370 Replies to “2011-12 Premier League Kits

  1. Outside Bolton, my team, have to say Norwich home & away win for me. Good solid look, true to traditional colours. Wigan’s collection matches their current lge position,

  2. According to the Premier League handbook, Arsenal’s yellow and redcurrant away from last season is retained as a third kit, with the handbook showing it having the anniversary crest.

    Of course this could be a third kit in name only like last season

  3. Newcastle’s kits are the pick of the bunch for me this season.

    On an entirely unrelated note, did anyone see the highlights from Huddersfield v notts county. This was the worst colour clash I have ever seen in my 40 odd years of watching football.

  4. Thanks Steve! Andy, yes Norwich’s are def one of the best this year although I believe it is a strong year overall. I always like seeing them in white or red away from home though. Denis – didn’t bother with Arsenal’s third, couldn’t see it for sale on their site and would therefore be VERY surprised if they ever wear it this year.

    Mark, not 100% sure of Newcastles this year, like Denis, I like the third but for it to have any credibility there should have been less black on the home.

    Sounds like we definitely need to have a feature on bad kit clashes! I’ll check out Huddersfield and Notts County.

    Finally, isn’t it odd that 3 teams are wearing orange away strips this year?

  5. Thanks John!

    This year Bolton home has some serious competition at the bottom of the table from QPR away and third!

  6. Love the new design John. Also think that Norwich’s home is the best of the lot this year. Also love Everton’s home (and goalie kit..am I the only one?) and Wigan’s…minimal and classy in all 3 cases (the 3rd being Norwich, not the Everton goalie kit!).

  7. The irony of Wigan having such nice kits (and I’m including the away, I like the 03-04 Portsmouth impersonation!) is that they’ll probably go down, having stayed up in some bad kits!

  8. I’ve got to say I love both of West Brom’s change kits. Could only be bettered if either were yellow & green.

    Think the Spurs 3rd kit would have looked superb in all yellow. Black is for Referee’s.

  9. As an Arsenal fan I was delighted when our new home kit was launched with a return to red socks, don’t know why we are persisting with white socks, you can only buy the red ones in the club shop. Have a look at the mascot in all our home games, they all wear the red socks. Arsenal kit with long-sleeves and red socks looks superb.

  10. Just a final thought. I wonder if Arsenal’s yellow kit could make an appearance at Villa Park on Wednesday night. There is a bit of light blue in the away shirt that could be deemed as a clash with the Villa home shirt. Saying that, after the colour clash at Blackpool last year they’ll probably wear the blue anyway.

  11. @Ronan Smith

    That’s a decent point, but I think Arsenal will wear the blue kit at Villa Park. I mean, it’s only a sleeve that clashes, and we often see teams wearing white shirts against Arsenal at The Emirates.

    It will be interesting to see if Arsenal have actually retained the yellow away kit from last season, as a third kit for this season, after the debacle from last season.

    After the Champions League draw, and Arsenal drawing Milan, maybe we’ll find out then? I mean, surely both the Arsenal home kit, and the dark blue away kit clashes with the red and black stripes of Milan?

  12. Ronan as a ref I think you were spot on. Should not have allowed such a clash. Rob Styles correctly prevented 2 teams wear clashing sleeves when West Ham were at Villa Park a few years ago.

  13. I felt Arsenal v Villa was very much a colour clash. Navy and maroon tend to clash a bit and the sky blue sleeve also. The all yellow version of last years away should have been used. i mean its only one game.

  14. Some interesting Premier League kits this season, I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad season though, kit wise.

    I have to say, watching on TV, when the camera is far away during the standard “following the action” angle, the Fulham third kit gives the impression that the players are topless. Very strange.

  15. Yeah, it’s ridiculous really, isn’t it Andrew?

    Also, I can’t imagine Newcastle fans are happy with having red on their home kit.

  16. Manchester City are wearing white shorts and socks, with the navy blue third kit, against Aston Villa, at Villa Park right now.

    I remember somebody saying, I think it was Denis, that City had white shorts and socks that they were going to use with the navy blue third kit this season.

