatt’s on the home.
I remember Newcastle doing similar when they wore Asics kits between 1993-1995, they had the Newcastle Breweries logo on the home shirt for non-televised home matches, but wore shirts with McEwans Lager on the front for televised home games, and all away matches.
Seen it on numerous occasions in the lower divisions too.
Swansea wearing purple at Everton … discuss.
Totally daft if you ask me!
Don’t they have a yellow kit (Euro Only?) I’m sure the FA Cup does have a rule where Away kits have to be worn at all away games… Must be a new one though
It does look better on pitch than it did in the tunnel
#494
They have 2 “away” shirts, and never wear the blue/white stripes when not at home. It’s a good marketing ploy as it’ll mean they have to have 3 kits… and (if worked out) could mean they can have 3 different sponsors per season.
I think the 1st choice away is Black with a Yellow one to ensure the away sponsor is worn at all away matches
Have been doing a blog on situations like Everton-Swansea for the last couple of months….
http://www.kitclashes.wordpress.com
Feel free to share my concerns about clubs who cants help but create these avoidable clashes!
The Everton v Wexford….er sorry i mean the Everton v Swansea situation was certainly a head scratcher. Kits are not pragmatically motivated any more. They are money motivated.
Didn’t see Everton-Swansea but it sounds very bad, am amazed it was allowed!
Welcome also KC, I hadn’t heard of the blog before today but I’ll be a regular visitor, I love your turn of phrase!
Thanks a lot. I’m not sure how much mileage there is in it, mainly because you see the same teams making the same decisions a lot! Haven’t set up a twitter account for it yet, but maybe I should promote it on there. Not sure how many kitclash obsessives there are!
That’s because we’re an underground species with few safe houses such as this one!
a strange one at Bramall Lane as well, Nottingham Forest wearing their white third jersey (with blue trim) at Sheffield United with mis-matched red shorts and socks, when surely the dark grey away kit would have been a much better option?
That’s just bizarre in the extreme. Silly of Forest having blue trim rather than red anyway
I’d always hoped Forest would return to all yellow with blue trim.
It’d make sense, so that’s why we won’t see it!
Apparently, next season’s home is a throwback to the European Cup-winning style.
Have updated the blog with a couple more from last weekend.
http://www.kitclashes.wordpress.com/
Anyone know why West Brom wore navy socks at home to Fulham as opposed to the regular hooped ones?
Duly noted here too. Very strange, the hooped ones are much better.
What about Forest wearing red at Burnley!. Why didn’t they wear their new white and blue kit?.
@511…. We (Barnsley) had to change from our Home (RED/WHITE/RED) or away (SKY/SKY/SKY) into a third kit at Burnley – Can’t believe Forest were allowed…
Might be a bit of a ‘Marmite’ kit, but I love the new ‘Roseberry’ inspired Scotland away…I feel the criticism aimed at adidas is sometimes OTT, but the 2014 kits are really interesting and different (the ‘Flamengo’ Germany and black and gold Spain away’s are particular favourites). OK, their teamwear contracts are a little safe (apart from the chest flash as used on the Swansea away), but these new kits are stunning, especially when the Nike WC kits coming out are so pedestrian (Kappa did the ‘no contrasting trim’ thing seven or eight years ago!). If some of the leaked 14/15 kits are anything to go by (and of course, if they’re accurate) then adidas look to be entering a golden era of design.
I have to say I’m amazed at the almost-universal hate for the new Scotland away. If any colour other than pink were used, I feel there would be no outcry.
Pink is a bit taboo as regards to football kits. But why? If there is a viable reason, why not use it? Of course, the fluorescent pink Everton of a few seasons ago was a bit much, but this Scotland away has a reason for the pink, and I’m all for unusual colour choices…Remember the Nike 2002 WC kits? That was a golden era for Nike, and the Belgium, Nigeria, and Holland (even though they didn’t qualify) strips made from fluorescent fabric were IMO new and fresh. The black and orange Holland away was gorgeous.
Newcastle are wearing yellow against Hull’s gold/black.. I know yellow and gold aren’t much of a clash but I suppose Black/white stripes would clash or the Navy away would clash with the black stripes :s
Apparently West Brom have run out of hooped socks and it’s too late to order any more so they’ll be wearing plain navy ones until the end of the season! There’s an article about it in the Daily Mirrror today.
I think Ipswich have run out of their home sock’s as well. Instead of the normal home sock’s with a white turnover they are wearing plan blue sock’s. They are leaving mitre at the end of this season so mitre probably have not supplied enough.
It’s a bit of a strange situation, Can the clubs not wash the socks and re-use them?
Probably an affect of an increase in players cutting bottoms off them to wear Trusox
But still crazy to see this happening with months of the season to go!
Some sock observations ….
http://www.kitclashes.wordpress.com/
Mr Kitclashes what was your opinion on Blackpool v Bournemouth? I was okay with Bournemouth shirts but surely black socks would’ve suited better?
I have assessed and commented…
Thank you Sir for your prompt response. I do feel it is unlikely that Sunderland will ever wear Alternative home shorts, bar a 2 season dalliance with Le Coq Sportif (who gave them red shorts) Sunderland have worn black shorts since 1972, and the period they wore white had only lasted 10 seasons.
Some interesting prototypes of Liverpool shirts from 1987 and 1991 have appeared on eBay. The away makes the Arsenal ‘bruised banana’ look tame!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-1987-LIVERPOOL-ADIDAS-HOME-PROTOTYPE-SAMPLE-SHIRT-/351021079185?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item51ba7c9a91
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-BANANA-SKIN-LIVERPOOL-ADIDAS-AWAY-PROTOTYPE-SAMPLE-SHIRT-/351021108869?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item51ba7d0e85
the Liverpool away looks just as ghastly as their current away kits. it does look a bit of a fake though.
I think they’re genuine. The seller seems to have good feedback and a history of selling genuine rarities. (I’m not the seller by the way!)
In reply to Statto74: They just need an alternative pair to wear when playing away to teams who have black shorts. They’ve had them in the past, usually used in the derby with Newcastle.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/sunderland/3011516/Newcastle-miss-finishing-touch.html
I used to like in the early 90s when Sunderland would wear red shorts if a clash arose.
Thoughts on City in white at the Nou Camp? Was no problem home v home in the first leg, maybe they wanted Barca to think they were playing Real?
That shot from 2001 highlighted sensible use of the away shorts/socks, mix n’ match isn’t viable right now with the current palette.
I don’t recall that look Denis, are there any photos to show us how it looked?
weren’t the sunderland red shorts worn during their hummel kit day’s around 1990-92.
Only the change ones Scott. Here’s a pic from 1993
http://cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/79025376-sport-football-league-division-one-st-james-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=fOqRSGnZREbdOD5U9z9TH3M%2fhIsocCAIC6j9qSavfAiYyfGMf8%2beM3XIun7ldhAhz1f%2b5edpY5WSUxCyax9QKw%3d%3d
That link didn’t work for me Denis, but I found this.
http://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/red-shorts-in-91-92.867593/
Statto, those white shorts and socks weren’t park of the Sunderland away kit, they were just alternative to wear when necessary. Much in the same way Man United have sometimes had black change shorts even when they aren’t part of the away kit.
I’d quibble with that assertion – I’m almost certain that they are the 2000-01 away shorts and socks. Technically, in 01-02 they were alternatives as they had a new away, I guess!
Like Denis, I think they were from the away kit in 2000/01. I am taking this from Andy Burton’s excellent site.
http://www.kitclassics.co.uk/kits/sunderland.png
Yeah, was thinking of the away kit of 01-02. Had forgotten they’d used them as part of the away kit the year before. The Asics kit had alternative white shorts (worn with black socks at Newcastle when Gullit had the Magpies wearing white socks)
West Brom wore their red third at Swansea for some reason
Norwich wore their away kit at Southampton for some reason.
Years ago seeing Norwich in anything other than yellow and green was an extremely rare event!
It wasn’t until I got the Merlin 94 sticker album, which showed all the sides’ kits, that I realised what their away strip was!
A topic John raised 5 years ago (5 years was it really that long ago?)
http://www.truecoloursfootballkits.com/articles/who-has-the-best-away-kits/comment-page-1
Thoughts on Brunei DPMM’s kit? I wonder where they got the inspiration…
http://balls.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/sr4w.jpg
Reminds me of something I’ve seen before, just can’t seem to put my finger on it……
A design that reminds me of the 3rd round of the FA Cup in 1992. Go on Mickey Thomas!
And to think that that’s more recent than the last time Tottenham won it!
Scathing Denis!
D Hurley 1 – 0 Statto 74, more to follow after this short break……..
Lads, I’m sick of undeserved 1-0’s leave it out!
I was in the crowd when Mickey Thomas scored THAT free kick 😀
That bruised banana was a terrible kit, Adidas made that tyre-track design for a few other teams as well around that time, and it also got “copied” by a few other sportswear manufacturers as well, I remember Stockport County having an equally jarring blue/white/red kit in the same design, and Bournemouth had an away kit which was black, purple and sky blue in the same design. I think their kit was made by Matchwinner, who were responsible for many wacky designs in the early 90’s!
Southend’s goalkeeper – are you colourblind?
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276268/Article/images/20840143/5929469-large.jpg
Congratulations to Swansea City, who showed up for their game against Everton in a kit which did not clash.
Southend’s goalkeeping choice was simply crazy, especially as there are about 3 other GK tops they could have picked which didn’t clash at all
And again well done Swansea, however I don’t really understand why the are so precious over the use of white shorts as it’s was only about 4 years ago they had black shorts as first choice!
Again at Hull a team changing into red to play them where other have changed out of red to avoid a clash! Given the away colours of WBA this season, a third in yellow (popular I believe down that way) would have been sensible
Yellow for West Brom would have been of little use at Hull though!
Both in home kits at the Hawthorns wasn’t ideal, but I reckon a change of shorts would have gone a long way towards sorting things.
There’s no consistency. We all know that West Ham changed to their white away shirt against Man City a few weeks back and now Fulham change from a white shirt against them. Newcastle changing to yellow at Hull recently was barely mentioned, I think we’ve all given up on trying to make any sense out of it anymore….
What about Millwall keeper David Forde wearing an all-black kit while the team wear all navy at Leeds. That’s a senseless clash
Judging by the pics of the new Stoke kits, it is actually possible for Warrior to design a fairly ‘normal’ away strip.
The sash is in the wrong direction, should be bottom left to top right as we look.
I’m actually getting used to the Liverpool away now…I dunno, something of a mid 90’s Umbro about it – it has taken me seven months to like it though!
Totally agree with John (post 556) about David Forde, I really cannot understand why Millwall have a black goalkeeper kit when they play in navy. I’m sure I saw a goalie in black against Southend recently too, shouldn’t be allowed – after all, the Football League banned navy shirts for decades as they clashed with referee’s shirts.
Not the first time I’ve seen a Millwall goalkeeper in a hideous clash with his own team-mates, a worse case was quite some time ago (around 2004) when Graham Stack (I think it was) wore a yellow kit with black shorts whilst his team-mates were in a yellow/gold/amber kit with navy shorts (like Liverpool 2001 away colours), live on Sky TV. How the referee let that go I don’t know, even the commentators at the time mentioned it.
Coincidentally, I came across this video the other day – Scotland away to Switzerland in 1992 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx399M6BzQ8. At the time, Scotland’s goalkeeper kit was black, with purple and green flashes across the front.
Re a team in gold and the GK in yellow, David Seaman did this a few times in 01-02 and 02-03
I remember that kit, bit of a daft choice of colours, especially when you watch that clip of the match against Switzerland being played under floodlights. The second choice goalie jersey was this, which just seems perverse: _
http://www.oldfootballshirts.com/img/shirts/250/scotland-goalkeeper-football-shirt-1992-1993-s_19200_1.jpg
As for Arsenal I think the shade of gold they wore was less saturated than Millwall’s – I think Millwall’s shirts were more towards the amber/orange hue than “metal gold”, but still in both cases it was daft for a goalkeeper to wear a yellow jersey alongside them.
And there was this one from a certain Edwin Van Der Sar (remember him?) when Ajax travelled to Feyenoord in 1995 – 11 men in dark green?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6vUdgUnNZs
That’s incredible! I recall in the England-Germany Euro 96 semi that Andreas Kopke walked out with a bottle-green shirt on, but then changed to sky-blue, which was arguably closer to England’s strip.
Meanwhile, Manchester City are going sky-sky-navy for Saturday evening’s 3-0 win at Arsenal.
Hull’s outfield players were forced to wear amber socks at WHU last night rather than the regular home socks (black & amber hoops) as the PL deem them to clash with Hull’s dark change GK socks! What nonsense!
another shocker was this one that I remember a friend in Sweden (who supports AIK) told me about one time from the Stockholm derby in 2001.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmX5x5GHoyA
Now it looks to me as if AIK have got 12 outfield players on the pitch (from the back). That particular design that adidas had for goalie kits in 2001 caused no end of trouble.
And I think I have found the worst kit clash of the last 12 months….. in NORTH AMERICA of all places, that bastion of “light and dark”/”home and road” kits in all of their sports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF9QgfXCWXU
Crazy stuff.
Was today the first time Chelsea have worn their away change socks? Amazing that they feel they have to have two pairs of blue socks and two pairs of white
They also have 2 pairs of blue shorts!
Indeed, all down to the fact the shade of blue on the away shirt is a bit darker than the home, plus the red trim as well, they can’t look out of place with a mix and match kit can they?
Also, Newcastle wearing their yellow kit at Southampton when they didn’t really need to. Think they forgot the Saints had abandoned the stripes a couple of years ago.
Thoughts on the England kits?
I like the non contrasting collar but other than that it’s hard to have an opinion.
re 550 – I just caught up with the Southend game, did anyone spot the officials were in yellow too!?!? Madness
re 556 – David Forde wore black again v Birmingham, in the week, as they wore yellow, but he donned a yellow jersey on Saturday v Blackburn.
both England kit’s are awfully bland. I wish whoever makes the kit would move away from the obsession of everytime England get to the world cup they try and do another copy of the ’66 red shirt.
Denis, Chelsea wore the all-white kit against Basel in the CL, so Crystal Palace was not the first time. My bet is you will see it again this week in the CL as PSG wear predominantly dark blue
well the comment some time ago about West Ham wearing the black third jersey at Sunderland turned out to be incorrect then, they’re in the home kit tonight.
I have a sneak feeling the black jersey will not get an outing?
Thanks for that Al, I’d forgotten about that game!
Jon – I guess the black shirt is purely for leisure purposes, especially as shorts and socks for it seem to be non-existent
A 3rd shirt with no shorts & socks is a bit of a throwback, that used to to be the way.
Have to see upon seeing the New England kits I’m not
Impressed, am I right in thinking that 1996 was the last time an away kit wasn’t red?
As much as I hate myself a little, the new Scotland away is growing on me!
It’s a pity the WHU third doesnt look like it’ll get an outing as it’s a nice shirt! Has it even been worn in a friendly/ by reserves?!
David there was the awful Navy away shirt from 2011/12
Two years ago the England away was two-tone blue David!
The England kits are not too bad but being Nike they aren’t that great
Not that Umbro were always perfect but at least their England kits had a sense of uniqueness about them whereas under Nike they just seem a bit plain.
Even if you look at the past winners you have an image in your head of Argentina wearing Le Coq Sportif (1986), West Germany wearing Adidas (1990) and the France shirt (1998).Iconic shirt for winners but it’s hard to picture Brazil’s shirt in 2002 when they won that World Cup.
More on that when the time comes. I’m sure John will get round to covering it a bit more!
I had totally forgot about that blue & blue effort!
If I was an England fan I’d be harking back to Umbro days, some good (2009- especially paired with navy shorts) and some bad (2011 & 2012 both poor in my opinion) but as previous poster said, they had a bit of effort and uniqueness, the Nike ones might as well be teamwear efforts they are so plain
I remember loving the Brazil kit in 2002 but it’s not one that has stood the test of time well in my opinion, the opposite of the Brazil 1998 kit which I wasn’t all that fussed about at the time but if I see it now I think it’s a cracking classic kit
Nike 2002-2006 kits were design classics – all a bit one dimensional since IMO. Bit gutted as a Bundesliga fan that most of the ‘smaller’ teams will be Nike from next season : Werder Bremen, Mainz, Freiburg, and Eintracht Braunschweig this season, plus Augsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt next. That means Jako are more or less disappearing, which is a shame because some of their kits this season have been really nice.
I think it’s sad how many teams are now issued with simple Nike teamwear, at least Adidas and Puma put in some effort for their smaller clubs
My own team (Hibs) changed from Puma (Genesis) to Nike (Just Sport Pro) and it’s been dreadful, thee Puma shirts were at least designed and coloured for us individually including our best shirt in at least 10 years being last seasons bottle green kit to generic rubbish from Nike and training wear which was released about 2 seasons ago
I would much rather have a company like Macron or Joma who make individual kits rather than teamwear Nike
Back to the main point the 2006 range of Nike kits were stunning, simple but excellent. Looking back at WC kits in 2006 Adidas, Puma and Nike all excelled themselves that year
Just popped down to Soccer Scene in Oxford St, the quality of both England’s shirts is quite poor. The St Georges Cross on the away shirt is barely visible, even if you are holding the shirt, and the home shirt has a wanky reflective strip on the shoulder. Great for cycling at night but quite naff in my opinion.
Two unnecessary changes IMO today, Southampton away at Man. City and WBA away at Norwich.
I don’t think Hull’s change of socks agains WHU was because of the goalkeeper socks worn by Harper.Michael Vorm wore the same socks against Hull today and they didn’t change. It was probably because adidasddidn’t have enough ready for that game like West Brom a few weeks ago.
Tranmere wore Colchesher’s Away kit yesterday!
to further rub salt in it, Tranmere won as well!
But that is a bad oversight on their part, they should have had a third kit for this fixture. Colchester wear mid-blue and white stripes which clash with both of Tranmere’s kits. In the past they would have got away with wearing white, but the blue sleeves they’ve got on the shirts this season cause a clash, and sky blue clashes with mid-blue.
Fairly slack stuff from Tranmere.
A query – would you guys consider this to be a clash? http://www.sportsfile.com/winshare/w540/Library/SF229/851611.jpg
That’s a clash Denis despite the red in the Carlow jersey. Was that today’s game? If so it looks like a decent day back there!
that’s a very bad clash if you ask me
I agree, the thing is that it’s not even remarked upon here.
This was an All-Ireland schools final yesterday http://www.sportsfile.com/id/851040/
The GAA is just the gift that keeps on giving.
Another schools game a few weeks back. At least the shorts were different colours I!
http://www.sportsfile.com/id/836169/
I knew before I opened it exactly what game that would be!
Did Orient’s keeper really wear yellow with his colleagues in Gold?
On an unrelated subject I’m off to Carlow this week.
Completely agree with Davidr1986 and the dirge of Nike templates and the JustSport franchise.
My club (Lincoln City) are entering the final year of a contract with JustSport and thankfully are looking like heading to Errea in 2015 with bespoke kits. We have been lumbered with two dreadful templates in three seasons by JustSport, this one being the worst shirt since the Avec shirt in 2001.
With regards to keepers shirts clashing with teams, it happened to us at Hyde in February. Green keepers shirt and our green kit; under floodlights which made it worse.
Wasn’t that the match when Hyde got a goal from around 45 yards? Not sure how the ref could let pale jade green (I think, standard Jako keeper kit colour in that design) be used against “standard” green to be honest, Hyde’s goalie sometimes wears fluorescent orange so why he couldn’t wear that I don’t know!
I suspect the one thing the Hyde keeper should have been wearing this season was a tin hat, 105 goals shipped in 41 games! 1 win and 33 losses. I suppose there is nowhere to Hyde!
Thought Lincoln City wore Nike kits?
They do, supplied by JustSport.
Scotland compared to England is pretty lax about clashes, as in teams barely ever change shorts (and if they do it’s usually for no reason!) etc but I’m surprised that both Rangers and Dundee United were permitted to wear black shorts during today’s Scottish Cup Semi Final, earlier this season United changed into tangerine shorts and white socks at Ross County to avoid clashing with their navy shorts and socks but today wore black socks, and historically Rangers often change socks on a whim even when playing against sides with maroon socks Rangers would change into white socks, yet again no consistency in dealing with clashes
** black socks I meant at start of above post
Again a surprising semi-final clash of kit today, given how strict the F.A. Cup is for any item clashing requiring a change ie Swansea wearing purple at both Everton and Man Utd. I’m surprised both Hull and Sheffield United were permitted to wear black shorts, surely Hull in all blue would have made sense?!
New Liverpool kits – kinda like them. Warrior have recovered from a shaky start, and the home and away kits seem to have been designed by the same people this time – similar trim etc. Do seem similar to the Puma ‘shards’ template though. Third kit is interesting – I like it, but it seems a bit ‘polo shirt-y’. I do like this time of the year, because the next season’s kits start coming out. According to rumour, my club, FC Bayern, will be back in blue and red stripes for the first time since ’97…have been awaiting the major return of blue to the home strip for quite a long time. ’99-’01 home kit still, for me, the high watermark of early ’00’s kits.
What was the point of West Hams third shirt at all? Was it even released for general sale? Tonight ill admit wasnt a clash as far as shorts and socks were concerned. Yes a very light shade of blue but still distinctive from Arsenals white shorts and socks
Has anyone else here bought the new book 1000 Football Shirts?
No. Did you get it yourself Denis?
I did, some good bits but didn’t deliver on its potential, I feel.
Interesting to see Chelsea wear black tonight rather than wearing blue shirts with non-blue shorts
Not sure Chelsea have ever worn their home shirt with other shorts in the modern era. Sameas Arsenal and Liverpool on that score.
Think the last time Liverpool did it was with black shorts and yellow socks at Watford!
Not since about 89 or 90 anyway re Chelsea. Liverpool have worn white socks on a handful of occasions.
Watching the World Snooker – ‘Coventry man’ is in the crowd again (he’s there every year). This years collection has been: late 60’s home; late 60’s green and black away; early 90’s Asics yellow and black away; early 80’s Talbot ‘T’ home; and current home. For today’s session he was sat (in his usual seat, to the right of the player’s seats) wearing a long sleeve version of the late 60’s CCFC home shirt (plain sky blue with navy and white crew neck and collar trim), two seats down was a guy with the current Bayern home shirt, and just behind was someone in the early 80’s England home (Admiral with red and blue shoulder bar / chest yoke)! Is the Coventry fan a regular visitor here I wonder? he obviously has an interest in retro shirts…?
There was guy wearing an old Preston home shirt too with the ‘BAXI’ sponsor on the front. I think it had navy sleeves too.
I saw the England shirt but missed the Coventry shirts.
Funny thing is, I don’t even like snooker but watched it out of sheer boredom!
Arsenal did wear Navy Blue shorts with their red home shirt at Fenerbahce in the Champions League Qualifier at the start of this season
http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Photo/competitions/Comp_Matches/01/98/39/45/1983945_w2.jpg
I feel sorry for Bristol Rovers fans, not just did they lose their Football League status yesterday, but Mansfield sent them down wearing a set of black shirts borrowed from them because for some bizarre reason they turned up in their blue away kit instead of the (more sensical) amber home kit. Talk about kicking them while they’re down!
Denis, you’d have loved the ‘overall’ clash at Griffin Park, Brentford in red backed shirts with black shorts and socks, with Stevenage in Black shirts and red shorts and socks!
What were Torquay wearing? Plain white shirts at home? The shirt nos were barely legible either.
http://www.torquayunited.com/news/article/125-shirt-unveiled-1365372.aspx
guess the gold numbers didn’t show up well on a sunny day..