    I wonder if it’s “official” or because Villa have black socks this season? Also, interesting that City have decided to create a shorts clash. I can’t help thinking that it would have been better to use the standard navy blue shorts, with the new white socks…

  17. But this is something that is occurring far more regularly. Shorts and socks seem to come as a set now, never to be parted. Recent example I noticed again the other day was Argentina v Mexico in the last World Cup.

    Did see the City lower half. Perhaps those white shorts would work with the home shirt as well, not that there’ll ever be a need for it.

  18. I was at the game today, not sure what it was like on TV but live it was a real clash and made it difficult to pick put one side from another as I looked up from the ball to see the wider action all I picked up was a sea of white. There were a few strange passes and I wonder if this contributed? I think City’s home kit would have been a better option?

  19. Yeah, the excuse of City clashing with Villa’s sleeves doesn’t really wash, given that Arsenal have played Swansea, Spurs and Fulham this season and it hasn’t been a problem

  20. Plus the fact that Villa wore their home shirt at Man City in the reverse fixture earlier this season (with claret shorts and socks). I agree, Man City should have worn their home strip, would have been a better contrast.

  21. That just shows how pointless it is being rigid with things like this.
    “City are away to Villa, they’ll have to change as the sleeves clash”
    “But their away is red and black, won’t that clash more?”
    “Well they’re not allowed wear their home so it’ll have to do.”

    In the early 90s, both Palace and Chelsea wore mainly red away kits at Villa Park, how silly is that?

  22. I agree, Denis. Although, maybe City should have retained the white away kit from the previous season, as a third kit for that season.

    Personally, I think basically every team should have three kits available, as it stops these things from happening.

    I would also like to see short clashes not allowed again.

    My team have been in the Championship for a while now, and it’s nice to see much much fewer short clashes when I go to games, as they seem to be stricter on short clashes in the Football League, for some reason.

  23. I was actually referring to the Villa-City match from 03-04. I thought that was the one you were talking about, also.

    As for the match on Sunday, I didn’t think it was a clash at all. I agree that I think City could have worn their home kit, but personally I didn’t think the navy blue kit caused a problem at all.

    The problem I had was the white shorts. I thought they should have used the navy blue shorts from last season, and the new white socks.

  24. I think if Man City had retained the navy shorts that were originally used with those shirts, it would have been less of a problem for us TV viewers. However I do still think the home kit would have been a better option, unless of course your name is Rob Styles!

    I’ve never understood it when teams decide the home kit isn’t adequate enough to prevent a colour clash, but wear a change strip which causes a worse off clash or contrast issue. As well as those examples above, teams like Blackpool, whose tangerine shirts clash with those in red (and yellow), but bizarrely wore their white away kit at Southampton recently, despite the Saints’ home shirt being about 70% white.

    Back on the subject of Villa, I remember they played at Arsenal in their home kit in the 89/90 season, but with mis-matching black shorts from the away kit. A truly bizarre decision given that the away kit in its entireity would have been a better choice (white with black sleeves), plus the game was live on TV at night, and under old late 80’s technology, both teams looked almost identical unless you were sitting about 3 feet away from your set.

  25. They did it in 1995-96 too I think Eric, but in the Coca-Cola Cup semi-final wore a yellow third for only the second time – clearly the navy and teal away was considered too close to Villa’s kit, as was not the case this season.

  26. And still on the subject of Villa and strange choice of kits, here’s one from their UEFA Cup tie at Atlético Madrid in the 97/98 season…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dvX5UGrZzI

    Now whilst white against red and white stripes is somewhat distinguishable, unless you’re a Football League rulebook maker circa 1991 or Rob Styles, the strange thing about this is that Villa opted to wear a third kit, when either the home, or better still, the sky blue away kit, would have been a more obvious choice. They also wore the white strip for the second leg at home, where Atlético turned up in a navy change kit.

    And still on claret/blue versus red kit debacles, I remember Man U wore red at West Ham in 95/96, in a televised game, which wasn’t a good idea. Then again, if they wore their away kit, it’d clash with the crowd……. at least in Fergie’s eyes it would have.

  27. Didn’t another team, who also wear red, wear their home kit at Upton Park in 95/96 – aswell as Man United?

    Also, it will be interesting to see which kit Arsenal wear in Milan tonight.

    Logic would dictate that both their home kit and navy blue away would clash with Milan’s red and black stripes, so the yellow third kit should be used. Although, as we saw last season against Blackpool, maybe they don’t actually have any of the third kits for the players to wear!

  28. Middlesbrough! That’s who, Denis, thanks!

    Yeah, I have the feeling Arsenal will turn up in the navy blue away kit tonight…

  29. Norwich needed an away kit for the fixture at Wolves, though quite why they wore it at QPR too (causing a shorts clash) is a complete mystery.

  30. Even if Wolves weren’t in the Premier League this season, Norwich can’t not have an away kit, Steve.

    What if they draw Wolves/Watford/Hull/Bradford/Barnet/Oxford in the cup?

    Personally, if I were the kit man at Norwich, I’d have them wear the away kit in every away game, as long as obviously it doesn’t clash with the home teams colours. I think Plymouth do that.

    Believe it or not, Norwich even had a third kit in 98/99!

  31. And 93-94 according to TC1, despite the white and purple away hardly ever being worn!

    Just read a rumour there that Arsenal are wearing yellow tonight, with Dubai on the front instead of Emirates

  32. Oh yeah, I remember 93-94, but I think that was because Norwich were in Europe and I think there’s a rule that you have to have three kits. I’m sure it says something like that in TC1.

    In 98-99, they didn’t need to have a third kit, they just decided to!

    Interesting stuff about Arsenal, Denis. Look forward to seeing it. Haven’t they had Dubai as the sponsor before? I have a feeling it was with the 05-07 yellow and grey kit.

  33. Is this a new trend for single colours a bit like the international kits? I notice that Barca were in all green last night, maybe a Nike thing?

  34. Barça wore green shorts last night as Bayer Leverkusen were in their all-black home kit, so the usual navy shorts weren’t used.

    Oh and by the way Norwich did wear their change kit for each away game in the 04/05 season, when they wore that rather excellent Xara two-tone green kit. Not that it brought them much luck as they got relegated that season.

  35. I’m sure Barcelona have disposed of their navy shorts for the green kit. You’re right that there was a clash against Leverkusen, but I’m sure they have worn the green kit with green shorts and socks every time this season – whether there has been a clash or not.

    I might be wrong about that.

    I don’t think Norwich wore the green away kit in every every game, Jon. I remember them wearing it against Tottenham, Bolton, and Birmingham (which obviously wasn’t necessary) but I think they wore their home kit in all of the other away games in 04/05.

  36. Ah you’re right EricGeneric, there were a lot more instances of Norwich wearing their home kit for away matches that season. I got that one totally wrong, though I remember the away kit also got used at Man City and Liverpool as well, again, unnecessarily.

    Barça have worn all-green on two occasions this season, away at Getafe and Osasuna, but there would have been shorts clashes anyway.

  37. Sorry, my mistake about Barcelona, you’re right, Jon.

    By the way, has anybody noticed that the green change shorts are actually lighter than the shirt?

    One more thing about Milan/Arsenal. It was nice to see that Arsenal have actually retained the yellow third kit, after the debacle of the Blackpool thing last season.

    It was good to see them wear it against Milan, as I thought they would turn in the navy blue away kit.

    Although, after saying that the navy blue kit would clash with the red and black stripes of Milan, it was funny to see Abbiati, the Milan keeper, wearing black!

    It was, I think, the Milan third kit aswell!

    The football kit world is baffling, isn’t it?

  38. I noticed that too, Denis, and come to think it, you may be right.

    I thought the kit looked much nicer aswell!

    You see a lot of goalkeepers actually changing socks these days, which I approve of. For instance, I remember Joe Hart wearing white change socks with the black Man City goalkeeper kit, at Old Trafford last season.

    15 years ago, that wouldn’t have happened, and that is a good move, in my opinion. Also, I’m a fan of the current trend of having both goalkeepers wearing different colour shirts, again that didn’t happen 15 years ago, you’d often see both goalkeepers in the same colour. It shows attention to detail with the kits, something that didn’t happen 10-15 years ago, so that is at least something which has improved in the past few years.