One to watch tomorrow will be Sunderland v WBA. Earlier this season Sunderland changed to their Yellow/blue/blue kit I guess because the element of white in both kits. For this reverse fixture WBA’s choices are red/black or just red, both surely are clashes. Will Sunderland be forced to wear the yellow away kit at home? I guess the only other option is if WBA bring out a 2014-15 season kit a bit early, although I believe they are going with a white shirt featuring a blue pinstripe next season so that may be a problem too!
re: Al (Post 617)
I am expecting West Brom to wear their Home kit (although secretly hoping for White Short/Socks. They have managed this previously when both kits have been made using identical templates.
http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Sunderland+v+West+Bromwich+Albion+Premier+rNo-Iv81v9cl.jpg
http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Peter+Odemwingie+West+Bromwich+Albion+v+Sunderland+XK1wqC-MQ8Dl.jpg
Interesting Alexander. Someone clearly thought it was a clash earlier this season, whether it was Sunderlands decision or that of the referee I suppose we’ll never know.
I’d expect both in home kits too Al, it’s too late in the season for anybody to be bothered to arrange change items, I reckon.
I like the ad for the new Ipswich home, I must say: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bm5EV_XIAAEi5Bg.jpg
Sadly West Brom only switched to white socks, not shorts too.
New Bayern home officially unveiled – back in red and blue – I love it! and to all the comments I’ve read elsewhere about it being a ’90’s throwback’ (due to its resemblance to the 95-97 home kit), can I just say that Bayern have never been far away from blue elements to their kit – a large portion of their early history saw blue (HSV esque) socks, and the 95-97 itself was based on an earlier kit from the early 70’s. So there. Also, if the leaked pictures of the new away turn out to be accurate, that’s a stunner too – well done adidas!
West Ham’s third shirt finally gets an outing!
Albeit with the away shorts and socks, doesn’t look the best
Great few weeks for Nike. League winners in The Premiership, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1.
West Ham finally wore the Black third shirt!
Couldnt stop laughing when i seen West Ham finally wearing the black. What was the point of that shirt exactly? Surely they would have at least given them black shorts and socks to go with it in case?
I emailed Arsenal to ask if the cup final goalkeeper shirt tradition still existed 🙁
“Dear Denis,
Thank you for your email.
I have made some enquiries regarding this and the answer is we don’t have the tradition anymore.
Kind Regards
Roxanne”
Cue Szczesny / Fabianski letting one slip through their arms into the back of the net….Good to see that Sting’s ex has found a new job..
For a club like Arsenal which is big into marketing guff, you’d think they’d make something of the tradition, even a pic of Szczesny putting the shirt into a washing machine. Quite disappointing.
Thoughts on new Liverpool away? There’s something about it I don’t like
Good to see LFC back in yellow – at least the trim matches the home this time! The third kit is interesting but a bit polo-shirty. Warrior have recovered from a dodgy start and are starting to come out with some good stuff – as are Macron. Still not sure about Nike’s direction at the moment – it’s all just a bit bland. Now replica shirt fans are expected to fork out 60 quid a pop, blandness is unforgivable.
I’m not sure I like the new LFC kit either, just something about it, however the third I am a massive fan of, something totally different without being too in your face like shirts of the 90s
Taking of Macron, this week I received my first ever Macron shirt, decided to treat myself to the L/S Villa home shirt for the bargain sum of a mere £10, have to say I’m very impressed by the quality of it and all the nice little touches that are becoming more and more rare in the world of teamwear era we seem to be in
I liked the Villa shirt – echoes of some of their best shirts of the past. The only benefit of all the teams changing their shirts every year these days is seeing what each club comes up with – having seen the upcoming designs I have to say that adidas are ahead in terms of freshness – the other big suppliers seem a bit pedestrian – I’ll be interested to see what Umbro come up with for their return as an ‘indie’.
At Denis (628) What was the Arsenal goalkeeping kit tradition?
Arsenal lost the 1927 cup final to Cardiff when goalkeeper Dan Lewis let the ball slip through his arms and he claimed that the shininess of the new jersey was conducive to that.
A tradition emerged then of Arsenal GK shirts being washed before first use in a game (I’m not sure if this was for all shirts or just cup finals), but it has now seemingly stopped.
According to Simon Shakeshaft, who is writing the new book on Arsenal shirt history, the tradition stopped far earlier than most people would think.
Just seen that Arsenal shirt book on amazon. Looks good.. cant wait till October .
Good to see no hint of a clash being entertained in CL final, though if we were very picky we’d say that Atletico should have had white numbers on a red background
#637 A clash has never been as issue in La Liga anyways so would have been a surprise to change shirts last night.
Maybe not the place to discuss but those new Adidas boots worn by the likes of Bale and Marcelo last night are quite possibly the worst they have ever made from a style point of view.
The new Ireland kit has green shorts 🙁
Given that its roughly the same template as Cork City I thought you would have been more approving.
Nice shirt all the same. I prefer the umbro + double diamond on the shirt myself.Will be interesting what happens with Everton.
Umbro World cup track tops been in a few shops over here in the last fortnight.
Do you know John if Iconix are planning a similar approach to Nike wrt Umbro (taking over sponsorships aside)?
It’s a fine shirt if a bit boring, but these monochrome kits are annoying me
Me too. I kind of yearn for the early 00’s, when the balance seemed to be right between detailed and garish.
Re the UCL Final…
Is there a reason why one team didn’t change their kit?
I seem to remember Man U having to wear their away kit as their home would clash with Barca’s red stripes… isn’t that the same as Real’s white clashing with the white stripes on the Athletico kit?
I didn’t think it was a clash from the TV but just seemed odd one didn’t have to change..
Have to say I’m not a fan of the ‘Umbro’ wording beneath the double-diamond, nor of Ireland’s new kit – much preferred the previous one – and the two before that, for that matter.
What about the new QPR kits? the home is OK but a bit plain, away is probably the best one, and the third is a bit weird – I know that its an old idea to have a white third shirt, but why not unveil it with blue shorts and socks? then they could mix and match with the home as required. And the away, while nice, doesn’t solve all clash problems – at Newcastle, the home and third will be too close to the white stripes, and the away with its black will clash as well…Grrrrrr. Why not do the ‘Dennis the Menace’ red and black hoops? And lastly, when will the logotype badge come back? this ‘modern’ badge looks like its been knocked up by someone with no imagination – yeah, the strip is blue and white hoops, so lets put…blue and white hoops on the badge!!! Genius. I know its been in use for a few years, but surely the change in kit supplier is a good cue to bring back the old badge? surely to QPR fans they’d rather have a badge in use by Trevor Francis & co in ’76 than a naff, marketing mans vision of what a badge should look like?
New QPR kits are honking! Standard Nike Teamwear desecrating yet another clubs kits! The home kit is just Celtic’s strip from 2 seasons ago, also will be used next season by Greenock Morton!
Tony Fernandes apologised in advance because the deal was only agreed late and thus they were lumbered with teamwear
I’m glad QPR haven’t adopted the red and black hoops Nike Teamwear shirt as their away strip, because it’ll look like our new home shirt 😛
But yes, the white third shirt, given the amount of white on the home shirt is a crazy idea particularly given the fixture at Newcastle which will prove to be problematic, particularly if Newcastle’s new home shirt has a lot of white on the back (really hate PLAIN BACK shirts, damn you FIFA/UEFA) like it has been for the last few years.
Think Nike have a distinct lack of imagination with English clubs with regards to teamwear. At least in Germany they put shadow patterns of the clubs badges on sometimes (as with Freiburg). My fear for next season in the Bundesliga is Nike led ubiquity – apparently Eintracht Frankfurt and Augsburg will be Nike after ditching the superb Jako.
Also – re. Liverpool – the new home shirt looks nice in pictures but in the flesh looks like a patchwork quilt! overlapping panels everywhere! what went wrong with a ventilated panel under or around each arm? again, adidas are the market leaders here!
Apparently Spain will need a 3rd kit…
https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/the-rio-report/why-spain-must-now-another-world-cup-kit-094728144.html
While the massive cuffs may be questionable, good to see Tottenham Hotspur going with a navy away and yellow third next season
A fine effort from Under Armour if what I have seen are the final designs.
Interesting to see Middlesbrough with a sash rather than a hoop now and white shorts back too. For the away, though, adidas have basically plagiarised themselves by giving them Chelsea’s one from 09-10
West Ham’s is the same as Middlesbrough… you’d have thought they’d have a different template..
Regarding the Spanish third kit, don’t you think FIFA are taking the proverbial ‘P’ with this contrast/monotone kit nonsense? I might as well buy a 14″ black and white TV to watch the tournament instead of my 60″ HD set.
Bad enough Spain not having any blue in their kit whatsoever, a sacrilege to tradition. I think some people at FIFA clearly need a sight test.
Totally agree with you Denis about the Middlesbrough away soon as I saw it I thought “Chelsea away shirt 09/10”, though they’re still going to be needing a third kit for the problematic fixture at Bournemouth!
I love the new Boro away kit, the home one nice too, yes it’s like the previous Chelsea one (which I loved too) but who cares it’s a cracker of a kit.
The Charlton one is something that is quite ‘out the box’ for them, not sure if I like it or not
FIFA’s lot requirements are like a bad joke, black does not clash with Oranje, if hairs were to be split Sain could have used plain black socks as the bottom half are fluo in the standard ones I’m sure
In terms of my favourite kit for the WC, Germany away is simply stunning, the Mexico and Argentina ones are cracking too and having seen the Dutch one in the flesh is a lot nicer than what I thought it would be
I feel Adidas pretty much always do excellent World Cup strips and even with the daft regulations they have pulled out a few classics, only slight disappointments in my eyes are Germany home and Spain home
As for Nike, they just come across as plain more often than not as opposed to classic or stylish however the Dutch home and French home (if tri-colour is permitted) are nice
For me Puma have never been able to match or beat their 2006 kits, I thought they were great, and I don’t think their international kits since then (especially for European Teams) haven’t hit the mark since
I have to say I’m very underwhelmed by nearly all the kits, and adidas’s in particular, David.
If Germany had black-red-yellow on that V and black shorts, they’d have a classic. I do like the Argentina away but that’s about it.
France’s strip is nice from a style POV but I’d still prefer a more ‘French’ blue.
While I like simpler kits in general, looking at the England away the other night it resembled something like you might see in PES.
Agreed re. the Germany away – but personally I like the home too – adidas are coming out with some stunning kits full stop. I’ve said all along that Nike’s are a bit too much on the plain side. And to complete the ‘big three’, Puma have excelled themselves with the new Rangers and Arsenal kits – that Gunners third is going to divide opinion, that’s for sure!
Seen a clip of Holland v Spain from 10 tonight and cannot fathom why fifa think Holland v Spain in 14 will be a problem if Holland wear orange and Spain wear all black with luminous trim.
As for the FIFA rule. Looking at some games in the lower leagues last year its perhaps best that someone intervened with the sheer incompetence of the kit men.
I would agree with denis on Germany’s home kit about the “v”. I can only think that the way it is done is that it will blend in with the away kit after the world cup when all the teams revert back to their proper kits.
I noticed Argentina wore more familiar black shorts and socks with the home shirt last night in their friendly with Slovenia. Mind you the Slovenians turned up in white causing a bad colour clash (and I’m sure Denis would agree)…
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/06/07/article-2651511-1E8E96DF00000578-270_634x394.jpg
Slovenia’s current away kit is light blue by the way, which would still clash but not as much as the white kit did. Maybe they should have dug out the old dark green away kit from 2010 for this game. Now you can see the only tiny flip-side to FIFA’s (ridiculous) kit policy.
Argentina played a white-clad Bosnia in the past few months too, very surprised that it’s allowed tbh
Re Germany home shirt – the top edge is black, with graded red in the middle and gold on the bottom edge. So technically it IS the colours of the flag – they are also repeated on the ‘back line’ that is a feature of the new adidas kits. Very clever bit of design if you ask me – not easy to come up with something new when the country in question has played in the same colours for such a long time.
I know that Martyn, still not a fan though, and the gold is wrong!
Why?
It’s too much like a Benson & Hedges gold rather than the colour which appears on the flag
Bit of mix-match potential with the new Aston Villa kits you’ll be delighted to know Denis
Funny you should say that David – I don’t think there’s any sky blue on the away, even a tiny bit would help to ‘line them up’ a bit!
Denis (668) – familiar story, that. Kit suppliers use a beige-y colour on the kits because when TV cameras catch it it appears gold; a technique used on the JPS Lotus F1 cars in the 80’s – the Bayern kit of 11-13 was beige ‘in the flesh’ but looks gold in pictures…personally though, having seen the Germany shirt it does look gold – it’s all about impact on TV – a more flag-y yellow has been visually buried when used in the past (all kits from 1988-1996 and again 2006-10). I’d be interested to get John’s opinion on that;
669-670 – obviously designed by Macron to resemble Villa’s European Cup winning away of ’81, which had no sky blue on it either…
I know that re Villa’s EC-winning kit Martyn, but – they wore an all-white kit in the final against Bayern and if they try to replicate that look this season there will be some blue on the shorts so I feel overall balance would be better.
Agreed Denis – but when have you ever known kit suppliers to be logical?
How about a new debate on the eve of a new World Cup? Which World Cup had the best kits? Not including pre-’78 (when very few kits had manufacturers logos/trademarks). I would have to say ’02 (classic adidas and Nike era, and the best England and Germany home strips ever) or ’06 (again a classic time for adidas, but also when Puma produced some great strips). ’98 was great for Nike, Puma and Umbro but dodgy for adidas, ’94 was still the era of ‘more is more’ (though honourable mentions for Ireland home and away and Spain home),’90 was the point where excess was starting to creep in, ’86 had some nice strips, ’82 (wing collars!) looks decidedly dated in modern eyes, and ’78 marked the point where logo’s were starting to make an impact. But for me, ’02 probably shades it. Best strips? the aforementioned Germany and England home, Brazil home and away, USA home, and South Korea home.
This page is almost a year old, John have you got any World Cup kits done that you can start a fresh page with? All World Cup kit chat can go there.
#673
It’s not the kit suppliers… it’s the clubs that choose the colours 🙂
We try where possible to make everything mix and match between the home/away but sometimes it isn’t possible.. (You can’t mix red with green etc)
Just means they can release additional shorts to make it all match 🙂
#675 – How about a forum? Then it would seperate the different points and save them all being in the one post…
Over to you webmaster 😉
#674 I still maintain 2006 had the nicest kits stunners such as Germany home, France away, Argentina home and away, Brazil home, Australia home and the best of all the Mexico home plus some really nice Puma kits
2010 was ok, but didn’t really like the ‘Powerweb’ Adidas stuff that much and Nike kits USA aside were fairly boring
At the time I loved the 2002 Nike and Adidas offerings but in my opinion haven’t stood test of time as well as the likes of 1998 France and Brazil kits or even the Germany 1990 kits which were brilliant in my eyes
1994 kits- maybe less said the better!
Amazed that Brazil-Croatia was allowed to go ahead with normal kits, must explain how the own goal was scored
Brazil’s shorts clashing with Croatia’s socks and Croatia’s shorts clashing with Brazil’s socks, it’s chaos all over the place! 😉
Does anyone know of a site that is (accurately) listing what colours each team will wear during the group stages?
Spain are drawn as the home side so I am at a loss as to why they have had to produce a white kit to play Netherlands?
I appears Mexico have also been forced to rush out a white jersey. I accept there is very little contrast between red & green but if Cameroon wear yellow there is no clash.
Game on, green v yellow
I was surprised that Mexico were going with a green home and red away, though.
I must admit I was rather surprised and somewhat pleased to see Brazil v Croatia had no stupid kit mish-mash yesterday. Shame it’s half reverted to type with Cameroon wearing a monotone yellow strip when they normally have green shorts.
But certainly FIFA are taking the “P” again by even getting Mexico to bring out a white kit. Are they blind?
If FIFA made Spain get a special white kit, could Holland not just have worn orange?
Exactly Denis!
Red/Red/Red v Navy/Navy/Navy or
Orange/White/Orange v Black/Black/Black
Both of the above wouldn’t have caused a clash, except in the eyes of FIFA!
I think after that result last night Spain will probably want to consign that white kit to the dustbin. Couldn’t see why one team weren’t able to wear their home kit.
Stupid FIFA.
I did notice FIFA’s kit police had an effect on the Chile v Australia game, with Chile having to wear the blue socks from the away kit, and Australia having to wear yellow shorts, creating an awkward looking yellow-yellow-white combination.
Why don’t they just leave things alone?
I never have too much of a problem with shorts clashes but if they’re part of the remit for the World Cup I can see why they’d do something about green v blue.
I do feel, however, that Australia should have gold socks to wear if they are asked to change shorts.
Happy anniversary everyone!
As John flagged on Twitter, Ecuador are wearing their blue strip against Switzerland, who are in red. Initial reports from Brazil are that the sky has yet to fall in.
Bosnia in Royal… Argentina in Sky/white stripes..
One that you’d think maybe would be a clash isnt!
Matt FIFA are happy with that, as it’s light v dark!
The Nigerian home shirt is just awful.
Almost as bad as this game against Iran.
I agree about the Nigeria shirt, I think it’s the white piping that ruins it and the white line at the end of the stripes is too thick
Brazil v Mexico is coming up, can see Mexico turning out in red for this one
indeed Mexico are in the “Dyno Rod” red kit, quite why they couldn’t wear green I don’t know. FIFA, seriously?
I was wondering the same, Jon. Why do they have to change yet in Brazil-Croatia ‘normal’ first kits were allowed?
No that keen on Mexico’s ‘Charlie Brown style shirt’ myself.
At least there’s a bit of variataion of colours if nothing else.
Can we expect to see the Aussie’s in Yellow, Yellow, White again tonight? With the Dutch in All Blue (though close up it does look purple in the darkest bits)
I would imagine that the Socceroo’s will wear the same combination as last time out, unless the Dutch wear Oranje and Australia go with Navy (if that is even their away colour just now!)
According to HFK on Twitter, Aussies in normal colours and Holland in navy
I see England requested to wear red v Uruguay but were turned down. Can’t have both teams in their dark kits!
FIFA has a lot to answer for. Septic Bladder is a massive bellend!
so, Australia had to wear yellow shorts against Chile’s blue shorts, but been able to wear the usual dark green shorts against Holland’s (dark) blue shorts….. and the sky still hasn’t fallen in.
About as consistent as Conference league referees!
Cameroon v Croatia. Both in Normal colours and just like in the old days i managed to tell one from the other. This rule is very inconsistent.
Tri-kits so far (e.g different colour shirt, shorts, socks)
Brazil (v both Mexico and Croatia)
Australia (v Holland)
Both Croatia and Cameroon
Am i missing anyone?
Given FIFA’s form so far in this World Cup I wouldn’t have been shocked to see England in red-white-white tonight
Is it too early to blame Nike for England’s campaign?
Anyone?
#706 no but we can thank Puma 😉
#705 – see #701
Costa Rica in white against Italy, having also worn it against Uruguay.
Surely fairer if they wore red today and Italy white, with Italy back in blue v Uruguay and Uruguay white.
Costa Rica’s shirt made by Lotto from Italy.
Win win for Lotto here.
Ciaran – no it’s not!
It’s just not right seeing England in Nike.
Gripes about England in Nike notwithstanding, I’m a big fan of France’s WC kits. The home is stunning, while the away strip is elegance personified; granddad collars are always great on football shirts, whilst the grey horizontal shadow striping works really well.
For the second game in a row, Ecuador aren’t contrasting with their opponents
Good man Denis. You got a mention from George there at the beginning of the second half! 😀 You’ve hit the big time!
I should add that was just a second ago for Belgium v Russia
Thanks David, didn’t actually hear it myself unfortunately!
Regarding Russia’s kit, first choice used to be white, was there any reason why this was changed to red/ maroon in about 2010ish
Davidr1986 – Stage 1 of Re-Sovietisation perhaps? 😛
Mexico apparently having to wear black shorts with home kit tonight, shows the drawback of not having complementary kits at international level
So is it the 2016 Russia kit that will have CCCP in bold white letters across the front of it?!
David – yes, I believe this is the case. Failing that, the CCCP lettering will be reinstated for the hosting of the 2018 WC.
Im almost visualising that scene from the Simpsons where the American says to the Russian in the UN, ‘i thought you guys (the soviet union) broke up?’ “Thats vot we vanted you to zink muhahahaha’ 😀
Maybe they could have ‘POCCNR’ (with the N and R reversed)?
As well as the away shorts, Mexico also changed socks tonight, from red to red
Yes, I remember that episode David – the Berlin wall goes back up, and immediately has soldiers marching up and down it!
#722/724- One of the last great episodes before it jumped the shark.
Must crush Capitalism!
Having missed their first group game I didn’t get a chance to see the full kit but were Columbia wearing stock teamwear socks tonight rather than their normal home socks? With Columbia being an A-Grade Adidas team was surprised to see them turn out in socks with the Adidas logo to the front
So far this World Cup has irked me so much in terms of FIFA enforcing that all monochrome light/dark kit regulation. I miss seeing Argentina and Germany in their black shorts, Italy in their blue/white/blue and Holland in orange/white/orange and Spain in their home blue shorts and countless others. Instead all we see are teams in all light and dark kits which are boring as hell or we see silly mismatched colors like Colombia in their awful yellow tops/white shorts/socks.
Also another thing that bothers me about FIFA’s silly rules is teams who have white shorts as their home kit like Italy, Holland, and France are forced to wear there dark shorts when coming up against an away side who are in white shorts which doesn’t make sense as they are the home team. Home teams should wear their traditional kits and you make the away teams have to change cause they are the away team. The home teams are being force to change their shorts to accommodate which is unfair really and doesn’t make sense. This is the reason why you never ever see Italy in white shorts anymore and are seen in all dark as are other teams who have white shorts like Japan(who use to), Holland, France, etc.. in a FIFA sanctioned event.
Can anyone tell me why France have changed? Surely this is light versus light strips?
I was wondering that too.
If its because of the socks then I don’t understand why France just couldn’t wear navy-white-white?
In Fifa’s term yellow vs white doesn’t constitute as light vs light somehow? Their thinking is convoluted. So Switzerland as the home team should have worn red/white/red but because Honduras’ kit is all white..they were made to wear red shorts which is silly really. They’re the home team and should be able to wear their designated home strips.
Honduras could have worn their blue shorts to avoid the clash.
How classy is the new Everton kit? I think anyone that doubts that their dip in form the last few years was NOT down to Nike is looking a bit foolish now…
The two Nike efforts were terrible. Nike and Adidas have too much clout in World football at this stage. I understand templates but they could implement a slight differentiation strategy too surely.
I think the Umbro brand suffers for the wording now positioning beneath the double diamond, not least because the font used is nondescript and inoffensive; whilst it’s lovely to have Umbro back in English football, it’s a shame about this change.
Also: too many logos!
World Cup last 16 and each’s kit makers number of teams left.
5- Adidas
5- Nike
4 -Puma
1- Lotto
1- Burrda
735. – Nick – I think the lower case Umbro logo is to signify the rebirth of the company; it was the norm through the 80’s/early 90’s. Similarly, the sleeve logo is an idea dating from the 80’s – retro without being overbearing IMO. Also, if it works for Puma, why not Umbro? I know I’ve been a big critic of Umbro under Nike, but this looks to me like they’ve got their mojo back as an indie. Be interested to see their other new kits.
Martyn – I know it was the norm throughout the 80s/early 90s, but I don’t think it looked particularly good then, let alone now. I just feel that the double diamond logo in its post ’09 incarnation represented a much stronger look for Umbro; now the reintroduction of lower-case lettering feels like a mis-step, especially given how well received those Nike-era strips were.