    But yeah, short clashes have never really been an issue with goalkeepers, and you can see why, but nice attention to detail from Chelsea and Adidias.

  39. Yeah, I know it isn’t a big issue, but with most teams having three goalkeeper kits now, it’s easy to change, and sometimes you do have goalkeepers going up for corners in the last minute…

    Although, I don’t mind one of the goalkeepers having the same colour as the ref.

    I guess we all have a weird little likes/dislikes when it comes to football kits…

  40. Yeah, it’s sacrilegious but I’ve a little soft spot for change kits in the home colours, those ones we generally decry as pointless!

    To me, it doesn’t matter if a team’s away kit ‘clashes’ with its home so long as it solves clashes with other teams, in my book Newcastle’s black third is perfect for wearing against teams in white against whom the home would clash, while still retaining the traditional colours of black and white.

  41. Has anyone seen the video on Youtube of the new Arsenal, Man United and Barcelona kits yet for 2012-13. It’s meant to have been leaked from a Nike factory – personally they’re all hideous. This season’s are far nicer.

  42. Going back to Arsenal v Milan, when both teams met in the 1995 supercup does anyone know what colours Arsenal wore at highbury as i remember them wearing the traditional red, white & r/w hoopy socks at the san siro while i think milan may have wore an all yellow kit that night.
    Arsenal had a navy and teal change strip then which was same template as the home kit although funnily enough the a yellow and navy was used against liverpool in the same season in the league cup (coca cola cup as it was then)

  43. @denis very true. goalkeepers didnt really have change kits then oddly enough though Schmiechel used change his but only when Man United had to change the outfield kit

    I say bring back the days most goalies wore green by default (except the ireland goalie) with a yellow or a royal or whatever as backup if needed. The refs should wear black as default with likewise options where neccessary.

  44. To be fair, wasn’t that Arsenal goalkeeper top more grey than black?

    You know, I started watching football in the 97-98 season, and I guess it must have been phased out by then as I don’t really remember it happening, but I find it really odd when people mention that the home team used to change in the event of a clash, in European matches.

    Who came up with that rule? Bizarre!

    When did they change that rule?

    Actually, I remember Man United wearing white at Old Trafford against Barcelona in, I think, 98-99. Although, I think that was probably due to a mix up, as Barca didn’t wear an away kit for the return game at the Nou Camp.

  45. I don’t recall any announcement that the rule was changed, it just seemed to happen more and more that the away team would changed.

    For example, in 2000-01 Arsenal changed at home to Sparta Prague (twice, as they had to put on different shirts at half-time!) and Bayern, but changed away to Spartak Moscow.

    I’m pretty sure that was the last season they changed at home in Europe, whereas Man United wore blue at home to Olympiakos in 2002-03.

    I’m not sure when the practice first happened, but Man Utd changed at home to Milan in 1969 European Cup semi-final (I think). In the 1970 Fairs Cup final first leg Anderlecht changed at home to Arsenal, but that was so that their supporters could see the famous red and white of Arsenal in the flesh.

    Perhaps it was done at the very start of European competition as travelling teams wouldn’t know what colours their opponents were and it was easier for home teams to find change shirts?

  46. Interesting stuff, Denis, thanks.

    Just looking around online, I noticed that Barcelona had an orange away kit in 98-99, and maybe that was why Man United wore white at Old Trafford?

    As the orange of Barcelona would clash with the red of Barcelona?

    As I said Barcelona didn’t change at home, as United wore white again, and I’m sure by then the “home team changing kits in the event of a clash” had been dropped/phased out…

    http://www.oldfootballshirts.com/en/teams/b/barcelona/old-barcelona-football-shirt-s2208.html

    Pretty silly stuff from Barcelona, you’d have thought that they would have had a blue third kit, or something…

  47. I hadn’t actually thought of that, good point, though as pointed out above, it hadn’t fully been phased out by then, Arsenal and Lens changed at home when they met each other that season

  48. Oh yeah, it hadn’t been fully phased out, sorry, but the difference there is Arsenal changed at home, and then Lens changed at home. Barcelona didn’t change at the Nou Camp for the return fixture.

    By the way, that Arsenal/Lens match. Was that the match when David Seaman wore that weird metallic brown goalkeeper kit?

  49. 1998-99 in Champions League, 1999-2000 in UEFA Cup, now that you mention it both clubs changed at home that time too.

    Lens’ kits were red with yellow pinstripes and yellow shorts so Arsenal used the yellow kit at Highbury. Apparently they asked if they could change at half-time and were told they couldn’t

  50. Yeah, that’s the one, Denis, in your second link.

    I always just found that goalkeeper kit a bit odd.

    I had forget about the 98-99 Arsenal/Lens matches, I only remembered the 99-00 ones…

  51. I had no real problem with that kit Eric, what annoyed me more that season was the black and yellow GK shirt being worn with the away shorts and socks. Why not just make it navy so it matches properly?

  52. Actually, I have a question for you Denis…

    Did Kanu ever wear number 36 for Arsenal?

    I have a friend who swears that he did, but I’m sure he only had number 25 during his time at Arsenal…

  53. Just to clarify a few comments for Norwich City 04/05, as part of the deal for Norwich having Proton as the home sponsor and Lotus as the away sponsor, they were contracted to wear the away kit at least eight times during the season. Trust this helps.

  54. Definitely a bad clash, but I think Swansea in a white shirt would have been just as bad as the orange. I’m surprised the ref allowed this. I think there was a strong case here for Stoke to change to their “Inter” away shirt.

  55. Of course having said that there seems to be less of a problem with white as a clash. WBA v Sunderland on Saturday being a case in point.

  56. Agree with EricGeneric that shorts should n’t clash. As for goalkeeper shirts i wish everyone would go back to wearing either green,yellow or red shirts with them having the same coloured shorts and socks as their teammates.

  57. remember Arsenal coming to portman road in 92-93 wearing their home kit for the league then a few weeks later they returned in the fa cup wearing the bruised banana kit. Ipswich used to wear their abbot ale away kit at teams that had white shirts when they had 97-99 white sleeved punch home kit. Also remember about that time the ref made tranmere put our old red training shirt on at portman road. any news of a true colours 3 book?.

  58. @Al, I think Swansea’s home with change shorts and socks would have worked better as Stoke’s home has red sleeves and upper body.

    WBA-Sunderland was fairly bad, no escuse for not changing really

  59. Good spot Eric, I’d forgotten about that, though strictly speaking they weren’t worn as first-choice and change I think? Incidentally Cech wore off-white socks against Leverkusen earlier in the season

  60. Yeah, I think you’re right about that.

    I seem to remember it almost seemingly random, as to which pair would be used.

    Although I think the black ones were used the most.

  61. Not dissimilar to what happened in 1995 when Neville Southall wore the 1995-96 Umbro GK kit in the cup final against United (both teams had white shorts IIRC?).

    He had yellow shorts that day, but by the time the following season started the GKs of all the teams with Umbro kits had black shorts

  62. Čech used a few different shorts/socks combinations for that orange kit, seemed as if he settled for black shorts and orange socks in the end. Even more staggering was that the orange kit was used for three seasons – a real rarity these days in football kits. For the 08/09 season there was a navy kit in the same design which never got used, and foolishly marketed alongside the black away kit. Čech never wore the kit in a match, not even at Hull where the orange kit may have clashed.

    He then used a navy kit in 09/10, which was marketed as the second choice keeper kit in the Chelsea store for the 10/11 season, but whereas the shorts and socks were retained, the shirt was changed to match the first choice fluorescent yellow shirt (but never sold as a replica). I’m sure Čech wore navy socks with that kit too on occasion, instead of the regular bright green. He’s worn it this season too, as well as the yellow and white kits.

    If you venture abroad, it seems as if goalkeepers wearing different kit combinations is the norm, save for a few big clubs with bespoke kit contracts. I remember one goalie in the Bundesliga seemed to wear a differerent kit every week.

  63. #100 –

    I remember when my team had 5 goalkeeper shirts… 3 normal but due to supplier issues/goalkeeper crisis couldn’t restock the same ones for an end of season game so rushed out a yellow one and a tartan effort (which was printed as a backup but thankfully never used as the yellow available one was chosen first !)