Of the additional sleeve logos, I can only say that this is an unattractive affection better suited to other manufacturers.
correction – meant to write ‘affectation’!
Good kit use by the mexican keeper isn’t that the away one?
I might be in a minority, but I think the Umbro kits produced under Nike (especially the ‘tailored by’ era) were naff in the extreme. What I was trying to say is that returning to the 80’s style (when Umbro were strong and relevant) is symbolic, and indicates a potential rebirth. The Everton kit is, to me, the work of a designer, or designers, working in a design studio and coming up with something themselves, rather than being compromised by a design direction instigated by the head office on the other side of the world. If this ushers in a new era for Umbro I’m all for it.
#741 was the kit the Mexican keeper wore not the design of the home kit but in inverted away colours?!
Why were France in white shirts and blue shorts….
If blue shorts are fine against the green shorts, and the white shirt is fine against the green shirt, why couldn’t it be reversed. They easily could have been in the Blue, White, Red look…It’s sad that France will probably not wear their navy-white-red combination in this tournament.
USA in all white and Belgium in all red tonight.
The multi-coloured boots players wear makes it look even worse
What are the views on the new West Ham kit? I’m at a loss as to why, when the shirt is harking back to a mid-80s kit, they’ve gone with blue shorts and claret socks. The lack of blue sleeves should be enough to differentiate them from Villa and Burnley
I love the tag line they are using: “Inspired by success” That will be their “Championship” season as they call it where they finished 3rd!
I wonder if 2015-16 will be a ‘Championship’ season for them?!
Good to see Southampton back in stripes
Martyn – I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one! I think that the best of the ‘Tailored By..’ – particularly the Manchester City – were some way ahead of those by rival manufacturers.
Like you, I feel that the Everton strip is a strong design, yet spoiled somewhat by the sleeve logos – as for the Umbro lettering – well I’m sure it’ll grow on me! But I still feel Umbro should have stuck with the logo as is – after all, rival brands Nike, Adidas and Puma have been steadfast in not tampering with theirs over the past 15 years, and Umbro has as strong a history as any of those over that period.
I agree with Nick re Umbro.
Seeing as it’s been a while since I’ve shown a bad Gaelic games colour-clash, voila – http://www.sportsfile.com/id/881755/
Aside from the largely excellent set of strips provided for this WC, I’m disappointed adidas have acquiesced so readily to FIFA’s kit stipulations; given the strength of the brand – and I know they’re a FIFA sponsor – I’d expect them to fight these regulations more vigorously.
It means Spain’s main two strips received less exposure in the tournament. It leads to the ridiculous situation seen in yesterday’s quarter-final, whereby both France and Germany’s traditional strips are compromised, a state of affairs echoed in the earlier Argentina/Switzerland clash.
I’m surprised the big manufacturers have allowed this situation to unfold, given that it compromises the integrity of their strip designs, creating some unprecedented and odd combinations.
In saying that, I do think Germany look quite smart in all-white!
New Kappa VfL Wolfsburg kits…well classy – is there a case for saying that Kappa are consistently the most underrated kit supplier?
Also, if we’re talking tournament dodgy kit choices, what about the Euro ’88 final? Holland had to wear all orange as it would have apparently clashed with Russia’s all red, who ended up playing in all white, which meant Holland couldn’t wear their first choice. Bonkers.
Was that not just to avoid a shorts clash (even though there was one in their group game)?
Yeah, but when have orange and red ever clashed?
…Sorry, Mr Blatter!
Orange and red always a clash, in my book, and I’m definitely not the only one: http://www.truecoloursfootballkits.com/truecolours/the-arsenal-away-kit-situation
So I guess this week we’ll see Brazil in white shorts AGAIN, alongside the Netherlands minus their traditional white shorts AGAIN.
What a farce this is!
The sad thing is, all the kits worn by the semi-finalists are all really nice.
Mexico and Switzerland (once each) are the only countries to have worn white shorts with solid dark shirts
Never had an issue with Aberdeen wearing Red at Dundee United or Liverpool at Wolves.
Old gold, as Wolves have, is different to orange, as pedantic as that sounds.
Maybe red shirts v orange works okay with different coloured shorts/socks but I’d be uncomfortable with it.
Old gold, as worn by Wolves, is darker than orange, and I don’t think clashes with red either way. When we have situations where royal blue teams don’t change at teams wearing sky blue, orange v red is more than acceptable.
There are different shades of old gold and orange Martyn, I don’t think you can categorically say one is darker than the other. This pic is orange v red http://www.sportsfile.com/id/245275/
Cork in Cherry Red there which exaggerates the clash!
Well, granted, Denis, burnt orange v cherry red is a bit too close. I was referring principally to Dutch orange, which is light enough to be different from red, and old gold, which is usually trimmed with black, thereby differing from most of the teams who Wolves play against in red and white. It’s a question I think of light v dark. Common sense is the rule, but of course teams wearing yellow have often changed against teams in white (going back to the 80’s), which I think is ridiculous. In tonight’s game, will Germany have to wear red and black because Brazil are classed as ‘home’? In Mr Blatter’s eyes I’m sure that Germany’s white is too close to Brazil’s yellow…
But Germany’s shorts will be black, thereby clashing with Brazil’s blue – OH NO! So will we see Brazil or Germany in white shorts – yellow paired with white as we have already seen, and Germany’s DARK away shirt being paired with white shorts, both of which will look bloody awful?
On another note, and referring back to the original header on this page from last year, aren’t Liverpool’s kits this year a vast improvement? I like all three, though the home is a little over detailed. But good effort all round, Warrior.
Martyn – I think we’ll see Brazil in white shorts, and Germany in their away strip, sadly, although it’d be nice to think that, like in the 2002 final, both teams play in their traditional kits.
Hmm Martyn I’m still not convinced by Warrior as a manufacturer. To me, the detailing on Liverpool’s home and away kits looks as if lifted straight from the year 2001, and I’m really not sure what’s going on with the third strip.
One other gripe: the Warrior logo and liverbird badge should be the same gold colour – the sponsor’s logo is fine in white, but it just looks odd to see only the club badge in gold.
Every time Brazil and Germany have met in the World Cup Brazil have worn Yellow/Blue/Blue and Germany White/Black/White. I see no need to change this. FIFA are over officious arses.
Could see Germany in all white and Brazil in their green third kit?.
Brazil classed as the home side with the way the fixture is listed – should be yellow/blue/white vs white/black/white but more likely to be yellow/white/white vs red & black/black/black.
Nick – Warrior still not quite there, but definite improvements over the first two years of LFC supply – but yeah, the sponsor should be white and the other logos BOTH either yellow or gold. The Bayern kit from 11-13 had gold adidas logos & trim and a white sponsor and worked fine. But the little details count. Still annoys me intensely when you have striped kits where the stripes don’t line up properly or the sleeve stripes don’t flow from the body ones.
I know, it annoys me too!
The Liverpool home just looks unbalanced to me, without those two badges the same colour, and as you mention, on that Bayern kit in question – a very fine one – it worked well.
And on that Bayern strip, can you tell me why it had a – most welcome – two-year lifespan, and not the ones the preceded nor superseded it?
Finally, thoughts on the new Bayern away? I think it’s really nice – love the shade of blue.
Arsenal kits officially launched at 11pm. Home and away fine though I’d have preferred if hooped home socks were navy and white and if logos on away were navy rather than red.
I can’t wait to see what marketing guff accompanies the awful third, prob referencing the zig-zag from mod-90s
Incidentally, I wonder when was the last time that a PL club launched a new away kit which was the same colour as its predecessor? I know Everton had about three white aways in a row around 07-09
Nick,
My suspicion re the Bayern home kit lifespan is that the 09/10 kit was the last to feature the text T-Mobile logo before it switched to a single ‘T’ – there was some gumph at the time about the 10/11 being a ‘110 year anniversary kit’, and given that 10/11 was a low key season I suspect that the gold was added to try and inspire the team – didn’t work in 11/12 though! this will be the first time that all three kits have changed after a single season since 10/11 – the only away kit leak I’ve seen so far is white with red, blue and grey hoops on it – is that the one you mean? If so, I love it too.
Denis re Arsenal kits – I like the third ‘cos it’s so unusual – personally I think the lime green makes a nice contrast to the blue. And as we are talking about the club with some, well, psychedelic kits in their past, I think it’s mild by comparison! Glad to see Nike gone – still the worst decline I’ve ever seen from a kit supplier – from ’02 classics to ’14 tat, where did it go wrong? and if we’re talking teamwear contracts, the fact they’ve given Augsburg and Freiburg identical thirds is absolutely scandalous.
Just saw Man City’s new home kit…and…its…A ONE COLOUR KIT!!!! ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!! The curse of the World Cup is SPREADING!!!
New Baggies shirt – I think the award for worst premiership home shirt has been scooped. What the hell were adidas (or the guy who was in charge of selecting teamwear for West Brom) thinking?
The fact that the press release has to explicitly state that normal stripes will return next year shows that they know they’ve called it wrong!
adidas also cocked up with West Ham too. At least the Irons have a shirt that looks pretty similar to a classic from the 1980s, and adidas will probably be shipping a large number of white shorts (and possibly socks) to East London soon enough.
Manchester City have had all sky blue kits on several occasions in the past, including from 1976-85 inclusive. This is however the first one not to have any white in it and whilst I think light blue / dark blue is a good combo, without any white it looks a bit too close to Coventry.
The award for most superfluous kit of the season has to go to QPR. Their home shirt is officially blue and white hoops, but more accurately a white shirt with 3 blue hoops and a number of blue horizontal stripes on the front, together with white shorts and socks. Their 3rd kit? All white.
Still I’m sure it’ll come in handy at Crystal Palace.
As a City fan, I don’t mind our latest strip. It certainly seems an improvement, quality-wise, on the previous edition. Generally I prefer white shorts, but I think it looks smart. I only wish that – and this is a criticism I labelled at Umbro as well – that the shade of blue was darker, and closer to that sported throughout the 70s.
It’s a shame Nike can’t render the club badge to the same degree of quality as Umbro. Can’t help but notice that there just aren’t as many Nike shirts around on matchday as during the Umbro years – quality and price have seen to this.
One for Denis and GAA kit clashes. Cavan v Wicklow in an under 16 game at the weekend. Apparently both teams wore their home strips of blue shirts and white shorts. Any chance that you can locate a photo?
Nothing on either county’s website Ronan, unfortunately
Are Celtic likely to be the first team to wear four kits this season as they wore last seasons gold/yellow away kit last week against Helsinki? , seeing that they have introduced two new away kits for this season.
Good shout Scott!
Watch this space…Dortmund had a home, away, third, AND CL strip in their first year with Puma, and though the new ‘motorway warning sign’ home shirt and (quite frankly) stunning away SEEM to cover every eventuality, I wouldn’t discount a third kit – and I’m certain we’ll see a CL kit as well. Add to that their frequent (if not quite annual) ‘Xmas kit’ and occasional ‘Ruhr derby’ kit (for the Schalke game), it’s not beyond the realms of possibility we could see FIVE kits in 14/15.
Incidentally, Bayern actually wore five kits last season : 1. red & white home; 2. white and orange away until September; 3. white and green away from September; 4. all blue CL; 5. red and blue home ‘preview’ for the last league home game and the DFB final
In 2005, Cork City also wore five: http://www.corkcitykits.com/2005.html
Does anyone remember United wearing four kits in 96-97? Red home, plain white away (to replace the infamous grey number of the previous campaign!), blue and white-striped third (retained from the previous two campaigns), and then, debuting against Sunderland, an all-blue strip.
That match ended in a 2-1 reverse. How do I remember all this?! Phew. And I support their arch-rivals!
You’re right Nick, in 93, 95 and 97 they introduced third kits mid-season.
As mentioned in John’s book, Liverpool had four kits in 1999-2000 – normal home, gold away, previous season’s away at Bradford and *following* season’s away at Barcelona!
that was 2000/01 actually Denis 😉
also this season isn’t the only one where Celtic have used four kits, in 2007/08 they had four kits, none of which would have solved a kit clashing issue if they played another team that wore green and white!
home – the usual green and white hoops
away – bottle green
third – green and black stripes (previous season’s away kit)
fourth – white with green and yellow stripe (branded as the “European away” kit)
Strangely, Celtic wore the green and black striped kit at Hibernian, when the white kit would have been a better option, then later in the season wore the white kit with black shorts and socks from the third kit at Dunfermline (whose kit was black with white pinstripes that year). Bizarre.
Mea culpa Jon!
A couple of seasons in the 90s, AC Milan had an official fourth kit. In 95-96 the third was yellow and the fourth was blue, then the following year the third was all-black and the fourth all-red!
Re. New Man City kits – Am I missing something? Home – all sky blue; Away – graded blue; Third – purple and yellow…Put them all together and there is hardly any distinction – what will they wear at Everton I wonder?
Also, though it goes against every fibre of my being, I actually kinda like the new Man Utd third – the two shades of blue thing, using the collar as the ‘bridge’ is a really good idea – best Nike kit in a good long while – shame the home and away kits are so pedestrian. And why not just have the Chevy logo all yellow? the shading just looks naff when seen up close – and I can see a scenario where the logo will peel and flake after repeated washes. I had two Bayern away kits where the ‘Liga Total!’ sponsor logos flaked, and saw one on e-bay that had gone the same. Never had a problem with the ‘big T’.
I’ve never seen an issue with City wearing their home kit against a side in royal blue. I hate to get all ‘FIFA’ like, but it is light v dark, no porblem at all.
How many kits did crystal palace wear in 89-90?
795 – With the FA Cup Final Replay, one off kit, they wore 4.
Home – Red/Blue stripes, Red, Red
Away – All white with Red/Blue sash
Third – All Yellow
4th – Yellow/Black stripes, Black, Yellow
Andy,
I still think the notion of two teams playing against each other who are both in blue has visual problems…It’s like these ridiculous instances of royal blue teams having navy away shirts. After all, would you see Arsenal play West Ham both in their home shirts, despite it being (essentially) light v dark? Wolves v Norwich? I do think there are some bizarre kit choices around, but my point is that the new City kits don’t make enough distinction. Wouldn’t City fans rather have a red and black striped away with a white third?
Martyn, I disagree that Red v Claret is light v dark.
The City Navy shirt is probably sold to be paired with jeans.
Red v Claret is IMO light v dark, if it follows that sky v royal blue is the same.
I know that ‘lifestyle considerations’ are influencing football kits, but my point is that it’s pointless as a kit – if adidas and Bayern could do a white away shirt and market as a ‘fashion item’ AND it works as an away shirt, why couldn’t Nike and City?
Trust me, when the match between City and Everton does happen at Goodison, the s**t will hit the fan – especially considering the lack of white shorts for City – sky blue WILL be deemed too close to Everton’s white, leading to a horribly mismatched pair of shorts, which will in turn clash with Everton’s shirts, which MAY NOT be allowed…come on Denis, back me up on this!
Its a LOGIC BLACK HOLE…in the same way that FIFA didn’t let Holland wear their orange shorts with the royal blue away in the WC, which would have enabled Brazil to wear their first choice shorts…
And mentioning the new Bayern away shirt, if anyone wonders why the red used on it is more claret, the answer is that Bayern used a much darker hue until the early sixties, so technically, its actually more traditional. Also, they didn’t adopt an all red strip as a permanent home kit until the mid 70’s – from ’65 to ’73 they had all red, all white, red and blue, red with white sleeves, red with white pinstripes, and finally, the classic all red adidas sponsored ’74 – the strip then remained basically the same until the adidas equipment era brought blue back in, though with some 80’s fashions (shoulder flashes, diagonal pinstripes etc) creeping in.
Just in case anyone was wondering.
Didn’t palace have an all blue and all red kit sponsored by virgin airlines around that time. I really must dig the books out of the loft.
Red v Claret debate: Arsenal did wear red away to West Ham and Aston Villa probably around 1994 / 1995 and it didn’t look good at all, and (in my opinion) caused a terrible clash. Someone must have a photo stashed somewhere…..
I’m not 100% comfortable with royal v sky, but I don’t think it’s as bad as red v claret. City should of course have an alternative option and if their third is that purple one doing the rounds then that’s senseless
Man utd wore red shirts black shorts and socks in jan 96 at upton park
Thanks Denis!
The claret v red example was just an illustration…perhaps a better one would be Wolves v Norwich – old gold v yellow – never happens does it? Going back to City, I can see a scenario where they have last seasons charcoal grey on at Goodison, thereby making a complete mockery of the purple third.
Also, another pet hate : Saw the Emirates cup match between Benfica and Valencia on TV – Valencia had their orange and blue away on (identical template to Schalke’s 12-14 home incidentally, except the white shoulder bar), and the players names are white, but the number is blue, making it near impossible to read except close up!
Lastly, that new Arsenal home is a stunner – love it.
re 804.. heres a programme cover from the west ham v arsenal match in 94/95 season..
http://football-programmes.net/view_prog.php?progID=26802
Crazy in retrospect, especially with shorts and socks. You’d assume that refs considered Arsenal’s navy away to be more of a clash, but I’m fairly sure they didn’t change at Upton Park in 96-97 either, when the away was yellow
Is it just my tastes or are the respective third strips for West Ham and Everton vile?
Haven’t seen West Ham’s, the OCD part of me wants blue and black trim on Everton’s
Just saw it there, my issue is what purpose a purple third serves
Its rubbish isn’t it? Much as the ‘light kit/dark kit’ rubbish in the world cup rightly earned criticism, what happened to the whole principle of a third kit? Not to go on, but Bayern, for example have a red and blue home; all white away; and all black third – even Real Madrid have an all white home, pink away, and black third. I understand the limitations of fitting into templates for teamwear contract teams, but why couldn’t West Ham have an all white away, and all sky third with claret diagonal stripes on it?
Just seen the new Newcastle home kit, which yet again hasn’t got proper stripes on the back (a massive black patch), but the goalkeeper shirt is the very dark grey/black Puma template with green on the front – surely this wouldn’t be permitted at the same time.
As for West Ham’s third kit, it’s smart but not very functional!
The opening round of fixtures in the Championship brought an ongoing issue to mind: when will that horrible name and numbering font used in the lower leagues be changed?
It’s terrible and looked dated upon its inception and is, most importantly, barely even legible. Personally, I much preferred the previous version, but it’s time for a change.
Thoughts?
My thoughts are that you are absolutely spot-on Nick. It’s awful and was from day one. Watched the Bristol Rovers v Grimsby game from the Conference yesterday and the font on their shirts are clear and well thought out.
I quite like the Football League font but agree it isn’t the most legible, I quite like both the West Ham and Everton third kits! The one kit I still haven’t warmed to is the Arsenal home!
Yes Ronan, that font used (no idea what it’s called) is very close to that used previously in the lower leagues, and before that I remember Nike having something very similar in France ’98.
It looks so much cleaner, and could even have white trim around the names to make them even more visible. Hopefully a design similar to this is brought in for next season; it’s been 10 seasons with the current design, and a change is most definitely overdue.
So which of their 3 kits will West Ham wear at Aston Villa & Burnley this season ? going to have be the sky blue away one.. Has nobody at the club questioned the 3rd Purple shirt ?
Quite silly Tony isn’t it? Especially as West Ham’s sky blue away forced Villa to wear white at Villa Park a few years ago.
@Martyn – Why do Bayern always have their goalkeepers in the front row for team pictures?
Nobody noticed the socks problem then…
http://kitclashes.wordpress.com/
Good question Denis! I don’t think it’s a Bayern thing exclusively – most of the Bundesliga teams do it. Also, there is a trend amongst some of the teams to include their mascots in the team photo! But I haven’t thought about it. The trend in England is for the GK’s to be in the middle isn’t it? More often than not in Germany that’s where the coaching staff stand.
Re fonts – I personally preferred the Mark 1 Premier League fonts more than the current ones – but loved the Umbro ones from 94-95. Also the adidas ones used in 95-96 – one of the few fonts to be legible on the Newcastle home shirt without using a third colour – the white trimmed with black stood out perfectly against the stripes.
Denis (2),
Just checked – every one of the Bundesliga teams have the GK’s in the front row – that’s all 3 divisions. Training staff usually fill the middle row, outside of middle and top, or top.
Martyn – of the PL sets, I loved the first incarnation but I do think the current design is an improvement.
I loved those Umbro fonts too – I really liked the Chelsea design of the ’12 UCL victory; those were fairly similar to the 90’s designs.
Yes, that adidas font was a classic – loved it on the Newcastle and Liverpool strips of that 95-96 season!
Still got some Old PL and FL letters/numbers if anyone wants any!
Went to the Inbetweeners 2 last night and Jay is wearing a repro England 1990 away shirt, but the Umbro logo is in navy rather than white as on the real thing. Is this done so as to be able to differentiate the newer ones from the ‘real’ ones?
Did the repro version not also have some writing in gold above the logo ring? Could have swore I spotted that before
That was the same in the first film, wasn’t it Denis?
Also, why do Nike/Manchester United no longer issue their players with long-sleeved shirts? It’s clear that they don’t, as Fellaini opts for the longer version for Belgium and did so for Everton (previously also Nike-supplied) as well.
#828 there are quite a few teams who seem to do this and have pretty much done away with issuing long sleeved shirts, the only reasoning for this I can see is for the kitmans ease just carrying 1 type of shirt and a bunch of undershirts rather than carrying a mix of long and short sleeves, sad as I am a fan of the long sleeved shirt!
It’s very sad isn’t it David! I know there’s no way that they won’t die out altogether, but Nike are one of the worst culprits at this, given they didn’t even manufacture long-sleeve commercial versions of the most recent England strip.
I didn’t even know that about the England strip, and to think I used to complain about companies not doing proper cuffs at the end of the sleeve to hardly being able to track them down!
At least Arsenal will always have them (I hope, anyway!)
I know we don’t talk about them much, but I love the new home Arsenal socks. weird I know, but I love thickly hooped socks – I think overall Puma have managed to stamp their identity on the whole strip, while still retaining enough original features to be ‘Arsenal-ly’.
As a Bayern fan, two of my favourite recent home strips was the 99-01 with blue arms, side panels, and hooped socks, all trimmed classily with white; and the 07-09 with a hoop style shirt and hooped socks, which started white and red and evolved in the second year to red with white.
Re. Long sleeve shirts – adidas do them!
Agree re the 99-01 Bayern kit Martyn, a lovely balance to it. Also liked the socks with the 00-02 CL kit, even if they weren’t historically accurate.
Big fan of the new Arsenal socks too, though I’d love a pair of navy and white socks at some stage in the future.
With kits being changed every year now, we might see navy back in 15-16…
How do TC contributors feel about most teams changing all three kits every year? As a replica shirt buying fan, I am now turning to e-bay to get the new ones. Picking and choosing is not really an option, because adidas don’t do duff kits for Bayern!
Slightly off-topic and should live in another article. Dundee being back in the Scottish Premier are causing kit issues like they did a couple years back, the home kit is navy/white/navy and away is sky (a dark shade of sky for want of a better description) and white stripes/navy/white and a third kit in red, so last night when playing ICT who are all blue they wore their standard away kit which meant again Dundee being involved with 1 team wearing blue against a team in blue and white stripes, in 2012-13 they done this by wearing blue versus Kilmarnock in stripes whilst having a red third top which would have avoided any clash at all! Not only did they do it against Kilmarnock but at the time Hibs had a dark green shirt which at Easter Road Dundee wore navy and the next time they came they finally saw sense and wore red
I wouldn’t be a fan, as kits don’t have long enough to become established.
I was proud that Arsenal were the only PL side to have home shirts on a two-year cycle but Puma have insisted on three new ones a year now.
Making the previous season’s away the third was a great idea and it’s a pity that most clubs have stopped it.
New PL handbook available to view today – http://www.premierleague.com/content/dam/premierleague/site-content/News/publications/handbooks/premier-league-handbook-2014-15.pdf – and features three third kits I hadn’t been aware of:
Burnley (silver, opposite of away)
Hull (white/blue)
Newcastle (green/navy)
Martyn, I think it’s an appalling habit. Some may feel it compels designers to get more creative; some may feel it leads to barrel-scraping. I am in the latter camp – I’d much prefer home and away strips released on alternating cycles, with away strips becoming third strips.
Had a quick look at the handbook, I see Villa don’t have a third choice kit, against Stoke and Sunderland will they wear claret? Bit of a clash in my eyes
Is it “pointless third kit” season this time around? Man City’s purple kit is official then, and rather superfluous given that all three kits they got would technically clash with any teams wearing blue.
Then you got West Ham’s questionable decision to have a purple third kit, which will no doubt be worn on a whim on the final day of the season just like the black shirt did last season.
Then there’s Hull City’s white third kit, which would have been acceptable but for the bizarre decision to have a black away strip. What will they wear at Newcastle? Same applies to QPR, who no doubt have gone for the all white third kit as a nod to their 1967 League Cup winning team, but again none of their kits are of any use at Newcastle.
In fact Newcastle are going to cause a problem for some teams because come to think of it Swansea need to get a third kit arranged, especially as for their away kit, the back is plain black, and Newcastle’s home shirt has a black back too.
Nick (839),
Given a choice I’d rather Bayern alternated their kits – they have for most of the last forty years (except for a few occasions), whereas the CL/Euro kits usually lasted for one. I don’t know if it’s a permanent thing – they are sponsored by T-Mobile so have changed kits when their logos have changed (like when the Liga Total! home service was dropped); similarly it may be that with 15-16 being their 115th year they may wish to ‘reset’ the kits. We’ll see – all three kits are stunners this year, so I wouldn’t like to guess which one would be dropped, if they were to retain one.
Superflous third kits really p**s me off…I thought the pinnacle of idiocy was the Warrior Liverpool away and thirds in year one and two (thankfully sorted for year three) but I think several kit suppliers have gone completely mad this year! However, Arsenal, Spurs, Man Utd, and Liverpool are the exceptions – I would say Chelsea but I’m not sure how that black and sky one will work in practice – to me, from a distance I think the colours will ‘bleed’ and appear navy, thereby causing problems. I think they should do a white/red pinstripes kit like that early 90’s Umbro one – that WAS a nice kit that doesn’t get mentioned much. Red should be used more IMO by Chelsea, being closely tied to the Chelsea Pensioners. To quote an old saying, ‘it’s not where you’re at, it’s where you’re from’.
I fear that the ship has sailed where Bayern are concerned, Martyn.
It’s hard to be annoyed at Bayern for having a constant turnaround of kits as they are always do good! I can’t think of another club who has had a run of so many nice kits especially the away and third ones
Denis -(blindly) optimistic, that’s me!
David – agreed. adidas always seem to understand what makes a good Bayern kit – I gather that a lot of FCB fans weren’t keen on the 08-10 navy away, but that’s one of my favourites. The shadow pattern was just something a bit special that lifted the whole kit – if I want to ‘go retro’, that’s the one I bring out.
Third Kits should be no colour that is in either the home or away shirt or in the same light/dark grouping. i.e. navy home shirt then not black for 3rd .
Seeing as some of the current 3rd shirts dont solve any kit clashes at all.
Agreed Tony, its bonkers isn’t it? The Bayern kits keep with the trusty red home, white away, dark third, but there are so many examples of suppliers having near identical aways and thirds this season, that quite frankly, most matches could conceivably see both teams having to change! Unusually, Man Utd are one of the few English exceptions – ironic that they revive adidas’ 80’s kit pallet one season before returning to them, while being manufactured by Nike!
Unnecessary Away Kits Worn #1 Hull City v QPR yesterday..
I’m sure many of us will be happily noting the interchangeable nature of Hull City’s home and away shorts!
Much better than the crazy situation of 2 seasons ago where they had 2 black and 2 amber pairs of near identical shorts!
Re: 841 I don’t forsee a problem with Swansea or Hull wearing white at Newcastle or QPR weaing their home strip at St James’ Park. Newcastle’s shirt has a black back and with that dopey back v shaped panel on the front not alot of white. No clash for me.
White names and numbers on the sky-blue West Ham away, who thought it was a good idea?
Re:851 I expect QPR to wear their home at Newcastle. Would be the kit that clashed the least out of their 3.Swansea’s kits may be more of a problem when they play at Stoke or Sunderland.
The Gaelic Athletic Association have decided that there is no need for a change of colours in the All-Ireland football final, thoughts? http://www.prideinthejersey.com/kerrydonegal2014.html
I have to admit I don’t have a huge issue with that clash, if anything was to be switched maybe just the socks
I was also watching England v Norway last night, is it just me or have Norway had that kit for ages? When was it released?
David, ironically the socks are the one thing which definitely don’t need any change as most players wear them down!
2012. Its a nice kit though.
As for colour clashes (or the lack of them), during the Newcastle vs Palace match, the boys from Croydon changed into their change kit. I have no idea why, especially when given that Palace are playing in a shirt that is pretty much equal amounts red and blue (with yellow as the third colour), so they should have plenty of chances to wear that against teams when there is a clash.
On England, hopefully the next kit will have blue shorts (and maybe socks).
No problem with it at all Denis, there is no clash anymore. There was certainly a need for both teams to change in 2012 (also not forgetting Kerry wearing blue in a subsequent league match, even though it was in Killarney) as the previous Donegal top had plenty of green in it. The excellent jersey that they have on their return to ‘O’Neills’ eliminates the problem .
Hadn’t linked to the excellent article before I wrote that Denis but I keep my point. The third combination shown would definitely keep everybody happy though!
Also I take it that like Man Utd and various other teams, England have stopped issuing l/s shirts to players, can’t think of seeing any England player wear a regular l/s top since they went to Nike
re:841 I believe Swansea will use last season’s away shirt as a 3rd shirt this year.
i for one would love a long sleeved england shirt. very annoyed that there isn’t one available. i usually only buy long sleeved shirts so will not be buying one until nike produce one. i can’t stand the use of the “base layer” under a short sleeved shirt.
I too usually tend to mostly but long sleeve shirts, however I don’t mind base layers under short sleeve shirts – I tend to wear that in deepest darkest winter as it’s warmer than a regular long sleeve but I hate it when clubs only issue base later and don’t have a long sleeve alternative!
#854 – No problem with it.Donegal/Mayo worked out fine in 2012.
If anything if this was the early 90s the Donegal shirt would be something of a compromise given that they had a similar shirt to Kerry.
Not much of a debate to be had here with us and Ronan the only real GAA fans on this site.
Unnecessary away shirts worn #2 QPR in their 3rd kit at United today when their home shirt would be fine.
Newcastle home black shorts away at Southampton : Discuss…
Short clashes are not an issue for officials Martyn, Clubs are not even required to change in the PL.
City’s new cup kit is appalling. If you couple a horrible colour combination and a phoned-in template you’ve got one hell of an unholy union; sadly all the big clubs in Nike’s stable have landed the same template.
If you throw in the extortionate price of Nike’s strips, they’re having a laugh, aren’t they?
Nick – Yes – just saw a rundown of Nike’s new kits (including their ‘top’ contracts), and they are completely interchangeable. The teamwear kits, too, especially in Germany, are shocking – no variety at all. It angers me when people slag off adidas when they at least change different elements of their kits, ie collars, sleeve trim etc. Nike only change the colours, sponsors and badges! Shocking, absolutely shocking.
Andy – short clashes used to apply all the time – example: Newcastle wearing white away shorts, Spurs with the same, Man Utd black, etc, etc. I know it might not be the rules, but surely common sense? after all, clubs used away shorts even in the 70’s.
It’s terrible isn’t it Martyn? As I’ve said before, I certainly won’t be buying any Nike kit whatsoever, not a chance.
They are appalling and their popularity, resting as it does on some tenuous notion of ‘cool’, is mystifying. It’s quite a simple business model: maximise the price whilst minimising the cost to make the product. 55 quid! The gulf in quality between Umbro’s last offerings for City and England and those by Nike is staggering.
And Martyn, do you if the very smart current Bayern home strip will have a two-year lifespan?
Never mind Newcastle wearing black shorts at Southampton, wouldn’t their silver away kit have been a better option?
As for Man City that third kit has to be one of the most pointless of the season, equal pegging with West Ham also having a purple third strip. Doesn’t make any sense at all.
P.S. after watching some Champions League matches over the last 2 days, is it me or do the new Champions League referee strips look extremely odd with having black shirts, grey shorts and black socks?
Nick (871) – I don’t know, but I doubt it. In my opinion, all three shirts could be carried over, but it would only be the home or away (a Euro shirt hasn’t been used for two seasons for about ten years). adidas have excelled themselves with these three, so it would be a shame if they did only last for one season. Interestingly, with the away shirts second shorts being claret, Bayern actually play in something not too far away from their original colours (adidas introduced all red in the mid 60’s) – the first Bayern red was closer to claret.
I’d like to see both the home and away carried over, and I think it’s a shame last season’s Euro/third wasn’t used this term – it was a beauty, fantastic colour combination.
Assuming Arsenal wear their away kit at Villa Park tomorrow, it will be the third season in a row that they will have worn yellow there. That must surely be a record in modern times?
Nick (874) – Yeah, loved that one – three shades of blue with red trim made a nice change after a run of black / charcoal euro kits. I do like this seasons, but it is a bit close to the 12/13 euro – the only major difference is red as a second colour instead of that seasons orange.
“West Ham in their traditional claret and blue,” says Simon Brotherton on MOTD. Techincally correct, but….
Yeah, I spotted that claret and blue line. Poor.
And then to City-Chelsea today….
http://kitclashes.wordpress.com/
My kit OCD is going haywire today with both Man City and Chelsea in all blue today, I know it’s not particularly a clash but I feel the sensible option would have been for Chelsea to be in yellow
I have spoken with someone on Facebook who says he saw Coventry play Villa in 82/83 season and Cov wore a yellow version of the Talbot T kit. I have never seen a photo of this, is anyone aware of it? I have checked online everything else he remembers stacks up, Villa won 4-0 and it was March 83 so during the time they wore they Talbot Kit.
Interesting if so, Andrew.
As a ref, what were your thoughts on City-Chelsea yesterday? I’d have felt that there was sufficient contrast
As I siad on twitter, never had an issue with sky blue v royal blue. FIFA would have been happy too, Light v Dark! They would probably have stopped Chelsea changing to yellow
Andy,
If I was a betting man, I’d say it was in fact the last Admiral yellow away (tram line kit), which did have Talbot sponsorship – in the early 80’s clubs were less bothered about supplier exclusivity (and Admiral at that time were as good as bankrupt anyway).
With regards to ever bizarre kit choices, I still think sky v royal SHOULD be considered a clash…ok, visually during the game it was no problem, but to me (I know I’m being picky) blue is still blue. Everything in England is commercially driven – even the timing of kit launches, so a club can ‘unveil’ a new kit in ‘next weeks game’. Back in the 90’s, apart from some problems with stripes etc, nine times out of ten the right strip would be selected. OK, it didn’t always work out, but when a club unveiled a kit, it was always done with consideration for which teams they would probably be playing, with a crafty eye on the design as a nice bonus – one example is the yellow Chelsea away of 96-98 – the yellow to avoid a clash, the faded blue stripes and all round snazziness to look good on the high street. Now, especially Nike seem to think of the high street first – how else do you explain some of their colour selections? If they checked their Man City history they would know that red and black is the favoured away with white the most popular third.
Martyn a change strip is required when there is a clash, in your words “visually during the game it was no problem” then it’s no problem, surely?
I did have an issue with Stoke wearing Navy socks at Sunderland in the League Cup, surely a pale blue pair are available with that kit?
No problem it may have been, but to me its still WRONG. Back in the 90’s you rarely saw Coventry or Man City going to Chelsea with anything other than their away kit (or vice versa). What changed?
I think logic changed, Martyn. Somebody clearly wondered why things had unquestioningly been done the same way as always.
Cork City playing Sligo Rovers tonight, Sligo is blue shirts and shorts with white socks, their goalkeeper has a purple shirt, black shorts and white socks.
Just watched Bundesliga highlights for the mid week games – Leverkusen played in all red with black trim at home against Augsburg, who wore their all bottle green away kit. Doesn’t seem like a bad clash in theory, but in practice, it was very difficult to tell them apart. Augsburg’s home kit, although having red side bars, is predominantly white, so would’ve worked much better.
And back on the ‘silly kit choice’ debate, Denis, I agree. Clearly, as I said in an earlier post, commercial considerations are over riding common sense. Back in the mid 90’s, when I first started following football, it was very rare to even SEE a third kit…Imagine that! They mostly got used in friendlies and cup games, and the marketing at the time barely mentioned them. While I think a lot of things have changed for the better since ’95, that is one area of modern football that stinks IMO. As usual, sadly, the people who run the game won’t do anything, leaving us with bizarre clashes and meaningless kits all over the place.
One final point – I’ve been a huge critic of Nike over the last few weeks, but the new Hertha Berlin home kit is absolutely gorgeous – blue and white striped shirts, blue shorts, and white socks : Fresh, uncluttered, simple and effective. Now why is the rest of their roster a dogs dinner?
Re Martyn’s comment 890, that’s why I’m willing to give Chelsea a pass on the City game. If I were the Kits Commissioner, I’d probably look for a change just for 100% clarity, but Chelsea wearing their home is at least an antidote to wearing an away needlessly.
Comment 889 is an example of the opposite of City-Chelsea, not a paper-clash but definitely one in practice.
I think the ultimate answer would be to formulate some kind of colour table, to be referred to when an ambiguous clash occurs – it wouldn’t be too difficult, surely? I’m not talking about that nonsense with shorts at the World Cup, just a general guideline, to stop all clashes. For example, colour A could be red, so B logically could be blue, white, black, and C could be yellow. So, take Liverpool as an example : home is all red; they play a team in a red kit so switch to white; if the team is in red AND white they switch to yellow. It would lead to some headaches, I know, mainly because it’s too much common sense for the people who run the game, but wouldn’t it make life easier? It would also enable clubs to bring back old kit favourites from the days when it all made sense – using Palace as another example : home is red and blue; they play a team in red and switch to white (of course, it would HAVE to have the sash on it); if the team wears red and white they switch to the ‘Brazil’ yellow/blue/white colours. Would this make the fans happier? I think so.
In the 95-96 campaign (a fine one for Umbro designs) both Everton and Chelsea wore their home strips when playing at Maine Road against City, save for changes in shorts and socks respectively; likewise Villa and West Ham sported their first-choice colours.
Personally, I don’t have a problem with either Everton or Chelsea wearing royal blue against City – though who knows what we’ll wear against them this season!
Was I the only one surprised that Spurs wore white socks on Saturday?
Was at the game and didn’t even notice they were in white socks too .
Think I must be in the minority! Back in the mid 90’s, as I recall, Everton had black change shorts, so OK, not too bad. Also, the City kit in 95-96 was VERY light, and trimmed with white and just a tiny bit of navy, so that was probably why Chelsea went there with the home shirt – it was quite dark as well. Change shorts can sometimes make the difference.
i thought that Tottenham would change as our socks are still predominantly white, focus moves onto Arsenal now when they visit Chelsea at the weekend…
Martyn, this website shows Everton in all-blue (save for black stripes on socks) but you’re right, that was a very pale blue worn by City – bit darker and it would’ve been an even nicer kit.
http://www.citytilidie.com/latest/everton-home-1995-to-96/
I was surprised Spurs didn’t change to navy socks either, I would imagine given this Arsenal will wear the regular home socks at Stamford Bridge
Another thing that has irked me this season so far has been (predominantly in the FL) goalkeepers wearing orange kits against or for teams in red, is it that hard for a complete contrast to be supplied?!
re: 894 Surely Manchester City will have to wear their home kit at Chelsea/Everton/Leicester this season.
Spurs also IMO clashed with Arsenal, given that the Gunners kit this season has an awful lot of white on it. Would’ve made them wear the yellow kit if it was down to me.
Also, in the Bundesliga, VfB Stuttgart wore their red away kit at home to Hannover, who had their black away kit on – odd? Hannover’s home kit is red/black/white, and Stuttgart’s is all white – the only red element on the kit is the broad white chest bar, and Hannover wearing all black was a sufficient solution. So why did VfB wear their away kit?
Re: Clashes… The FA/FL inform all clubs at the start of the season of any possible clashes so they can sort them early.
The problem occurs as the matchday referee has the final say…. which leads to weird mix/matches!
Martyn, Tottenham have only ever once worn an away kit v Woolwich, in 2012-13, the grey and black halves. It wasn’t even need then.
I still think that the Man City V Chelsea kit choice should’nt be allowed. Not a fan of hooped sock’s these day’s so i would make Arsenal change their sock’s for the return fixture.
They didn’t look like Tottenham that day but fortunately they played like Tottenham, another 5-2 hiding from North (and South) London’s finest…..
Perhaps a shade off-topic, but I’ve set up a blog about squad numbers: http://squadnumbers.wordpress.com
Interesting Denis.
I have my own preferences, being as I am a long time follower of German football.
In no particular order :
At the 2008 European Championships, Miroslav Klose wore number 11, with Lukas Podolski wearing number 10 but playing left attacking midfield – the number 9 was Mario Gomez, who had a horrendous tournament; the 9 could be said to be an unlucky number for Germany in recent years – Keissling had it in ’10 but was only a squad member; Andre Schurrle (while superb when called upon) found himself a super sub only in ’12 and ’14 (and is not a centre forward anyway but an attacking midfielder).
High squad numbers : Gerd Muller wore 13 in ’70 and ’74 because his favourite player was Max Morlock, who wore 13 in ’54.
9’s playing in midfield : Does look wrong – sometimes players pick 9 ‘because its the only one left; similarly Zidane wore 5 at Real Madrid because 10 and 21 were taken; Luis Figo and Ronaldo had to respectively leave and wait for 7 because Raul had it.
Captains wearing high numbers : Philipp Lahm wears number 21 for Bayern because its the number he’s always had – Bayern players tend to stick with the numbers they wore as young players; hence Thomas Muller has 25 when he wears 13 for Germany (only worn because Ballack missed WC 2010 through injury); Bastian Schweinsteiger wears 31 but 7 for his country; and Alaba has 27 with Badstuber 28 – they both could have taken 2 or 3 when they became available. Alonso has taken 3 despite always previously wearing 14 because Pizarro has always had 14 for Bayern – 3 was one of the few numbers still available and kinda makes sense because 4-1 = 3. I did read an article recently that said Lizarazu wore 69 when he came back to Bayern after a year away because Lucio had taken his old 3 shirt; he chose 69 because it was the year he was born (not anything rude!).
I guess it depends WHY a player wears a number – sometimes its lucky; a favourite; or a tribute to a former great – back to Zidane, apparently he avoided the 10 at Juventus to avoid Platini comparisons. So 21 it was.
Noticed Arsenal changed to red socks today, as they usually do at Chelsea. Spurs should have had the good grace to do the same.
Don’t get me started on other issues that arose this weekend… Actually, I already did:
http://kitclashes.wordpress.com/
Really enjoyed the squad numbers blog, btw!
Thanks Matt, it was half-inspired by yours!
Navy v Black shorts at WHL as well, and the ref was wearing Black shorts too! No wonder Spurs players kept giving the ball away!
I do like a good discussion on squad numbers. For example: Rochdale’s no.8 shirt is one to be avoided recently….
If there’s any chance you can promote mine on twitter I’d appreciate it, the True Colours seal of approval always helps!
Interesting bit of trivia : Most German teams don’t have a number 12 – it’s given to the fans as a symbolic gesture.
Also, who else thinks the trend in Italy and other countries to keep going with squad numbers is rather daft? The highest Bayern squad number I can remember is Tymoschuk wearing number 44. Seeing players in Serie A and others wearing 77, 88 and the like just irritates me. I remember Ivan Zamorano playing for Inter, and because Ronaldo wore number 9, which was the Chilean’s favourite number, he wore 18 – the twist being the small ‘+’ between the digits. 1 + 8 = 9. Simple eh?
Back to shirt clashes, which donut thought that it was OK for Augsburg (them again) to wear their bottle green away kit at Wolfsburg, playing in lime green with white shorts? Especially when FCA’s third shirt is charcoal grey and black (!) Bonkers!
Martyn – leave those comments on my blog, I could do with generating debate!
Bottle Green v Lime Green is Dark v Light Martyn.
We slate teams for unnecessarily changing to an away kits, but then moan when there is no visual clash but as both teams have the ‘word’ green or blue in their shirt colour (i.e. Sky Blue v Royal Blue)
I’m with Andrew too – just because two colours share part of a name doesn’t necessarily mean they clash
Augsburg were actually playing in their charcoal grey and black third kit at Wolfsburg…
https://www.vfl-wolfsburg.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Bilder/Alle_News/2014/Profis/141005_VfL_FCA_2.jpg
Though quite why they couldn’t wear their “reverse Ajax” style home shirt I don’t know.
I realised that when I saw the highlights! In my defence, I saw a still shot on kicker.de which clearly showed the bottle green away shirt…must have been a pre-season friendly this year – I know it was that one because it has a shadow pattern of the club crest to the lower right hand side.
Previous comments : My point was not light v dark – we’ve all been waging that one for weeks; my point was needlessly changing. Why did Augsburg even change? They could have worn the shorts of the third kit with the ‘reverse Ajax’ home – Freiburg have done the same thing this year with no fuss.
OK, new debate : Who has had the best kit combinations in the PL WITHOUT the need for a third kit? I was thinking about this the other day, influenced by this seasons ridiculous third kits. I reckon Blackburn, 94-95. Blue and white halved home with white shorts & blue socks, black and red pinstriped away shirt with red shorts and black socks. Perfect, and great kits by the (much missed) Asics. Also adidas’ first Newcastle kits – that hooped away shirt was a beut, and with the home being monochromatic, the coloured away made perfect sense. I was never too comfortable with the amount of black away shirts worn by the Magpies, but this set was IMO the best. Chelsea around the same time had their yellow away which, coupled with a lighter home featuring more white on it, covered every eventuality. Numerous times over the years, Man City fell back on the trusty red and black away, which always solved a clash, especially when paired with a paler home with white trim. What does everyone else think?
And just to be random, has anyone ever seen Angel Di Maria and Ed Milliband in the same room? No?
best PL kit combinations : Arsenal 2010/11 . 1970’s style home kit and the yellow/redcurrant trim away kit.
Yep I agree Tony – fantastic set of kits. Loved how that yellow-redcurrent enjoyed a three-year lifespan, both novel and deserved.
Also, didn’t Arsenal’s game against Chelsea highlight once again how much better they look with red socks?
Yeah I think Arsenal should have red socks.
Just seen ny jets v broncos on ssn. Both in white pants andthe jets green was really difficult to make out specially in the end zone.
Missed that game, watching Seattle against Dallas with their various shades of silver now.
Noticed a few journalists on Twitter earlier who were baffled by England wearing red v Estonia. I replied saying that it was because of the shorts clash and England tend not to mix white shirts with dark socks but they mustn’t have noticed.
Denis – I think it’s probably for the best – it’s good they gave the red kit an airing! I remember them wearing red in 2007 in Tallinn as well.
Oh I know Nick, I don’t mind it at all, just funny to see the likes of Jonathan Wilson and Keir Radnedge so flustered!
Ha, what did they say?
Wilson reckoned that England changed the last time because of a shorts clash but couldn’t see the need now. Radnedge thought maybe there was a clash with the officials’ yellow kits.
Bottom line – journalists are bluffers.
Today, Jonathan Wilson is complaining about Spurs wearing their away kit at Man City
929 – Thanks for that Denis. Ill avoid ye in future 😉
Derby County wore their navy away shirt at Reading yesterday when surely the yellow third was a better alternative especially as they were using white shorts which aren’t part of any of their kits this season. http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/10/18/1413654279147_wps_40_Football_Reading_v_Derby_.jpg
I was wondering if anyone knows why Nike don’t issue long-sleeve shirts to the teams they outfit? The only exceptions seem to be Arsenal (when they were Nike-supplied) and the odd individual (Pique, Ronaldo for Portugal).
Replica long-sleeve England shirts aren’t even available – is this an indication that Nike’s focus is on promoting their baselayer range? A great shame if true.
Celtic also have long sleeved player shirts. I would have bought an England shirt if they did a long sleeved shirt. I can’t stand the base layer shirt under a short sleeved shirt. In my opinion they are not part of the normal kit so should not be seen.
I agree Scott. It just seems pretty shameful on the part of Nike to push long-sleeve shirts to the margins. Without them the game is stripped of a little novelty – who could forget the likes of Darren Anderton and Steve McManaman gripping the cuffs of their sleeves!
Alan Biley at Portsmouth is the “Cuff Gripper” I recall from way back when.
Why are Everton wearing un-sponsored shirts tonight against Lille ??
Alcohol advertising is banned at matches in France. Liverpool had the same issue when they were sponsored by Carlsberg.
Oh right. Thanks for the answer.
Newcastle once had Centre Parcs on their shirts in France as, I beleive, they were owned by Scottish Newcastle Breweries.
Likewise, Celtic had the logo of Tipperary Mineral Water in recent times instead of Magners
Another case of wearing an away kit for no reason and causing more of a clash Example no. 12,408,159,135: Rotherham wearing white at Brighton when there was nothing at all wrong with the red kit!!
That person who does the Kit Clashes blog would have a field day here.
What are everyone’s thoughts on Everton’s third kit? It’s an unusual colour combination and while I’d usually prefer a more conventional white/royal combo, it’s rather growing on me.
The home, however, is an absolute stunner. Excess Umbro logos notwithstanding, it’s the kit of the season for me.
It’s a nice kit Nick, kind of retro, though I too would prefer if it were royal trim.
I didn’t see West Ham-Man City, were there any distinguishability issues? I recall City’s navy kit being troublesome at Villa Park a few seasons ago.
http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article4504615.ece/alternates/s615/West-Ham-v-Manchester-City.jpg No there was no clash at all .
Have West Ham ever had a yellow away kit in their history ?
Can’t recall West Ham having had a yellow away strip – certainly not in recent times.
Don’t West Ham usually rotate navy, sky blue, and white as their away colours?
Also, there rumours that Umbro have signed a five-year contract to supply West Ham’s kit from next season onwards.
Schalke’s away shirt from last year, carried over to this, is white with navy trim despite the club wearing royal blue (which is also their nickname) home shirts, so I wasn’t surprised when Umbro/Everton did it. Similarly, Bayern’s new away shirt has a much darker red trim colour (and second shorts) than the home – actually closer to their original shade of red.
Don’t think West Ham have ever worn yellow – when it was fashionable in the 70’s they had the sky with claret hoops away or all white. Personally I think that should be the standard for the Hammers. I’m a huge fan of adidas, but it wouldn’t have been too much of a stretch to fashion one of this seasons templates into the classic look (or something like it).
I like this trend, I think it works well. In saying that, it would have been interesting to see Everton’s third shirt in the same colour template as the home, with navy and royal as secondary colours.
Bayern’s Euro strip is fabulous. Though as mentioned before I’m still mourning the loss of last season’s version!
Norwich are playing Bolton now, and the Norwich goalkeeper is wearing a light grey shirt, blue shorts and grey socks.
To my knowledge West Ham have never worn a yellow change strip – they’ve used white, sky blue, navy, écru (96/97), black (last season for one game) and purple (superfluous 3rd kit this season).
QPR wore their white third shirts with the black away shorts and socks at Chelsea today, not sure of the rationale.
Anyone else finding the Hull v Southampton kits too similar. Especially on the corners .Surely the saints have some red shorts .
Was just about to post the same thing Tony!
Even Gary Lineker agreed with us.
I missed that, what did he say?
He said there were too many stripes in the game.
The colour clash in the Hull/Southampton match was totally wrong. Its nothing a pair of white shorts and socks for Southampton would not have solved. I don’t understand teams that only bring out 2 kits do not have change shorts and socks for clashes like that one.
Agreed John, especially when their away kit is all-navy.
meanwhile, in Portugal………
https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/video/primeira-liga-porto-2-0-081504291.html
Denis, what you reckon of this one? I think it’s an absolute shocker.
Interesting that QPR decided on a mixture of away and third kits yesterday. My own theory is that they wore white shirts to show up the poppy more than if they wore black and red stripes!
That’s incredible Jon!
Sunderland wearing a white and blue third kit tonight at Selhurst, exactly the same as Forest’s from last season.
Played Hull v Southampton on Fifa15 and definitely less of a clash if Southampton had worn their away kit .
As much as I like the current Bayern Munich kit it looked a lot better with the red socks they wore against Roma.
I love the Bayern home kit however I feel it would have looked with blue shorts instead of red, i like the white socks, gives it some individuality
I noticed Metz played against Toulouse tonight in Ligue 1 wearing their FIFTH choice kit…
http://www.ligue1.com/images/photos/articles/web/fiche/1415_L1_Toulouse_Metz_Ndaw_Ben_Yedder.jpg
Now as we’ve already discussed with West Ham’s choice of third kit this season, claret/maroon and purple aren’t that easy to distinguish, and usually the officials in Ligue 1 are particularly fussy. However this particular shirt just happens to be the same one that Metz wore in last season’s Ligue 2 promotion campaign, only with a dragon logotype from the badge superimposed on the left side.
A few weeks earlier Metz also wore a white version, which was the away kit from last season. But even more incredibly both of these shirts clash with the home shirt, which is a maroon and white version of the “Ajax” style Nike template used by about a million different teams this season. So in a nutshell their kit choices are as follows: _
1) maroon/white Ajax style
2) white/black Ajax style
3) dark grey/black Ajax style
4) white (last season’s away kit, worn away at Nice)
5) maroon (last season’s home kit, worn away at Toulouse)
Crazy!
Interesting stuff Jon – I would think maroon and purple is manageable when one is solid and one is stripes with a lot of white but obviously it’s not ideal.
Having that Ajax style with white prominent in the home and away and then black in the away and third is far from ideal. If it were up to me, I’d get rid of the away and third and shunt the other two up two places, taking a Crystal Palace 1990-91 approach. Then maybe have yellow as a fourth.
Interestingly, Kitclashes Matt poses a good question in light of Hull-Southampton in his most recent post – have Southampton ever worn alternative shorts?
The technically correct answer is yes, as they had spare red shorts when they had a solid red shirt in the 80s – TC2 mentions wearing all-red against Everton – but I can’t recall them having anything other than black with stripes, in recent times anyway.
A quick search on Getty shows them wearing home kit at White Hart Lane and St James’ Park in 1999-2000, very odd given the large amounts of white on that shirt and not to mention the direct shorts and socks clashes.
Bradford in Amber with Claret stripes, their keeper wore Orange, ORANGE!
I kid you not!
On the subject of keeper clashing with their own team, have a look at Colchester’s yellowfest at Bristol City earlier in the season. Not the greatest picture, but imagine watching that from a distance.
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276268/Article/images/22762108/6781445-large.jpg
In 2004 Ipswich hosted Millwall. Millwall played in amber and navy blue with their keeper in bright yellow.
It’s incredible how often there are GK clashes in the Football League
Wearing an away kit for no reason and causing more of a clash Example no. 12,408,159,136: Oxford United wearing their white away kit at Grimsby Town in the FA Cup at the weekend, when there was absolutely nothing wrong with their yellow home strip.
Just why?????
And in other news had a right good chortle at the fact that Ch*ster lost 3-1 tonight against Macclesfield in the Conference whilst wearing their hosts’ change strip because the lousy idiots thought it was clever to have a blue home kit and a purple (horrible) away kit.
and this was an image of Oxford’s kit clash at Grimsby by the way, just senselessness on par with Swansea’s ridiculous decision to wear purple at Everton in last season’s FA Cup.
http://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276369/Article/images/24483032/8133316-large.jpg
Also minus points for Grimbsby players wearing black compression gear, it should clearly be white
My views on purple away kits are well documented….
Macc’s green away kit is very dark too, and a bit too close to their blue for my liking!
http://www.mtfc.co.uk/cms_images/2014-15-kit-launch-image-4-3289-1566488_478x359.jpg
Watching Scotland V Ireland last night, was surprised to see Ireland in white, didn’t think UEFA were as fussy as FIFA regarding light v dark, was very impressed by the new Ireland away shirt, also still love the latest Scotland kit, they’ve went with all dark but the keeping of the red socks makes it stand out so much more compared to all navy
Both keepers wore pink in the Plymouth-Pompey game earlier.
there was a major kit clash between southend and Hartlepool on Saturday. Southend wore their home kit of white shirts with navy sleeves, navy shorts and socks while Hartlepool wore their away pink shirts with black sleeves, black shorts and socks. The only major difference was the parts of the jerseys that were coloured white and pink. Surely Hartlepool’s home kit would have been less of a clash
Was thinking last night during the Scotland v England game, is that the first ever time Scotland have worn navy shorts and England have worn white shorts whilst playing each other?!
Actually I’ll correct myself, in Euro 96 Scotland had navy shorts as part of the Umbro tartan kit, however the second part of the query still stands
Certainly in the modern era, I think you might be right David. Really liked that Scotland kit though I think th
the current one may be even better – the socks are the clincher!
International Rules game between Ireland (Gaelic Football) and Australia (Aussie Rules) this morning in Perth.
Ireland wearing Green and Australia wearing Dark Green on a clear day. Could have been dealt with better.
The Leeds keeper wore a green bib over his Silver shirt as it clashed with Blackburn’s pale blue & white halves yesterday. I was surprised they didn’t have a worm up top or something else to wear.
Yeah I saw that one Andy, in the first half the Leeds keeper wore a very dark green camouflage kit, which didn’t contrast from his team-mates at all. In all honesty he’d have been much better off wearing the royal blue kit, not that that is particularly a good contrast with navy.
I think Macron need to supply them with another colour choice for their goalkeepers.
Actually as you can see here, Silvestri wasn’t actually wearing a bib, but what looks like a Blackburn green goalie shirt turned inside out!
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/webimage/1.6967958.1416773300!/image/3940896294.jpg_gen/derivatives/articleImgDeriv_628px/3940896294.jpg
Everton have changed to their black 3rd kit for todays game at Tottenham – totally unnecessary
A complete joke, and Barcelona are the same, wearing their away at Valencia. You can bet they wouldn’t do it against Real.
In actual fact he black kit is Everton’s away kit but I totally agree 100% with you John, it was a totally unnecessary change of kit when the home kit sufficed.
Agree with you about Barça too Denis. Not the first curious kit change in a Barcelona v Valencia game that I know of, I remember Valencia wearing their royal blue third kit (for no reason) at the Nou Camp 13 years ago, a game famous for Rivaldo’s 20 yard overhead kick to complete his hat-trick and a 3-2 win for Barça to qualify for the following season’s Champions League.
I’d forgotten that Jon, great shout! Oddly not a clash though, despite seeming to be one on paper
Thoughts on Barca’s proposed switch to hoops? I hope everyone’s as horrified as I am! Reading the reports about diminished sales as designs are too similar from year to year I’m left with one thought – don’t change the kit every year!
Happily, it seems like widespread opposition will scupper the idea.
I still absolutely hate the fact that the Barça shirt has 3 sponsors logos on it, I was disappointed when UNICEF was placed on the shirts never mind 2 other corporate names as well
Talking of Barça shirt designs, the last few have been fairly poor however this seasons 3 are pretty nice,
My least favourites were when Nike tried to reinvent the wheel when it came to stripes and they had the one with the varying widths and then the one with a single stripe
They can go to hoops now as the soul of that kit has long gone
Hartlepool v Blyth is giving me a headache.
http://kitclashes.wordpress.com/
hmm, noticed Thibaut Courtois wore white at Newcastle when the first choice orange keeper kit would have been a far better option
Likewise Hugo Lloris wearing Purple against Palace caused a few raised eyebrows. Surely the Dark Grey kit would have been better suited – even if the referee had to change into Yellow
Meanwhile, in Belgium…http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/kits/204779/standard-liege-play-with-red-tape-all-over-their-shirts-to-avoid-charleroi-kit-clash-photos.html
http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/kits/204779/standard-liege-play-with-red-tape-all-over-their-shirts-to-avoid-charleroi-kit-clash-photos.html
Charleroi have a green away kit so why not take that shirt to the game too.
haha that’s brilliant!!!
though Standard Liège really should have foreseen this fixture at Charleroi as being a problem in advance, and strangely in the past they’ve tended to have had three kits since their sponsorship deal with Joma started a few years ago.
hmm seems as if Arsenal’s blue third kit has been abandoned then… they wore it at Dortmund a few months ago for no reason, and last night you’d have thought they’d wear it at Galatasaray.
But no they wore yellow. Yes there was more than enough of a contrast as Galatasaray’s shirts are predominantly red. But still.
I was thinking the same thing Jon – the blue is the ‘cup
away’ so not sure what happened
They were due to wear it but as the commentator mentioned during the game it caused a clash with the Ref wearing blue so they were forced to wear the yellow.
That’s a bit strange, surely the ref would change?
My thoughts exactly Denis, but he obviously wasn’t going to change for anybody!
Surely UEFA would have identified this well in advance of the fixture and assigned the ref to wear another colour?
You’d think so Jon – maybe it was up to the goal-line officials to sort it, hence why nothing was done 😀
The Arsenal away is very smart, though am I alone in finding the fit a bit too, well, tight?
That aside, I’d like to see that strip with navy numbers instead of red, as per ’89.
Agreed re the numbers Nick, Nike had red ones in 08-09 too and it just looks wrong.
Whatever about the tightness, I’m not a fan of the wide neck.
I think the away’s a much cleaner look than the home, stripped of the excess detailing.
Really liked the navy numbers on the 96-97 yellow kit – that one was great.
So here we go, the Chelski “colourblind kitman makes the keeper’s kit clash with the opponent” merry go-round continues…….. last week we see Courtois wear white against Newcastle when orange would have been better, then today we see Čech wear yellow with black sleeves against Hull when the white kit would have been the sensible option.
Those socks at West Brom-Villa were fun.
Jon – The Newcastle keepers wore Orange so Courtois couldn’t.
QPR tonight had to change socks to red because of a clash with Everton, they’ve decided to wear red shorts too.
Newcastle wore their home kit v Tottenham in the league , tonight they show up in the green/blue 3rd shirt .
The question was asked up the page if Southampton ever wear change shorts with their striped shirts. I couldn’t think of any instances but had a ‘Eureka’ moment today while driving: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/claus-lundekvam-of-southampton-reaches-the-ball-ahead-of-news-photo/1936316
I hope you’ll forgive the blatant plug but I’ve a new rugby union kits site – http://www.irishrugbyshirts.com
Bristol rovers v Gateshead on BT Sport. Gateshead in yellow shirts with Black sleeves and Black backs – which clashes horrendously with the match officials. Some players are also wearing WHITE undershirts. Looks very poor in my opinion
Sunderland did their best impersonation of Stoke in the Tyne-Wear derby today. Must have done them good too with getting a late winning goal!
Arsenal’s ‘keeper clashing badly with his own outfield payers today. Far worse than Cech versus Hull the other day.
Was just about to say the same Al!
It’ll be interesting to see if he has to go up for a late corner!
Sunderland’s clash avoidance worked well I thought. They’ve worn black shorts in the past and it never eradicates the STRIPES/OVERALL CLASH.
Still think Goalies should have to wear Green Jerseys unless they’re playing a team in green. Hate all the coloured jerseys they wear now.
I agree Matt – Sunderland didn’t clash and they looked rather smart to boot!
On the subject of striped teams, it’s about time that baselayers are only allowed to be worn underneath long-sleeved shirts. Baselayers are tolerable with single-colour sleeves, but look terrible beneath stripes.
Besides, it’s such an odd look when you’ve got a mix of players on the same team wearing a combination of baselayers and long-sleeved shirts – see Newcastle.
On the occasions Rochdale have had a blue & black striped home shirt, there was a mixture of players wearing both colours as base layers!
Left back always liked black, centre forward blue…
Nick I agree with you whole heartedly. Base layer shirts should not be seen at all especially with striped/hooped shirts. In my opinion they are not part of the standard playing kit so shouldn’t be seen.
At the weekend there yet another example of what appears to be
At the weekend there yet another example of what appears to be on the increase with goalkeepers playing in different shades of the same colour as their outfield counterparts, Hibs V Rangers, the Rangers goalkeeper was in all light blue when an all yellow gk kit was available and the Hibs goalkeeper was in lime green when he too had yellow or grey to choose from
Nice to see West Brom put white short’s and sock’s on at West Ham to avoid a clash, wish more team’s would do that.
I have read that back in 1976 manchester united released the admiral away kit with white socks. Apparently these never appeared in a competitive match and instead the home black socks where worn. I can not beleive that they went 4 seasons without playing another team with black socks. (They did have a blue third kit)
@1029 Every team should have a set of change colour shorts and socks so in the event of a clash, they can still wear their home shirts and change shorts/socks. Sunderland changed to white shorts v Newcastle while Hull wore amber shorts away to sunderland. This avoided a major clash unlike what happened when Southampton visited Hull a while back
Upon further research they once wore red socks with the blue shirt v ajax. The blue kit also had black socks. Where man united the only team in this period to wear black socks? I do find it hard to believe.
Sunderland are the only likely candidate I can think of, were they in the top flight much back then?
Man Utd’s third kit in the Admiral days was essentially just a blue shirt with the home shorts & socks.
I think a better description would be to say it was a blue version of the home as the third socks were black with blue tops during the Admiral tenure
West Brom might have got their kit right at West Hame, but they isn’t when choosing a sky blue keeper’s kit against Gateshead who were in sky blue shirts.
Gateshead wear Pale Blue, very different to Sky blue!
Huge news today in the football kit world as Cardiff City finally return to wearing their traditional blue, as of tomorrow afternoon.
#KeepCardiffBlue
Two away kits on show at Upton Park right now in the FA Cup!
West Ham in their totally superfluous purple third kit at home tonight!
If I were Jamie Redknapp, I’d say that my blood was literally boiling.
The press release says that West Ham have a proud tradition in the cup wearing change kits but they can only come up with the 1980 final as an example.
Basically, they realised the kit served no purpose and they just shunted it into use in the cup, like Southampton did with their white kit two seasons ago.
The Premier League should also take some blame for allowing West Ham to choose such a colour as a third kit.
The FA should have just said no when they requested to wear it in all cup ties.
Another thing I don’t like about the West Ham 3rd kit is the sock trim is different from the shirt and short trim. The sock’s have white trim, where as the shirt and short’s have gold trim.
Yeah it’s very amateurish-looking
Another frustrating one, apparently the premier league deem Southampton’s Red/White Shirt, Black Shorts and Red Socks to clash with Newcastle’s home strip this afternoon, therefore we shall be seeing Southampton in a Yellow/Navy reverse of their away kit. Perhaps the League should look at what they have allowed previously before making clubs manufacture new shirts!
http://www.nufc.co.uk/javaImages/5b/a9/0,,10278~11839835,00.jpg
I wonder if the Premier League will tell Swansea that their two kits clash with Newcastle then, when they travel to St. James’?
….and yet it wasn’t deemed a clash when Southampton beat Newcastle in their first game this season, go figure! http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29090536
Also there is something of a precedent as Sunderland recently wore their red and white stripes at Newcastle!
Strange alright, I do like when an away and third are complementary though
Quite why Newcastle wore their home kit at St. Mary’s when the grey kit was available I don’t really know!
Arsenal could have worn their home kit at City today.
City and Arsenal have been known to revert to away strips at each others grounds from time to time regardless of the fact there is absolutely no clash.
At City, Arsenal wore yellow and navy 3 seasons running
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ippt-EWvpzY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFgmP5j9f6M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFgmP5j9f6M
Also we wore the yellow with royal back in 03/04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUyKh3Yb8gI
City wore black against ourselves back in 2010
http://www.arsenal.com/match/report/0910/post/first-team/premier-league-arsenal-v-man-city-report
It’s just one of those inconsistent ones.
Arsenal wore the bruised banana at Maine Road in 91-92 too, the previous season City had worn their maroon away shorts with the home shirt and blue socks at Highbury.
Indeed Denis i attached the wrong link. You are right we did indeed have the bruised banana in 92 but strangely reverted to r/w in 92/93
http://www.citytilidie.com/wp-content/uploads/site_images/arsenal%20home%201992%20to%2093%20action.jpg
I think Woolwich should lose the 3 pts gained on Sunday for their superfluous use of a change kit.
Re. The endless debate about team wear kits. I see nothing fundamentally wrong with the concept, but obviously quality is always going to vary. Personally I think that Nike’s team wear offerings are actually better than some of their ‘contract’ offerings, and although there are some ‘blips’ (the ‘double armband’ still looks naff), the interchangeable nature of these kits isn’t a huge problem as long as it adheres to a clubs traditional colours. For example, Eintracht Frankfurt’s home kit is a classy, restrained interpretation of their traditional black and red colours. adidas meanwhile have perfectly acceptable templates, just with some odd colour choices (the much maligned West Ham third for one example). What I would like to know is how much input a club has – West Ham have always been close to their fanbase so surely the purple peril didn’t just appear from nowhere? Anyway, my point is that none of it really matters, if the clubs are happy, the kits sell well, and the fans buy the latest designs. Thinking back to the 90’s, even Man Utd with their all conquering (at the time) Umbro contract, had ‘main’ designs that were only slight deviations from other contracts (specifically Everton, Chelsea, Man City, and Forest). Templates have ALWAYS been a part of football, at least since the late 70’s, so is it REALLY a problem?
I’ve no problem with templates once there is scope for combining whichever colours you want.
I dislike how lower-league clubs have to pick their shirts from a catalogue, with their options restricted.
Cork City, for example, had Umbro last season and Nike for the coming year but red didn’t or won’t feature on the home strip as the choices only feature green and white.
Granted, Denis, that IS a problem – Augsburg are traditionally white with red and green trim, which under Jako was adhered to, but now they’re Nike its just white with red side bars. The system isn’t perfect, but mostly in Germany its OK.
Incidentally, who is the most underrated supplier? I would say Jako or Kappa. No templates, different strips for all clubs, unique designs.
I agree that not all team wear is a problem, however as said above its when clubs use 3 colours in their kits or have a slightly unusual combination that it becomes a problem. Nike are by far the worst culprits of this as for pro clubs they will not usually alter the colours of their templates for individual teams. Adidas and Puma will produce shirts in a templated design but will use the clubs individual colours. An example of Nike’s inflexibility can be seen in my clubs (Hibernian) kits last season, for about the last 7/8 years Hibs had a touch of bottle green in the kit somewhere along side the regular emerald green and White sleeves (except 2012/13 where bottle green replaced emerald green) however the only template Nike produced with contrasting sleeves was plain emerald green and white, the shorts had a black swoosh on them rather than green which would tie the kit together. Hibs always have green in the away kit somewhere too however Nike’s black template only came with white trim and this season the away kit is white shirt, green shorts and white socks and the swoosh on both shirt and socks is black which just makes it look like items cobbled together from a catalogue.
It’s not the biggest of things to moan about but to a football kit pedant like myself it is frustrating
2 years of Nike contract left, hopefully the club will switch away after its expiry
The biggest anomaly for me is the teams under Nike that have some element of exclusivity – Werder Bremen have had kits since their Nike deal began that have been unique. Even little things this year like the home kit having an orange swoosh on it, constituting a third colour. BUT generally, Nike have lost their way – the only kit in Germany that they have been involved with this year that I’ve thought ‘blimey, that’s nice’ is the Hertha Berlin home. I think they’ve been in the doldrums for probably seven or eight years.
Firstly in reply to Andy I firmly believe Spurs should get a 3 point headstart every season because they need all the help they can get 😉
Hearing that Arsenal will have a black and gold away next season although its not clear what order. Third kit rumoured to be ‘anthracite’
I saw that on Arseblog too, David – anthracite would surely clash with black?
In saying that, probably not much need for a third unless playing AC Milan or Bournemouth. I think this season’s third has only been worn against Dortmund?
Why on earth are Arsenal wearing their away kit at Brighton? It’s a horrible clash. They should have stuck to their home kit IMHO.
West Ham away kit made much more sense against Bristol City today.
@Al – I could half-understand when Arsenal changed earlier in the season at Everton, Swansea et al, avoiding a shorts clash. While it’s not always done, Arsenal have traditionally done it.
Doing so against Man City and Brighton is just overkill, though.
@Martyn – It’s just something we’ll have to get used to, it could set a trend. Did you have as many complaints when Bayern wore non-traditional European kits?!
Finally, I have to say that I love the new Middlesbrough third kit. It’s simple enough, white with red adidas stripes from shoulders to sleeves but it just looks great.
I think the fact that FL clubs don’t need to leave a space for sleeve patches makes a big difference.
What drugs is Vic Ackers doing? Brighton wear Blue, why change from Red and White to introduce more Blue into the equation?
Denis,
Bayern’s European shirts, whilst beginning as alternative home shirts, have evolved as a way of providing a third kit in the league. Apart from the orange experiment of 2012/13, they have always included a healthy dose of red, white or blue, as with this season with the red stripe running through the whole strip. Therefore it ties in with the home colours. I look forward every year as to what adidas will come up with – the aforementioned orange third actually was designed to look like the Allianz Arena roof, thereby showing that sometimes they think out of the box. The point I was trying to make as regards to other clubs is that the colour choices sometimes seem a bit odd. With Bayern having a predominantly red home, the away is usually white, so it makes sense for the third to be dark grey, navy or black. Often, adidas will utilise an old design remodelled into this template, as with 07/08 – black with a red and blue tramline, based on the early 70’s home/away (though back then it was mainly white).
I’ve no recollection of an orange third Martyn, have you a pic?
Sorry, I meant dark grey/navy with orange trim on the chest and silver adidas stripes/trim. Meant to say orange trimmed third.
Ah, I get you now.
Manchester City in sky blue against teams in royal blue happens so often now that there’s no need to remark on it.
Interesting though to see Leicester in a totally unchanged kit at Old Trafford – not necessarily the shorts as that’s so common but Manchester United generally change against sides who wear blue socks.
Dont think United have changed to white socks at home in league games for a few years now. There was a spell when they did it quite a bit, but it’s only in Europe now.
Just to clarify, I meant United wear white socks when away to teams in blue socks.
Them changing to white socks at home did happen with a bit of regularity, was it just because other teams with navy/black forgot to bring change sets?
Not sure, I think it might have been a conscious decision, especially around the time Rooney joined the club and they had not long had Nike. They even played Chelsea at home wearing white socks forcing Chelsea to wear blue!
Here’s a pic of the Chelsea thing
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/12/17/article-1339613-0373FA930000044D-617_634x494.jpg
Middlesbrough wore their white third kit at Brentford at the weekend
http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-620/h–/q-95/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2015/1/31/1422714294911/Grant-Leadbitter-penalty-008.jpg
Quite why they didn’t use the more suitable navy away kit I don’t know.
Dark shorts and socks, I’m guessing. I think there’s enough contrast there, beautiful Boro kit
Totally agree, all 3 Boro kits are excellent this year, I don’t think Adidas have gave them a bad one yet
In the recently concluded Asian Cup tournament there was a kit change to make purists here shudder. Both Australia AND Korea sported their respective away strips in their group stage showdown – a rather dull navy/white combination – and I feared this occurrence was the latest victim of the one colour FIFA kit policy. Happily common sense prevailed in the final as both teams were able to wear their first-choice kits.
I’m guessing marketing imperatives governed the earlier away kit airings!
Nice to see Chelsea’s third kit get a run out today, although it wasn’t strictly necessary. I was beginning to think it wouldn’t make an appearance this season.
Lincoln turned up in blue at Bristol Rovers today, forcing Rovers to the Yellow 3rd shirt!
Yeah just read that in the non league paper Alexander.The Lincoln Kit man must have been embarrassed by that.
Poor West Ham, second time in six (?) years they’ve lost a sponsor and had to come up with a lower-league looking solution
It looks pretty hideous, I would have thought that a club like West Ham would have had a stock of unsponsored shirts in the kit room – obviously not!
Another thing I wondered if anyone had noticed was the West Brom long sleeved home shirt, I initially thought they had joined the growing number of teams who had simply done away with long sleeved shirts and issued base layers only like Man Utd amongst many others. This was something I was further convinced of when I saw that you could not buy in the online club store either (unlike Man Utd). However upon closer inspection of a photo of Joleon Lescott you can see that although the blue band nor the Adidas stripes continued beyond below the elbow the shirt was in fact long sleeves which I found very unusual as we all know that even with the ‘patch space’ on the sleeve that on all other Adidas long sleeved shirts I can think of have the 3 stripes continue below to the end of the long sleeve
Has anyone else spotted this and know the story behind it?!
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/03/23AE182400000578-0-image-m-18_1417650179791.jpg
Looks more like he’s wearing something under his short sleeved shirt to me.
It does look like it on first look but if you look closely you can see its one shirt, the cuffs also point to it being a long sleeved shirt rather than base layer
http://www.wba.co.uk/team/player-profile/james-morrison/7
If you see the short sleeve version it had a blue cuff at the bottom of the sleeve, Lescott’s does not and has the cuff at the wrist
Manchester City, who don’t consider themselves to clash with Chelsea, wore their purple third kit at Stoke last night.
Denis, I think Nike have erred significantly with both of City’s change strips – they’ve missed out on exposure given how seldom both have been worn.
Though in the case of that horrid purple strip, it’s not altogether a bad thing.
I realise that Nick, but it’s what they deserve when they give them two change strips which clash with each other!
I’m trying to remember if Arsenal marketed the blue kit as a cup away or just a European one. They’ll surely take the opportunity to wear it on Sunday
On the subject of Arsenal, can anyone tell me more about this ?http://the-fa.com/pcSEip
Arsenal will wear their home shirt Sunday Denis.. its at the Emirates.
Whoops, schoolboy error, thanks Tony!
@Al – that’s just a warm-up shirt I’d say
Yeah it is a training shirt.
interestingly West Ham are in their traditional colours at West Brom today instead if their purple “cup kit” …… much good its done them being 4-0 down with 8 minutes still to play as I write this.
Oh right, looks nice though. Perhaps they should considerate it for matches!
Denis, stupidity isn’t it? You’d think given the money involved in these things they’d make the two change strips different from, not only one another but, say, the actual home strip?! That way they’d actually get to wear them!
Baffles me, as to this marketing layman it seems there’s no better trigger for making people wanting to buy a kit than it being worn.
It’s just stupid – the purple doesn’t solve a single clash which the navy doesn’t.
I will admit that I can tolerate home and away kits which technically clash with each other once they serve a purpose – Newcastle’s all-black third a few years ago, for instance, could be worn against white teams – but there has to be logic to the whole situation.
Celtic’s away shirt in 2011 being a prime example – white shirt with feint grey hoops, green pinstripes and green sleeves. Whilst it was a modern take on paying homage to an old (and rare) change strip of the 1950’s, it was as superfluous as away kits got.
Suffice to say it only got outings at opponents who wore white shorts (also known as “doing an Arsenal”).
Exactly. An all-green Celtic away is fine to wear at St Mirren, Kilmarnock, Dunfermline etc though most years you’ll need something to wear at Hibs too, easier if the second choice just solved all problems
Bit of tinkering with the Arsenal away kit for the Palace game this weekend. Yellow shorts to be worn on Saturday by North (and of course, South….) London’s finest.
Last season the blue shorts – more of a direct clash than navy – were permitted but the socks changed to white, interesting that no need for socks to be altered this time.
Wouldn’t be an issue if Palace had red shorts and socks!
Which they should, of course
If we are actually being traditional, Palace would be in the West ham/Villa colours, less traditional they would have the white with royal and red sash. I’d agree though and perhaps childhood sentiment has taken over but the Wright/Bright/Salako kit of the late 80s early 90s tops the lot
Interestingly Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Man Utd are all donning somewhat traditional home and away kits this year
Actually come to think of it, Malcolm Allison conceived the latest Palace arrangement in the mid 70s
David, to me ‘traditional’ means ‘what they wore in 1990-91’!
What does everyone think of the new Columbia kit? I think the shirt is magnificent, the tonal stripes across the chest wonderfully subtle and understated detailing and the granddad collar a perfect fit.
The return to the traditional blue shorts and red socks is welcome too.
I do like it Nick, the away is beautiful too
Ha Ha year zero for those of us of the Italia 90 geration Denis no doubt
All yellow socks for The Arsenal as well…..
*generation
I noticed Bournemouth were the latest team to needlessly wear white at Brentford, despite having a perfectly good blue third kit that would have been more sensical to use.
Villa v Stoke was worse than I recall claret/blue v red/white stripes being in the past
I have to say, I’m dreadfully disappointed by the new Mexico kits. I can’t believe adidas have replaced two great strips with such pale comparisons.
The new away kit isn’t bad, but the home is…black! What is that about. I loved last year’s home strip too, so inventive without being outlandish.
Have we seen this clash before? I’ve a feeling we might have but no harm to put it up in case some mightn’t have seen it
Link would be handy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR0CKv7rFek
If you think that one’s bad Denis, how about this one involving Santos a full 15 years ago, and to think they wore their away kit because their usual all-white home kit clashed with São Paulo’s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=celBr1l3p5w
Meanwhile, in Peru, TV owners must have had an absolute headache:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd6YEU_mV-Q
It seems almost all teams in Brazil wear White or Black, or White & Black.
Finally got round to those two videos and they are both belters!
I was having a look at the SPFL handbook online and noticed that my club have registered a ‘secret’ third kit which is last years away kit with the new sponsor and worn with current seasons home socks, which has never been seen on the pitch or anywhere else and isn’t commercially available, it seems sad how excited I was when I saw it listed!
wonder if Arsenal will wear red shorts at QPR tonight ? seeing as they changed to yellow shorts at Palace to avoid clashing or will they will go with the normal yellow/blue away kit ?
Normal away Tony!
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150227/qpr-v-arsenal-matchday-strips
Didnt know Arsenal had yellow-ish lettering on names and numbers.
Doesnt look great.White would have been better.Has it been the norm under Puma?
I disagree. I think the yellow numbering looked great.
Arsenal wore light-blue change socks too last night due to a clash with Manchester United’s black – seemingly their tradition of wearing white socks under floodlights has stopped
The numbering on Arsenal’s jerseys looked lime green to me. Think Red would have been a better and probably more traditional tertiary colour for that third kit with perhaps a white name and number? Or even a teal name and number? And the thrid socks are sort of hoopy anyway so surely they would have been easy to distinguish from the United black socks? I cant fathom why we didnt wear yellow anyway. We probably will in the league. Kits are no longer about pragmatism.
I thought United only wore the white socks in Europe anyway? Perhaps im wrong.
Arsenals change kit outings this season.
Aston Villa Yellow Navy Hoops
Chelsea Red White Red
Crystal Palace Yellow Yellow Yellow
Everton Yellow Navy Hoops
Leicester Yellow Navy Hoops
Liverpool Yellow Navy Hoops
Manchester City Yellow Navy Hoops
Queens Park Rangers Yellow Navy Hoops
Southampton Yellow Navy Hoops
Stoke Yellow Navy Hoops
Sunderland Yellow Navy Hoops
Swansea – Yellow Navy Hoops
Tottenham Red White Red
West Brom Red White Hoops
West Ham United Yellow Navy Hoops
Brighton Yellow Navy Hoops
Manchester United Navy Navy Teal
Dortmund Navy Navy Hoops
Added to this
Galatasaray Yellow Navy Hoops
I can only assume we will don this kit vs Manchester United in the premier league (despite not doing so in the cup), and Burnley while the navy and teal might get a showing vs Bradford at Wembley if they beat Reading.
David, Arsenal wore that kit because it’s the cup away – though in saying that I’ve no idea why it wasn’t worn at Galatasaray.
Turns out 2006-07 was the last season Man U wore white socks in home non-European games to any great degree: http://www.unitedkits.com/seasons/2006.html
The last time they did it was against Newcastle a few years ago
Hate the way marketing has overtaking pragmatism in football. The navy as you rightly pointed out Denis wasn’t the cup away and yet was abandoned when it made most sense to wear v Galatasaray.
The green numbering on the Arsenal third looks terrible – white would have been a much better option. In general, I’m not a fan of the lime green trim as it makes the kit look much too busy, as well as the fact it simply doesn’t go with the rest of the colours. If not white then the trim should have been red, in keeping with when Arsenal first wore sported the navy/light blue combination in the 90s.
@Martyn – I see Bayern wore red socks last night against Shakhtar, do you think they look better than the white?
Interesting, Denis. Personally I probably prefer the white first choice – I think it balances the kit up with red and blue dominant on the shirts and shorts. Next season, if leaks can be trusted, they’ll be in two tone red, with even the adidas trim in red (though a darker shade).
While I’m on the subject, next seasons leaked kits so far look exciting – Nike seem to be getting their act together after a few years of bland designs.
I’ll whisper it, but Woolwich look so much better with red socks.
I kind of like the hoops but I’d definitely prefer red to white.
That said, not sure why Arsenal changed yesterday
Sheffield United have become the next victim of Adidas’s stripes removal for their 2015/16 home shirt !!
http://footballfashion.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/sheffield-united-fc-2015-2016-adidas-Home-KIt-6.jpg?02382d
I would have thought that the club get the final decision on which design is chosen, wouldn’t have just been down to adidas. That being said I can’t say I like the change, they have worn stripes for 96% of their existence.
What are Sheff Utd doing showing off next season kit in March?? Its a bit early surely.
its a 125th anniversary kit. But as a United fan after seeing it on Saturday they looked like Nottingham Forest in their away kit.
Martyn, what do you think of the leaked designs for next season’s Bayern kits? Personally, I’m lukewarm on the home, as it’s much less striking than this season’s strip and the two that preceded it. It’s a shame the fine white shirt has to be discarded, though I felt the same about last term’s third kit – that was brilliant.
Like you, I feel the home looks much better with the white socks, they look great with the rest of the kit.
Boy, is Nike’s new international away range average. Both France and Netherlands’ new kits are a decided regression on those they replaced. France’s new edition, in particular, is a baffling release; why bring out a brand-new white strip to replace, erm, another white strip? Not to mention that by any measure this version is vastly inferior compared with 2014’s peerless style. Oh well!
Nick,
I like the leaked Bayern home – wasn’t sure at first but upon seeing France’s away shirt in the Six Nations rugby, which had red adidas stripes on a red shirt, I think it’ll be fresh and different.
The away shirt is nice but not a massive move on from the current – I’d have to see that one ‘in the flesh’ before I make my mind up.
The third marks a welcome return for navy – personally my favourite Bayern away strip was the 09-11 navy – loved that one. But yeah, the 13-14 third strip was possibly the best ever worn.
While I’m on the subject, what do TC contributors think about the leaked Man Utd away? Could have been an opportunity to try something new, but to me looks a bit ‘safe’.
What was the score in the England-Italy game last night? I couldn’t make out who was who because they both had white shorts 😉
Leaked Man City away – comments? picture of a ‘blue moon’ on the shirt…Not sure…
Re Denis 47 as Helen Lovejoy from the Simpson’s might say ‘Somebody pleeeeeease think of the people with black and white Tvs ‘
I can’t see how the Ranger’s goalkeeper is allowed to wear a similar blue shirt as the rest of the team???.
Any link Scott?
http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/galleries/item/8977-gallery-hearts-action-pics
Just about enough differentiation, I think, though you’d imagine that there are enough other colours available. I do like the white socks on Hearts, though.
BTW, does anyone know where EricGeneric disappeared to? He used to post a lot here.
Speaking of Rangers, the Queens Park variety, did anyone else think their sock change against Aston Villa was unnecessary? The shorts I can understand but both teams socks were a similar shade of blue! The normal white socks would have been perfectly acceptable.
Thoughts on the West Brom Jeff Astle tribute kit?
Stan Collymore had a great idea on twitter about their being one day a season when clubs could wear traditional kits and wear 1-11. He mentioned Boxing Day, that would be ace!
WBA’s looked great. There’s something about 1-11 on shirts.
I thought the West Brom tribute kit looked great, a fitting tribute to Jeff Astle. In the money filled atmosphere of the Premier League it was refreshing to see a simple kit devoid of any sponsorship, branding or even squad numbering being worn in the modern day.
I’ll be honest I miss the old traditional 1-11, and it’s something that we’ll never see again due to personalised replica shirts being such a huge cash cow for clubs and manufacturers.
Oh and *pedant alert* West Brom actually wore 2-11 yesterday – to make it so authentic of the 1968 cup final kit, Boaz Myhill wore an unnumbered green jersey, even though in reality he was the number 1.
I can only echo the thoughts of other posters on the subject of the Jeff Astle tribute kit. West Brom’s strip looked so clean and so stylish in comparison to today’s branded kits. Refreshing indeed to see a football kit free of any fussy and unnecessary detailing like, for instance, this season’s Arsenal kits.
Shirt manufacturers would do well to take note.
@Matt – Collymore’s idea is a good one, they have a heritage day in Australian Rules and in the NFL teams can wear throwback outfits twice a season
As great as it was for West Brom to wear the authentic strip, it was a shame the players couldn’t, for once, wear black boots. Did Myhill think it that authentic to wear a baselayer with a short sleeve goalkeeper shirt?
I didn’t realise Myhill wore a short sleeve jersey with a baselayer until I saw a photo in the paper. Tut tut, baselayers eh!!!
and I agree with Stan Collymore, it would be great to see a “retro day”
I’d love a retro day! I agree with previous posters, surely if they didn’t want to wear short sleeves they could have suffered with regular long sleeves for 1 game!
Retro day would be great. I liked the WBA strip, but it would have been nice if Leicester had done it too, as with both clubs in the Manchester derby in 2008
The retro day is absolutely excellent. I cant see sponsors going it for it at Christmas somehow given the amount of advertising at that time of year they would stand to lose and the advertisers call the shots more or less these times. There was airtex versions of the retro kits back in the early 70s which could be used for a summers day. I think many would go for a specific date if given the choice. Man Utd the first game prior to Feb 6th, Liverpool perhaps close to April 15th etc.
I think Man City just removed their sponsor. Thomas Cook I recall
Yeah, Andrew’s right, they wore their normal kit without the sponsor rather than a retro kit
City’s kit was actually slightly different that day, no pinstripes on the shirt for one. Details here http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/English_Football_League/season/2007-2008/premier-league.html
What I don’t understand is why they made subtle changes like that to wear a plain shirt rather than going for a retro kit from the same era like United
Burnley wore their home kit at Everton today – often, claret and sky v blue sees an away strip worn and I can see why, difficult to differentiate at times in the sunny weather
Guardian knowledge are looking for examples of big matches where both teams have changed from normal kits. The best I could think of was united liverpool in 79 cup semi final. However, one team always changes in that fixture. My next shot was Wimbledon in the 90s fa cup. I am sure people on here will have much better examples.
Tottenham wore their superfluous grey/black kit at Arsenal a few seasons ago, and I seem to vaguely recall Arsenal wore yellow at White Hart Lane in 1985?
Newcastle wore silver at Sunderland recently and have worn a change kit a number of times in the Tyne-Wear derby (Sunderland less so in modern times).
I think theyr are looking for both teams changing. I am thinking end of season launch of a new away kit?
Not a big game but – at the end of 2002-03, Spurs premiered a sky blue away in their final match, at home to Blackburn, who had to wear their red kit.
Ironically, in 2005-06, Blackburn forgot to bring their away kit to White Hart Lane so both wore blue and white.
1980 FA Cup Final, West Ham in all white, Arsenal in yellow & blue
1982 Final Spurs in all yellow, QPR in red shirts, black shorts & socks.
Fulham v Arsenal (when Fulham were using Loftus Road) springs to mind. Fulham in sky blue and Arsenal (I think) in yellow. One for Denis to clarify……
That’s it Ronan, at the end of the invincible season, Reyes scored
I’ve just been watching the Bayern season review for 13/14.
When Bayern started using the Oktoberfest inspired away kit they did so at home against Hannover 96 in the cup – Hannover arrived in their green away kit.
I’m not sure if this counts as a big game but both Chelsea and Manchester City wore change kits in the Full Members Cup Final of 1986.
Hearts v Liverpool recently, Europa Cup?
1981 FA cup semi final. Ipswich wore all white and Manchester City wore red and black.
Galatasaray v Arsenal in the 2000 Uefa cup final. Real v Valencia in the European Cup final that same year. Sampdoria v Barcelona in the 1992 European cup final. Steaua v Barca in 1986? CWC final 1991 between Man U and Barcelona? There is probably hundreds of more examples we cant recall
Wasnt there a tradition one time in english football where in the cup ties, if there was a clash, both teams changed kit?
Arsenal v Liverpool 1950 FA cup final
I think the question in the Guardian centred on unusual changes rather than just change kits, so I doubt there are any instances which fit the bill perfectly.
Apologies if this is side-tracking, but I’ve just uploaded a post on my numbers blog about Liverpool’s evolution in the 70s and 80s: http://squadnumbers.wordpress.com
Man City wearing their claret away kit at home against Spurs (wearing yellow) in 1990, apparently due to fog!
The game was on TV if I recall and I certainly didn’t see any fog, just the typical Manchester rain.
That was the second time in five years City changed at home against Spurs because of the weather – in August 1985 both teams started the game in home kits but the referee made City switch after a few minutes as the sunny conditions were making it difficult to differentitate.
*differentiate
Bayern in red socks again tonight Martyn, despite there being no clash
i see that your blog mentioned the 16th Sept 1990. You were a happy wee nipper that day Denis. Wasnt that the same day that Cork completed a hurling/football double? 🙂
That’s why I didn’t even have to look up the date – if I remember correctly the goals were shown at the end of The Sunday Game!
Cork also wore red socks that day…..
Denis, re Bayern socks – done more often in Europe – may be a superstition. It worked though! 🙂
Another example of two teams wearing change kits in unusual circumstances, and I should know this because I passed info of this for John to put on this very website, was Coventry’s enforced third kit against Ipswich in 1982.
You see, Coventry wore their infamous Talbot kit when the TV cameras weren’t present, but as the kit was vetoed by the TV companies at the time (kit sponsorship, of course, wasn’t permitted until the 83/84 season), they had an alternative variant which was all sky blue at home, and all red away…… but the white side panels on both strips carried over to the back which was plain white.
This of course caused a problem whenever Coventry played against a team in white shirts and I recall an instance at home to Man City, whose away kit that season was white with black and red pinstripes. It was a terrible clash. So when Ipswich turned up in their white away kit, Coventry played in a dark blue shirt which had sky blue side panels and a sky blue back, with plain sky blue shorts, and sky blue socks.
So technically you could call this their “third” kit. Much good it did them as Ipswich won 4-2.
Here is the kit in action: _
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2oRAWxLHLo
I do prefer Watford wearing red shorts . Though not sure why they changed from black at Brighton this afternoon.
They changed at Millwall a couple of weeks ago for no reason and won. Then did the same at Forest and won again. Safe to say it’s a superstitious thing.
OK, new debate:
Things that annoy in modern kit design – I have two:
1. Stripes that don’t line up over the shoulders (Nike being the biggest culprits)
2. Strip coloured badges – a clubs identity is important, and changing the colour of the badge to suit an away/third kit to me goes against it. My club, Bayern, have only done it (to my knowledge) once, on the gold away shirt of 06/08 – but that was justifiable by black and gold featuring alongside blue and white in the regional coat of arms.
While I welcome Man Utd changing to adidas, seeing the leaked third shirt with a solid red badge looks wrong to me, and its something that even Umbro used to do. But why? The red and yellow badge is a distinctive design that would stand out on ANY shirt colour (even grey!), so why change it?
I don’t really mind the badge thing, can look well if it’s done right. The stripes thing is unforgivable though.
Just been watching the Champions League semi-final and the burning question is this – WHY did Real Madrid wear their black third kit at Juventus, when the magenta kit, which they’d worn at Schalke for no logical reason, was a better fit?
Amazing how UEFA allowed this given their penchant for reducing colour clashes!
the Juve/Real scenario is simply bizarre Jon. You’d have to wonder at times do opposition do it to wind up the home team. On tv it actually wasnt much of a clash tbf but id imagine for a referee that it would be challenging up close.
I didn’t really have a problem with it TBH – no harm to link to this again! http://www.truecoloursfootballkits.com/articles/what-constitutes-a-clash
Juve’s kit being more white than black would constitute that its not as bad a clash, but Real wearing black (3rd kit) when the magenta (2nd kit) was available is what makes this case bizarre.
It’s ridiculous that Madrid wore all black at Juventus. A similar scenario would be Liverpool wearing all red at Stoke. It would never happen, and I doubt if any Ref would allow it (except, perhaps the GAA lad whose name escapes me but whom Denis has referred to previously)
@Jon – I agree that the pink would have been the logical choice of all three but don’t feel there was a problem.
@Ronan – Take a look at this pic – http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/dean-whitehead-of-stoke-city-tackles-luis-suarez-of-news-photo/153612898 – how would changing Stoke’s blue stripes to white make it a clash? The fact that they have white shorts and socks would allow all-red to function fine against it IMO, once the Stoke numbers weren’t white on a red background.
Cannot disagree with what you’re pointing out there Denis, there’s no problem with a clash but the Stoke red with that away kit is darker anyway, so that helps. But I’m still of the opinion that you’ll never see a situation as I mentioned previously re: Stoke / Liverpool in home kits or indeed, Ipswich and say, Sheffield Wednesday both in blue and white. Saying that I believe that Celtic and Hibs used to play each other in home kits in the ’70’s without a problem. So, in truth, it probably wouldn’t cause much concern….
I agree that we’ll never see it, we’re geared towards thinking that all-white is okay v a striped kit with white in it (Real v Atletico, for example) but not the other colour (though there’s not much of a problem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EImW8_lv6M).
Ipswich v Sheff Weds would be problematic in my view as Ipswich have white shorts whereas Liverpool’s kit has minimal white. Here is a pic of Celtic v Hibs, solidity of shorts and socks helps but still probably too much white on Hibs shirt http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/steve-archibald-of-hibernian-in-action-during-a-match-news-photo/1922413
the worst two kit clashes I’ve ever seen were Guadalajara vs Necaxa in 2003 – basically red and white stripes versus, err, white and red stripes, and Alianza Lima against Alianza Atlético any time in the late 90’s/early 2000’s (navy and white stripes versus blue and white stripes!!!)
Celtic vs Hibs was always a terrible clash in my opinion, luckily common sense prevailed by the 90’s
that was me above by the way, bloody phone!
The last season Celtic and Hib’s wore their home kits against each other was in the 1991/92 season. Even then Celtic wore their away sock’s of light green at Hib’s and Hib’s wore their green away short’s and sock’s when playing at Celtic.
Cheers Scott, interesting that it was the same season they both stopped, must have been a league directive.
Those light green socks must have looked awful on Celtic kit. This is only other time I remember them wearing change socks – http://www.sportsfile.com/id/177992/
I know it was only a testimonial but that GK shirt Paddy Kenny is wearing barely distinguishes him from his team mates!
These socks look even worse!
http://www.thecelticwiki.com/page/Home+top+1991-92
Celtic did wear dark green sock’s with the home shirt at Raith Rover’s(I think) around 93/94. as Raith had white sock’s. The first time I watched Celtic they wore their green away short’s when playing Arsenal in the Paul Davis testimonial. This is the only other time I can recall Celtic mix and matching with the home shirt.
Here’s Celtic in green change socks (with the home kit) at Dunfermline in 89/90
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8BrWKjZqLY
Far too much white going on isn’t there?
On a related note, were Celtic the first British club where the goalkeeper regularly wore different shorts and socks to the outfielders?
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/may/12/getting-shirty-classic-kits-winning-teams?CMP=share_btn_tw
Semi-serious article in The Guardian on the link between success and nice kits.
I agree with you there Denis, especially as that season Celtic had a perfectly good yellow away kit with green and dark green trim. I must admit I had one of these when I was 8 years old and half of my mates in school did too, it seemed to be a popular seller (or someone nicked a box load off the back of a wagon in the local area!!!)
http://site.classicmatchwornshirts.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/DSCF7856.18043244_std.JPG
I’m not sure about the Celtic goalkeeper though with the different shorts and socks, I’d always thought they’d worn the same. Many photos from the black and white days I’ve seen tended to be their keeper in either yellow or green with the same shorts (complete with number 1 on front and back! – and sometimes very rarely with a number 1 on the shirt too!) and socks.
I do remember seeing footage from the early 50’s of Everton’s keeper wearing black shorts whilst his team mates wore white ones, which seemed to carry on until the late 60’s, but can’t think of any other examples. There do appear to be many instances of goalkeepers wearing a full kit with different shorts and socks to their team mates in the Football League in the mid to late 60’s but then suddenly it all changed by the late 60’s – whether this was because of the Football League imposing rules, I don’t really know. In Scotland it seemed to become a regular thing with many clubs to have the goalkeeper wear different shorts and socks to his team-mates from the 60’s onwards, except strangely the Old Firm who seemed to continue the trend until the early 80’s.
Nowadays it’s an extreme rarity to see any goalkeeper wearing shorts and socks that are the same as his team mates!
I’ve said it before, but Bayern played Augsburg last Saturday – Bayern unveiling next seasons away kit (which is basically completely red, using two shades throughout except the white sponsor logos) and Augsburg wore their all green away shirt. Doesn’t sound like a clash, but when seen together, distinguishing the two is very difficult. Augsburg could have worn their home kit, which despite red side panels is mostly white – even the away shirt worn with white shorts and socks would’ve been better – we were talking earlier about Juventus v Real, and for me, irrespective of the more suitable away kit, the black third didn’t cause massive problems owing to the large areas of white on Juventus’ home. But all red v all green to me is a massive no-no.
@Jon – you’re right, more of a Scotland-wide thing than just Celtic, interesting to know why!
Presumably Barcelona will be in their home kit for CL final, but they’ve never won a European Cup/Champions League final when wearing their ‘classic’ style of blue and red/grenadine stripes with blue shorts and socks.
1992 – Orange away kit (wore home shirts for presentation)
2006 – Stripes with red shorts and blue socks
2009 – Halved shirts, blue shorts, red socks
2011 – Stripes with red shorts and blue socks
There was far too much white in the Arsenal – Swansea match on Monday. Swansea’s refusal compromise the integrity* of their all white kit is admirable, but it can create issues.
*though they have used alternative black socks in recent years at Chelsea. Why not at Arsenal?
Presumably, they felt the red hoops were enough of a differentiation. They have changed socks every other time they’ve come to the Emirates
I’m wondering what everyone thinks of the new AC Milan home strip? Personally, I’m a fan of the continued presence of the St George’s cross badge, and the grey adidas stripes on the sleeves is a subtle, and welcome, alteration. I’m not sure if the grey works quite so well on the shorts and socks, however.
I must say I do like the new Ipswich home kit, even though a floppy collar with pinstripes isn’t historically accurate for them – https://twitter.com/Official_ITFC/status/599125898667945985/photo/1
Leaving aside whether or not the away provides enough differentiation, the limitations of templates are shown by the gold adidas stripes on the shirt and then white on the shorts and socks.
http://livezone.liveforfootballs.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_5141.jpg?95a5e9
Some more absolute meaningless PR wording for the new Tottenham shirt .As John himself said on Twitter What on earth is a Heritage Sash ?
The shirt is ok but dont make up stuff to make it sound special.
Aston Villa, rather interestingly, wearing all white at Southampton when you’d have thought they’d be wearing claret and blue. Much good the change has done them being 4-0 down after just 27 minutes!
That is interesting, I had gotten used to seeing claret/blue v red/white stripes not classed as a clash!
Thoughts on the new Everton shorts? They have a blue stripe across the top
I reckon the designer let his twin boys colour the shirt it blue, but they went over the line into the shorts. He was running out of time so just tidied it up and submitted it to Everton!
I think the Everton shorts would look better if just the waistband were in blue. As for the rest of the kit, it’s definitely a winner, though it’s a shame this season’s fine effort won’t be carried over into a second campaign.
I will, however, repeat previous gripes about the unnecessary sleeve logos, and my preference for the Umbro logo to be simply the double diamond alone, minus lettering below. Like on the 09-13 Manchester City strips, they could do away with the logos on the socks, too!
How about Newcastle and the Wongo logo change, eh!
What about Watford…
Watford’s new kit kinda reminds me of Celtic’s old third shirt for some reason. Literally living up to their nickname of “The Hornets”
Liverpool are revealing their new third kit away to Stoke on Sunday – I thought new-season kits could only be worn in the final home game? Rule must have changed.
Watford’s new kit is dreadful. Where’s the red??
after the result they had today it wouldn’t surprise me if Liverpool consign that black third kit to the bin!
I was thinking the same!
@Nick – Awful, especially as the red shorts regained popularity this season
Just as Liverpool have given next years away shirt a tainted memory , Newcastle could have made next years shirt as the one they got relegated in .. New season New shirt New start .. drop this stupid idea please.
New Barcelona kits : Home is one that will polarise opinion, being as it is non traditional – However I kind of like it, the yellow trim just about lifts it. The away is hideous though – its a common sight in England (especially in the 70’s), but is not very Barca at all – and which donut thought red stripes on the back with blue name / number / sponsor was a good idea? makes them very difficult to read!
Barça’s away kit wouldn’t have been too bad if the red stripes were on the front, or better still arranged horizontally to match the Senyera flag, in a style not too dissimilar to Celtic’s away kit from last season (but with red instead of green).
The less said about the home kit the better.
Newcastle’s new home shirt looks OK-ish from the front – the blue is a bit overkill and the sponsor…… well don’t get me started on Wonga, but it’s the back of the shirt that gets a massive thumbs down.
A lot of controversy over the new England cricket jumper – maybe it’s because I haven’t had much exposure to cricket but seems to me that there’s a bit too much fuss?
Cricket? What’s that? 😛
Interesting stat I noticed today – Swansea wore their home kit of all-white in 34 of their 38 Premier League games this season.
The exceptions were away games at Chelsea, QPR, Tottenham and West Brom.
Arsenal were the team to wear their first-choice kit fewest times (21).
Swansea should/could have worn white at Chavski.
That still wouldn’t have made it 35 though as change shorts would have been required.
*change socks
Good point, didn’t read it properly.
On the whole “protecting the integrity of the kit” that some Clubs see as important, I’d rather see my team wear change shorts (and socks) if need be, to remain in the Home shirt.
What do you guys think?
I agree, I don’t like Arsenal wearing an away kit against teams in blue or white, for instance
Swansea could and probably should wear black shorts and or socks were there is a clash. Wearing all white at Arsenal recently was stupid.
All teams should have a change of shorts and socks to eliminate those clashes like Arsenal/Swansea and Stoke/Swansea, especially when Swanseas change kit is predominately red so it cannot be worn in those games
I agree. perhaps that could be another topic for us to debate.
I’m liking some of the PUMA designs, Fortuna Dusseldorf & Rangers (away) especially. Only one tiny thing I’d like to change, they have a bold stripe down each sleeve, and I would like to see them reprise a design they used in the late Seventies (for Austria amongst others) where the stripe thins as it goes down towards the cuff.
If I’m ever made Kit Commissioner of The World, one rule I’ll bring in is that teams are only allowed to reveal and market two kits at the start of each season.
Should a third kit be required, it shall only become known in the week before the game where it’s needed.
Rochdale did exactly that when playing at Hartlepool in 13/14. They even had pictures of it being ‘badged up’ a couple of days before.
When I first got into football, twenty years ago now, I didn’t even know what a third kit was! Back in those days, a clubs away shirt was usually an opposite to their home, so thirds were hardly ever needed – for example, red teams with a blue away and vice versa. One of the things that really annoys me about modern kits is the away shirts that are only slight variants on the home. WHY do sky or royal blue teams have navy aways? Its not as common in Germany, but is creeping in now – the Leverkusen home shirt is going to cause problems – its red with black hoops…the away shirt is all black. This means that the away shirt will hardly be used, especially when Eintracht Frankfurt, Hannover, and newly promoted Ingolstadt all play in red and black. I find it all bizarre. The same applies to the new Hertha BSC away – its navy. The home shirt is royal blue and white. WHY, WHY, WHY???
Crawley Town are bad that way too for next season, Martyn: http://www.footballkitnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Checkatrade-Crawley-Town-Kit.jpg
I’m not sure if I asked you this before, but would you know where to find pics/videos of the Bayern shirts here (white 1991-93, red 94-95) which are of the same style as Germany’s WC94 kit? http://stickerfreak.de/FC%20Bayern%20Seiten/Trikot%20Historie%20FCB.html
Also, are these fakes? http://www.oldfootballshirts.com/en/teams/b/bayern-munich/old-bayern-munich-football-shirt-s8953.html
http://www.oldfootballshirts.com/en/teams/b/bayern-munich/old-bayern-munich-football-shirt-s8195.html
Denis,
1. That Crawley one is a shocker, isn’t it? It’s an even worse one than Leverkusen’s ‘two home kits’ scenario. Which idiot thought that was a good idea?
2. That’s a difficult one – I did find a picture (of sorts) of the red one, by searching with ‘German super cup Bayern Munich 1994’; its not a great photo but gives the idea. The white one I’ve never seen – its possible it was only worn once or twice, but I shall keep my eyes open for it.
3. Yeah, definitely fakes. The Bayern home shirts only ever had blue adidas stripes during the ‘Equipment’ years – the badge on the first looks crudely stuck on, and the equipment logo looks wonky – also the club name on the back clashes horribly. Its possible these were generic training tops of the period with Bayern and Opel lettering and badges added later. Pity anyone who fell for that!
Years ago a third kit was merely a functional kit to alleviate a problem, and only rarely did teams market an actual third kit if their away colours were a “traditional” alternative, e.g. Man U during their (first) adidas spell marketing an official all-blue third kit that you could buy as a replica. But now so many teams/manufacturers seem to use the third kit as a marketing tool, by deliberately making the away kit almost unfit for purpose by making it too similar in some way or another to justify the third kit’s existence, or worse still like Man City last season and Liverpool a couple of seasoms prior, have a superfluous third kit of almost identical colour/contrast to the away shirt, purely to sell shirts and maybe wear them for the odd game or two when there was no real need.
Crawley’s new kits are a prime example, I’m guessing they will have a third kit to follow (probably in a generic Puma template), as the Football League are usually quite picky on certain colour clash scenarios.
Those instances from Germany are bizarre, I thought likewise about Bayer Leverkusen’s odd decision to retain last season’s home kit as an away kit. How many other teams in the Bundesliga wear (predominantly) black? (considering Paderborn got relegated and now reverted to blue)?
Only Eintracht Frankfurt (red and black stripes / black shorts / black or red socks) and newly promoted Ingolstadt (same); Hannover have very dark red shirts usually paired with black shorts, making their own all black away shirt last season equally bizarre.
Bayern went through a spell of using an alternative home for Europe only, which resulted in some hideous clashes domestically. Thankfully for the last decade they have switched to a dark third shirt, and being as the away is traditionally white, this means it gets a lot of use domestically and in Europe. The only exceptions were during the lifespan of the navy away kit (incidentally my favourite ever), when the third became white. I only wish other clubs had that foresight. OK, its three new kits every year, but you know if you just get one of the away or third it’ll get some use, and not as a superfluous ‘leisure shirt’ as listed above.
Have you pics of those bad clashes Martyn? I do recall the time they had to wear bibs alright.
Yeah, I was thinking of the bib one primarily.
This one not ideal either http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/kaiserslautern-1-fc-kaiserslautern-fc-bayern-muenchen-3-5-n-news-photo/52718323
And another http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/cottbus-fc-energie-cottbus-fc-bayern-muenchen-niko-kovac-news-photo/52713312
Really belies the stereotype about German organisation!
Seriously guys, both are OK for me.
I don’t think they are awful, the phrase I used was “not ideal”.
I think that, if Bayern had had a third kit of a different colour, it would have been used in those situations, which was Martyn’s original point.
Denis,
Yes that’s right. I still can’t believe that these problems were only remedied in the last ten years by the regular adhesion to a red/white/dark roster. Watching the Bundesliga in 14/15 though, it still goes on – all red v all green still looks dodgy to me, as well as countless other iffy choices – the main problem has been half and half strips like Hoffenheim (blue/white diagonal) and Koln (red/white diagonal) – that Hoffenheim still on occasion used an all white away strip when a red and yellow third was available is beyond me – at least Koln had a light blue and yellow away to avoid problems. There have also been odd change short and sock choices all season – I think the stereotype doesn’t apply to football!
Did anyone wish ‘Kit Round Up 15 June’ a Happy 2nd Birthday on Monday??
My faith in kit designers may be restored…Just saw VfB Stuttgart’s new kits…and they’re gorgeous…and they MAKE SENSE.
First, the home. All white, no trim, with the red chest band going all the way round, a feature not used for some 30 odd years. It’s classy, it’s understated, it respects the clubs history.
The away, using two shades of red trimmed with white, also respects the clubs heritage, the use of two shades meaning its familiar enough to be respectful, different enough to be memorable.
The third, meanwhile, is a STUNNER. I LOVE the fact that a black and red third kit (not a new choice) is trimmed with yellow, carried through to the Puma logo, while the red chest band links to the home kit.
And to top it all, white home, red away, black third!!! logical, at last!!! and being that VfB aren’t sacred about mixing and matching kit elements, EVERY SINGLE PERMUTATION is covered!!! 🙂 Well done Puma.
Good news on the Leverkusen ‘two home kits’ problem – the black kit with red hoops is the home, as we knew, but the all red (last seasons home) is now the THIRD, not the away. The new away is all white with black and red trim. Its still not ideal, but should cover things. What it means is that the all red is in theory redundant, as the white will cover all red clashes – the only problem I could see is against black and white stripes, where the red will suffice. Tenuous, but OK.
Still in Germany, all three Hoffenheim kits are stunning for the new season – unusual white and royal blue home, yellow away, navy third. Good job Lotto!
I’ve always got a pet peeve about Hoffenheim kits is that the badges are always the wrong way round on the shorts, this has happened with both Puma and Lotto, is there any specific reason for this?!
Good question, and I must confess I don’t know the answer…I would have said it could be because of the squad number, but that is on the same side, so I honestly don’t know. Superstition perhaps? Hoffenheim haven’t been relegated since making it to the Bundesliga, so it could be that?
Martyn – what do you think of the new Bayern kits?
Hi Denis,
Here goes :
Home – adidas always have the challenge of coming up with something new while still respecting the traditions of the club. The two shades of red thing manages IMO to do both. Fresh, new, but still definitely Bayern.
Away – I love it! Last seasons is already looking a little dated, so I think this was the way to go – fresh, clean, interesting chest design, and with a nice collar. I’d also expect to see dark grey alternative shorts and / or socks unveiled at some point, even though it was presented as an all white kit.
Third – The only one I’m not quite sure about yet – I like the pinky red trim colour, but if I’m being mega critical I would’ve preferred to have seen something a bit more snazzy on the main body – a mural of the Allianz as a shadow pattern perhaps?
Overall though, a classy set, and IMO an improvement over last season. What about you, Denis?
I haven’t seen the third yet, what’s it like?
I do like the away, it’s very nice, but wouldn’t be a fan of mixing two shades of the same colour. The new Munster rugby jersey is the same, though the darker shade is the main body, and I’m not a huge fan.
Third is all navy (apparently, though in the pictures I’ve seen it looks black), with a round neck non contrasting collar, pinky red adidas stripes and cuffs. It features a horizontal pinstripe shadow pattern on the shirt, similar to the new Chelsea third.
As I said, I like the new home, the ‘two shades of red’ was also used on the France Rugby Union away from the six nations. Its unusual, but I like it. Personally I think the new Real Madrid home would’ve been better if the trim was white instead of grey.
May be of interest – a look at adidas’s 1992-93 goalkeeper shirt template: http://www.corkcitykits.com/adidas92gk.html
Good piece, Denis. Any chance of something similar for Adidas’s 88-90 GK template?6
Interesting, Denis. It’s not something we discuss much here, but I personally think the current GK shirts are a little bland. Back in the 90’s, there were some great designs around (and some shocking ones, it must be said). Umbro’s ’97 yellow with offset black cross was a classic, as were most of adidas’ through the decade. Hall of shame must be the ’95 Asics (the orange and white one) – good colours on paper, washed out and insipid in reality. Umbro’s from the same period (fluorescent yellow with abstract black patterns) divided opinion (personally I liked it), and who could forget the England Euro ’96 pair?
Yeah you’re right, it’s a bit of a black spot here but it is something which interests me. Can’t say I liked the 90s ones – not least because they’re so hard to draw!
@HArry – There may well be!
Best adidas goalie shirts, in my opinion, were the black yoked ones in Green, Sky Blue & Yellow, worn by the likes of Jim Leighton at Aberdeen, seen here http://equipaciones-retro-futbolchapas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/campeones-de-la-recopa-aberdeen-fc-1983.html
Pretty nice, that one, I have to agree. I remember the Everton 95/96 (unveiled in the FA Cup Final against Man Utd), Neville Southall described as making him look like a bin man, and David Seaman said the Euro ’96 second choice (the red one) made him feel like a tube of refreshers! But at least they were memorable…can anyone remember a TRULY memorable GK strip from the past few years?
Yeah that’s a good call Andrew, I think there was an orange version seen too?
Nike produced some excellent GK kits from about 2000-2007
My favourite being
https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/2003-04-arsenal-gk-shirt-bnib.html
Loved that green one and also the Orange version
Also an honourable mention for the 2001 style with the black backs
https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/2000-01-arsenal-gk-shirt-w-tags.html
I don’t think during that period they produced many bad ones, the often used different tones of the same colour to excellent effect
https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/2006-07-arsenal-gk-shirt-l-boys.html
I think all their GK kits from 2004-2007 used the tonal effect in some way whether it was panels, halfs or stripes/hoops
Talking of 90’s kits, Adidas are doing an excellent reboot version of their 1990 template through their mi-team customisation arm, why on earth have they not rolled this out to their clubs?!!
https://goalkeeping.com/shop/2907-home_default/torwarttrikot-mi-morona-15-.jpg
Also their 1994 gk template is back
http://www.miteam.adidas.co.uk/mi-Morona-15-Goalkeeper-Shirt-M/4001315_M,en_GB,pd.html#is_configurator
At the time, I didn’t like the Taifun (1990-92) style but it has retro chic now!
Good call, David. I think that era was a golden one for Nike full stop. What about the plain bodied one with the abstract pattern on the sleeves? May have been a bit earlier. Also the one worn back in the mid 90’s when Arsenal started the contract, two tone grey with large star prints all over it (probably not well remembered by Gunners fans as Seaman had it on for ‘that’ Nayim goal).
You make a good point Martyn, during the early to mid 2000’s Nike were on top form, regarding the plain bodied gk shirt with pattern sleeved is it this one from 1997?
https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/1995-97-arsenal-gk-shirt-w-tags-xl-boys.html
What are the views on Norwich’s set of kits for this season?
There’s a lot of Daily Mail-style ‘OMG, they’re all the same colour!’ pieces, but I think they have every potential clash catered for, really.*
Play away to a team in yellow – wear green
Play away to Plymouth/Yeovil in a cup – wear third
*unless they’re drawn with a yellow-and-green non-league team in the FA Cup
I like the Norwich home and away (except the vastly oversized sponsor space)
The third is totally superfluous, first impressions aren’t good, however it may turn up to be one that grows on me.
Is this year an anniversary for Norwich given that they are halves and have brought out a pointless third?
David,
Yeah, thanks, thats the one.
Re Norwich – the third has been designed to be deliberately provocative, judging by the gist of the ad campaign. The sponsor is ridiculous though, reminds me of that tiger striped Hull horror from the mid 90’s. Why so big?
Love the Schumacher model adidas gk shirt from the mid-late 80s. Uzed as late as 89 by arsenal. I’ve never quite sussed out man utd and arsenal’s gk shirts from 88-89, which changed ever so slightly throughout the season. Adidas logo and club badge level with each other on a shirt with diagonal shadow pattern. Then adidas lg much higher on the asymmetric Schumacher pattern. I don’t think even Unitedkits website have it right.
Dennis: did Cork play in an equivalent of this beaut?https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/1988-90-manchester-united-gk-shirt-l-boys.html
That basic style was used from 1984-91, though mainly in yellow with a black collar as home kit was green and white hoops – when kit changed to white with green shorts, a green GK shirt with black collar was occasionally used.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure if the diagonal pattern was ever used.
It’s just as well Norwich won’t be playing ADO Den Haag anytime soon!
The choice of colours for the away strip is bad enough, but the third kit is so superfluous that it makes Man City’s purple strip from last season seem like a useful garment. Has the Norwich board been on Delia’s sherry trifles when deciding on playing kit?
Same stuff that Rangers are on giving them a purple third when the home is royal blue…
I think the Rangers one is worse Martyn, in that the purple will clash against any teams Rangers should change against, i.e. royal or navy.
I’d liken Norwich’s one to Crystal Palace in 1990-91 (striped home, blue away, red third) – their green away works against teams in yellow and the largely yellow third works against teams in green.
But with a predominantly yellow home surely its irrelevant? Only the black shorts and socks really distinguish it from the home kit. I really see it as a ‘novelty’ kit, which is how they’ve marketed it. If Norwich even need a third then black / blue would be more logical, or a white away. After all, green and yellow halved home and a green away is in itself a bit daft. What next, Holland introducing a yellow away kit?
The home is half-green though, I wouldn’t allow them wear that if they were drawn away to Plymouth, whereas the green on the third is drastically reduced.
I agree that black or blue should be the third, but you’re missing the point with the yellow/green home and green away – almost all of their clashes are with yellow teams and green solves this. A yellow Netherlands away would solve red clashes, of course, but they often change against yellow teams too, so it’s unsatisfactory from that point of view.
I agree with Martyn, I see it as a novelty kit rather than a genuine alternative kit. Rangers having a purple kit is equally pointless. In the same league my club Hibs have went down the same route by having a purple away kit which we’ve had many a time in the past, however now our home kit is a much darker shade of green and last season we had to change against anyone in navy, black, maroon or blue and I think purple would look just as bad as bottle green against those colours so it’ll be interesting to see if we bring out a third kit ourselves
Denis,
I meant in a situation where they are playing a team with similar colours to both – its the same as when a blue and white striped team has a plain blue, or plain white away. I think the problem has been made worse by it being all green – yellow shorts and socks would solve any problems, which is a similar approach taken by Dortmund – it also gives them the chance to wear all yellow or all black depending on the circumstances.
As regards Scotland, David, there is a similar problem with Hearts which has been mentioned here before – the maroon home shirt is so dark a black or navy away would be pointless – Hannover and Nurnberg in Germany are equally repeat offenders – VERY dark shade of red and black third or away kits – the home shorts are black too usually! Thankfully Hannover have a much lighter shade of red for this season coming up, which is something of a relief. Its a nice kit, too.
Martyn, isn’t that exactly the point though – there’s nobody else in league football with yellow and green! If there was, I’d agree that it’s stupid.
Very true, but the slight excuses that teams use to change now means that both the away and third kits are bound to get used!
That’s a given – I’m here watching Argentina in their alternative shirts against Australia in The Rugby Championship, despite New Zealand and South Africa having been more of a clash today and both in their usual strips
Rugby has always had a somewhat tenuous grasp on what constitutes a clash anyway!
Moving on, just saw the new Real Madrid away kit in its entirety…although the grey marl would probably work, the problem is pairing it with a different shade of grey for the shorts. Why not the same shade? Just looks mismatched and horrible to me.
Agree with Martyn about the Real away. And against City the other day, it showed that sweat turns the shirt a shade closer to the shorts. So depending on how much a player sweats and where, the team look mismatched.
Maybe it’s deliberate, a way of showing up those who don’t work as hard!
i think if norwich just have a set of alternate yellow shorts (witch they do …… the away ones are yellow and the same style as the home) it will cover a clash against teams like plymouth since then the kit will be predominantly yellow
and the all green covers the game against watford
i think that norwich have a situation where their kits dont matter all that much if they are the same since their isn’t much likelihood they will come up against someone they clash with
so they can afford to experiment, ….i have to say i like all 3 of their kits this year
oh …..and i forgot to mention that watfords home is predominantly black this season anyway
Watching Middlesbrough at Barnsley last night..
Any reason why white numbers are allowed on yellow shirts??
http://www.barnsleyfc.co.uk//news/article/reds-v-middlesbrough-in-pictures-2580785.aspx
It doesn’t seem too bad on the images but from the stands you can’t make out what they’re supposed to be (plus as it was a friendly there wasn’t any shorts numbers!)
Is this some odd FL rule or just a Middlesbrough thing?
Just watchimg Southampton v Vitesse Arnhem on BT Sport, for some bizarre reason Vitesse are wearing their white away kit which partially clashes, but their yellow and black home kit wouldn’t have clashed at all.
They’re not even doing an Arsenal either as they usually wear white shorts and socks with the home shirt.
I have to disagree about the Real Madrid away kit, I love it! I really think that the darker shorts work well with it!
Is today the day that Man Utd’s contract with Nike expires and they can begin using their Adidas stuff?
I think overall Nike done well with Man Utd, particular highlights being the 2006-7 home kit
https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/2006-07-manchester-united-home-shirt-good-l-198117.html
The 2002 third kit
https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/2002-03-manchester-united-third-shirt-excellent-xl.html
The 2008 third
https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/2008-09-manchester-united-cl-third-shirt-9-berbatov-xl.html
The 2011 home
https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/2011-12-manchester-united-player-issue-european-home-l-s-shirt-bnib.html
And a very honourable mention for last years away
https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/2014-15-manchester-united-away-l-s-shirt-jones-4-w-tags-xl.html
Whilst in my opinion all of the above were excellent (the 2008 probably being my favourite) Nike did do some I simply hated and worst offenders being
The 2007 home and away
https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/2007-09-manchester-united-home-l-s-shirt-xl.html
https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/2007-08-manchester-united-away-shirt-m-209643.html
The 2009 home and away
https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/2009-10-manchester-united-home-l-s-shirt-l.html
https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/2009-10-manchester-united-away-shirt-xl-205395.html
By and large I preferred a lot of the away and third kits produced by Nike for Man Utd, often what I didn’t like was that they produced quite a few home shirts that were red with black as the main or only secondary colour, I like to see Man Utd in red and white shirts
Would be interesting to hear you guys’ thoughts on Nike’s efforts for Man Utd
with Manchester United’s 2009 kit’s, I actually liked the white and red goalkeeper shirt better than both kit’s mentioned.
If I remember rightly Scott, the white goalkeeper version was the only version that was accurate to the shirt the whole thing played homage to!
I agree that the white one did look pretty good, however the red and black outfield versions did nothing for me at all
And, as I’ve said here before, blue rather than red trim on the away meant that Man U had three separate pairs of white shorts and socks (including third) and two pairs of black shorts and socks!
Denis, you’ll be horrified by the fact that this season it appears United will wear up to three different pairs of white socks!
I quite liked the Nike United shirt with the vertical stripe up the back. Very bold. Hated most of the others, especially the 2002 ones that David likes!
Big fan of their new home kit. Evokes memories of Olsen, McGrath, Whiteside et al.
@Nick – are the home and away shorts and socks not interchangeable?
Denis – I had thought they would be, but it appears that only the shorts will be interchangeable with both. The away socks are slightly different to the home change versions, while it looks like the first choice third strip socks are white also:
http://www.footyheadlines.com/2015/03/adidas-manchester-united-15-16-kit.html
I’m far from a United fan, but as a kit geek I’m tearing my hair out!
This makes me angry. They messed things up in a similar way with first Nike set in 2002.
That is also a pet hate of mine when clubs have multiple versions of items of the exact same colours, United have previous for this as well as the 2009 situation as mentioned by Denis
I’d have liked the third shirt to have the graphic rather than the shorts!
http://www.premierleague.com/content/dam/premierleague/site-content/News/publications/handbooks/premier-league-handbook-2015-16.pdf
Premier League Handbook 2015/16
Re Man Utd Nike kits – I always thought that the first one from 02/03 would’ve worked far better if it had white and black on the shirt instead of just black. Generally though I think all of their kits, home, away, and third, were design classics until about 06 – I personally went off Nike when their kits became more plain and less daring. The 05/06 offerings were the last of the classic era that had stretched back to about 98 for me.
I like the adidas offerings though – the faded effect on the bottom of the black shorts will probably only work with white socks. Is that the idea?
I still don’t like the Real Madrid mis-matched shorts idea – if it has to be a different shade, why not anthracite, or black? or better still, the yellow used on the shirt trim?
While we’re on the subject, I was only thinking the other day that since the start of the contract in 06/07, adidas have produced some stonking designs for Chelsea. I liked the navy and grey hooped third, trimmed with yellow, from 09/10, but they have consistently had strong, and sometimes daring (remember fluorescent yellow and black?) designs. They don’t always work, but at least they dare to be different.
And lastly, Spurs kits…white and navy home, navy and sky away…and purple third. WTF? Does everyone agree that West Brom is going to cause HUGE problems, not to mention Everton, Chelsea, plus any other team using combinations of white and blue. That ‘heritage sash’ is the problem – an all sky away would’ve partially solved it, but why, oh why have a purple third? Don’t kit designers ever read these forums? Spurs to me should always have one white kit, one navy, and one yellow. Those colours are as ingrained in the history of the club as white, yellow and royal blue for Leeds, red and yellow for Arsenal, etc, etc. PURPLE? the mind boggles.
The 2009 navy, grey and fluo kit was a thing of true beauty, even the Boro 2014 imitation version was still nice!
Looking at the handbook, the Villa Gk kits don’t seem to be a great choice, having both red and orange (which both wouldn’t be much good with claret) they do have a black one too but I can’t help but thinking there were better choices to be made but then again I am a real pedant when it comes to GK colours for example I hate it when a team in red has a orange GK kit or an tangerine team having a yellow GK kit annoys me as well, complete contrast is best in my opinion
I was keeping an eye out for the handbook Alexander, you beat me to it!
Re Spurs, I suppose they’ll just wear purple at the Hawthorns, if they can get away with silver and black halves, as in 2012-13, then anything goes really. Can’t see them changing against Chelsea or Everton.
Also, clubs are cottoning on – Arsenal’s third, Man Utd’s away and third and Spurs’ third are all marked ‘to be advised’ so that they’re not gazumped with the launches!
Martyn, I was thinking about Chelsea’s away kits under adidas the other day. Adidas have supplied several classy, simple designs during their tenure but equally several terrible strips. Yes, many of these were daring. But just as many managed to be experimental and also wholly unmemorable. Can anyone really remember many of their change strips from 2010 onwards? The best of these, in my opinion, were the simpler efforts immune from fussy detailing, such as last season’s yellow away kit, or the change strips from 2013-14.
I think the white ones have all been classy – the first one with curved trim and pinstripes; the one with the sky blue sash; the one with the navy and yellow yoke; and the one with blue and navy chest band; as well as the new one.
The third kits have been a bit of a mixed bag – the two I mentioned were nice (the navy and grey hooped and the fluorescent yellow, as well as the amber and royal one from 08), but then there was the lime green effort from a few years ago – mmmm. Generally though, when black is used (as with the sky blue ‘net’ design), they’re classy.
Home kits a bit of a mixed bag, too. Didn’t like the one with the white collar trimmed with yellow (bit insipid), and the 11/12 with the white bars on the shoulder and shorts seemed a bit dated (though as a Bayern fan my memories may be tainted!). I like the new one though – somehow Chelsea kits seem to look better with red trim as well as the familiar white.
In a related note, I see the leaked Germany Euro 16 shirt has adidas stripes down the side of the body (a la early 80’s Man Utd) – will this herald a new trend of different placement of the familiar marque? One of my favourites that did something different with the stripes was the Spain Euro 96 shirt that had them going through the badge, overlaid on a broad navy section (classy). It was also used in red and white for Crewe Aexandra when the template moved to teamwear! I wonder if John could do an International kits feature at some point featuring leading Euro and World teams, such as Germany, Spain, Holland, Argentina and Brazil?
Talking about GK kits, its not uncommon for Bayern to have a red third choice, even though if they’re using their third kit its probably against a team with large sections of red anyway!
Newcastle are competing with Norwich for “most pointless away kit of the season”…… home kit is predominantly white, away kit is white.
And with navy for a third strip, it looks very much like they’ll be wearing their skins at West Brom.
On the subject of predominantly white, a terrible kit clash in the friendly between Marseille and Juventus. Adidas has really butchered the Old Lady’s kit with the back being the way it is!
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/mario-lemina-of-olympique-de-marseille-is-challenged-by-news-photo/482664986
The Adidas Juve kit is simply awful, I cannot describe how much I absolutely hate it! Stripes far too thin, the large white panels for the back and shoulders/ sleeves look terrible. As daft as it sounds, put a Newcastle Shirt and a Brown Ale Logo on it and I’d probably like it! However Nike made some excellent simple elegant designs for Juve and as it says above Adidas have simply butchered Juve’s look.
Indeed, even Nike’s first effort for Juve with thin stripes (in 2003) was a lot better, and had stripes om the back too.
I have to admit nothing beats Juve’s Kappa kit of the mid-90’s, even the away kit (blue with yellow stars) was terrific.
Yeah, I loved that one that had the broad black stripes that almost made an arch on the back to fit the name and number in – the blue away with stars you mentioned was class too. Best Nike Juve kit was the first as you said – I loved that post WC 02 design motif of the stripe picking up from the trim on the side and continuing on the back, with the shards on the short and the broken lines on the socks. That for me was the period where Nike got it right across all their contracts – even the teamwear ones. They did some quality kits in the Bundesliga too for the likes of Hertha Berlin and Borussia Dortmund.
I think the problem with the adidas one is that its just not ‘Juventus’ enough – it could be Newcastle with a change of logos as mentioned above. Ironically if they used the new Sunderland design in black and white it would work better. I fear the days of striped backs are over with increasing importance placed on the recognisability of squad names and numbers (the marketing machine drives everything these days). That said, the new Barca away with red stripes on the back only is awful – the squad name and number almost unrecognisable.
Am I right in thinking that Wayne Rooney was the first Man Utd player in circa 4-5 years to wear a proper L/S shirt yesterday? Good to see L/S shirts being brought back to another team!
Wish more would wear L/S shirt’s and we could banish the base layer to the dustbin
I would more or less agree with Scott, I think more clubs should supply l/s shirts to players, I don’t mind base layer shirts, unless they are blatantly the wrong colour for example St Mirren having a plain white sleeve and at least one player wore black l/s base layer under a s/s shirt, or Leyton Orient last year who had white sleeves but continued to supply players with red base layers, however I would like to see all clubs bringing back the option of proper l/s shirts, it seems a bit of a lottery at the moment with some clubs happy to provide their players with regular l/s shirts and others issuing s/s only.
For my own club Hibernian, between 2010 and 2013 no l/s shirts were issued to players (despite being produced) and then 2013 to 2015 long sleeved shirts came back however annoyingly the new home kit is unavailable in l/s for fans or players due to Nike not producing a l/s version of the (modified) template we use which is frustrating!
My team Ipswich used to sell L/S shirt’s prior to switching to adidas. I was told by someone in the club that adidas wanted a minimum order of 2500 shirt’s before allowing Ipswich to have them. Not even the player’s have them. I hate the L/S base layer shirt’s being in view. I now generally buy the Ipswich goalkeeper shirt’s first as I prefer wearing L/S shirt’s. I wish England and nike would start selling L/S shirt’s.
I find it bizarre that Nike don’t produce the replica England shirts in l/s, Adidas this time round produced replica home shirts in l/s but not away shirts for Scotland disappointingly, our two previous Adidas away kits were both available to fans in either l/s or s/s, players Adizero versions however still have the choice of l/s or s/s in the home and away shirt
I echo all the comments above about longsleeve base layers. It was great to see Rooney in a long sleeve shirt once again after a gap of several years. The failure of Nike to supply player issue (or, for that matter, replica) long sleeve shirts to their teams illustrates perfectly how they have no respect for the traditions of football, culminating in Barca’s hoops – a grotesque development.
I think the Barca away kit bothers me more than the hooped home kit!
It’s just strange that the aforementioned Barca has a supply of regular l/s shirts from Nike and Man Utd & Man City didn’t/ don’t.
I wonder how much of it is that the kitmen don’t bother issuing l/s shirts as previously mention regarding Hibs 2010-2013 had l/s shirts produced (no difference between player issue and replica version) and definitely delivered to the kit room but for whatever reason weren’t passed on to the players and during that time the club did have players who previously and have since preferred to wear l/s shirts at other clubs or when Hibs brought back l/s shirts 2013-2015
Basically my point is that I don’t think it’s necessarily always the fault of the kit supplier as to why l/s shirts are so scarce now
Just looking at Rooney again, the long-sleeved Manchester United shirts are made to look as if they’re short sleeves over baselayers – though the home has red where the white short-sleeved cuff is
Both teams in normal kits at the Etihad – I know the socks are different but Chelsea in all-blue would aid the differentiation as the splashes of white can confuse.
On an unrelated subject, I appeared on a radio show in Ireland this morning, talking about the origins of team colours in Gaelic games: http://www.todayfm.com/That-A-Bit-Irish–County-Colours-
why is no one mentioning birmingham going back to the german flag kit this year lol
Was going to mention that a while back, Tony, but I got side tracked ranting about pointless away kits!
I approve – not just because of my well documented love of German football, but because its iconic. I approve of the revival of past classic away / home shirts – adidas have done it for Bayern on many occasions, even basing some designs on the championship winning strip (the first) from 1932.
Going back to Birmingham, they’ve done a really good job with it, and at least the colours are arranged the same – when Umbro did the ‘Newton Heath’ third kit in ’93 they got the sleeves wrong!
Denis (1333), Bayern’s long sleeve home this season has a ring where the cuff would be, halfway down (like a ‘fake cuff’), then the three stripes continue below it – it gives the shirt a ‘base layer-esque’ look.
Not a fan of long sleeved shirts trying to look like base layers, although Adidas aren’t the only ones to take that approach, I remember Puma (2010ish?) and Umbro (red and black striped Man City away circa 2010), it does look even weirder on an Adidas kit given that the 3 stripes continue down to the wrist
However the more I see the new Bayern home kit the more I like it, not as good as last years as that was a personal favourite but pretty close, the tonal reds work magnificently together
Agreed, and the shirt has lots of interesting little details when seen up close. I wasn’t a fan of the adidas ‘back and side stripes’, though the rest of last seasons home kit was really nice, but this season’s is great – really unique. The away is gorgeous too.
I think the cuff addition to this season’s adidas template, although I loved the thin stripes that ran across the back and down the sides of last season’s designs.
This season’s Bayern home strip is nice, but it isn’t a patch on the previous three or four home kits, they were lovely, in particular last season’s and 11-13.
Well thanks martyn i was trying to change the topic their lol
But to expand on the subject a little
I didnt mind em getting the sleeves wrong on the man utd kit im not one for being pedantic when it comes to throwbacks as long as the essence is their im happy
But i dont think they had a choice but to get it right with the birmingham kit
Don’t get me wrong, the Man Utd Newton Heath kit WAS really nice, it was just that having a green sleeve on the green side was clumsy – strictly speaking to match the original it should’ve had split sleeves as well – but I would have liked it more if it had a yellow sleeve on that side!
Nick – as a Bayern fan I liked last seasons kit, the previous seasons was, If I’m honest, a little pedestrian. The red and gold one from 11-13 was classy and different, and I think this seasons is too – personally I really like it. If I’m being absolutely honest I would like to see the return of blue sleeves and side bars on the shorts – as on the 99-01 (one of the best Bayern kits ever). One of my other favourites though was just red and white – the 07-09 with the hoops. That one was lovely.
Newcastle wearing their white and blue away shirt at Old Trafford…Err, why?
$
Ref in Sunderland v Swansea wearing a very light-coloured shirt in first half, changed to yellow for second
Are City wearing last season’s shorts at Goodison?
that’s what I was thinking Denis
I think Newcastle were wearing their away kit to get some usage out of it, because it’s on par with Norwich for most pointless away kit of the season.
Probably down to a “sock clash”, but instead of wearing a white pair with the home kit they went the whole hog.
Chelsea wearing their third kit at the Hawthorns was silly too, IMO. All-blue the best option
We’re back to the old navy vs black vs royal blue argument aren’t we? I think you’re right, the home would’v been better, though the all black didn’t cause huge confusion IMO. Newcastle could’ve worn the away socks with the home strip at Old Trafford – presence of ‘Wonga Blue’ on both strips would’ve meant a seemless match. Unlike the City shorts (see ‘what constitutes a clash’ for my views on that)!
Actually, is this the first instance of a sponsors colours directly influencing the strip design? because the Newcastle trim is definitely styled after their sponsor.
Reading away influenced by Waitrose http://cdn.football-shirts.co.uk/fans/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/reading-away.jpg
But why not all green? We’re back to the old thorny issue of a team with a predominantly white home having a white away…
I noticed from the weekends highlights that Scott would be a happy man, Brett Pitman of Ipswich sporting a proper long sleeve shirt!
Interesting that officials wore a shade of turquoise similar to Petr Cech tonight, when it had been expected that they would wear grey http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150820/arsenal-v-liverpool-matchday-strips
Also, Wayne Rooney wore a short sleeved shirt over a baselayer on Saturday.
Davidr1986 Brett Pitman’s shirt was custom made by the club. They bought a plain adidas teamwear shirt , cut the sleeve’s off and sowed it on to his shirt. They posted on their twitter feed about it.
That’s both ingenious and disappointing at the same time!