  64. The reason why the some of the Chelsea goalkeeper kits have lasted so long is because they only bring one new goalkeeper kit out, each season.

    Unlike Nike who bring out a new design of goalkeeper kits each season, all in the same design, and give their teams three of them in different colours.

    The bright orange kit was the first choice in 08-09, the away kit in 09-10 (with the new navy kit becoming first choice) and the third kit in 10-11 (with the navy kit becoming the away kit, and the new fluorescent yellow kit becoming first choice).

    They decided to market the fluorescent yellow kit as the home kit/first choice for two seasons (10-11 and 11-12), so the new white goalkeeper is officially the away kit, and the navy kit is now the third.

    The navy kit, now the third goalkeeper kit, was used at Stoke this season.

    Presumably because the white was too close to Stoke’s red and white stripes, and the flourescent yellow was the same as Stoke’s goalkeeper.

    http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/petr-cech-of-chelsea-in-action-during-the-barclays-premier-news-photo/121143107

  65. Yes, if you count the 07-08 Champions League final when Chelsea decided to preview the 08-09 kits.

    Although, going by True Colours, which I also agree with, it’s not officially counted.

    By the way, do you have a picture of the 08-09 navy goalkeeper kit which wasn’t used, Jon? What was the second colour, you know the Adidas stripes…

  66. Oh yeah, that’s true.

    It’s also weird that it seems the orange goalkeeper kit was worn in every game of the 08-09, even, as Jon points out, Hull City!

    I wonder why they didn’t use the mysterious navy kit?

    One more thing, I’m confused at so this part of Jon’s post…

    “He then used a navy kit in 09/10, which was marketed as the second choice keeper kit in the Chelsea store for the 10/11 season, but whereas the shorts and socks were retained, the shirt was changed to match the first choice fluorescent yellow shirt (but never sold as a replica).”

  67. OK the plot thickens here a little bit. I can’t say for sure which games these pictures are from but the articles are only a few months apart from each other, so presumably from the same season and he has two versions of the same shirt, one with extra flouro piping around the upper arms and the other with a band around the neck…oh and he has a different helmet too, but I guess that’s another subject!
    http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/premiership/cech-recovery-ahead-of-schedule-16046011.html

    http://theshedender.com/2011/11/view-from-the-shed/cech-confident-of-catching-city

  68. Sorry about the confusion guys – I have my excuses it was late at night when I posted (lager included!), but anyway I’ll explain.

    In the 09/10 season, the navy kit was in this design: _
    http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/wp-content/gallery/best-xi-prem/pa-8162336.jpg

    The kit was then marketed as the second choice keeper kit in Chelsea’s official store for the 10/11 season, but the shirt design changed to match the template used for the fluorescent yellow shirt: _
    http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2011/04/PetrCech_415.jpg

    Hope that clears things up.

  69. Do you reckon England asked Holland to wear their black away kit, so they could debut the new red England goalkeeper, with the new home kit?

  70. I noticed my post demonstrating the difference between the two navy Chelsea goalkeeper kits is awaiting moderation, must be something with the comments whenever someone posts a comment containing links/images.

  71. Very interesting John, had never spotted that, when you said it matched the fluorescent kit I thought you meant that the colour of the adidas stripes changed!

  72. Well spotted, Jon!

    One more thing, do you have a picture of the 08-09 navy goalkeeper kit that wasn’t used? I’ve had a look for the promotional photos on Google, but can’t find anything.

  73. It wasn’t the only Chelsea keeper kit that didn’t get used.

    A few seasons previous (05/06) they had two new keeper kits for the final season with Umbro. Home was dark grey and the away was yellow……… except the yellow one never got used in a competitive game.

    On the opening day of the season Chelsea wore their black/silver third kit at Wigan, but bizarrely Čech wore the dark grey kit, which clashed. Surely the yellow kit should have been used? After that, he wore the previous season’s green kit, complete with Samsung Mobile logo on the front (it had Fly Emirates in 04/05).

  74. Just noticed that Villa wore their white socks at Blackburn today, is that three different colours they’ve worn with the home kit? Odd as the claret socks, normally used when claret shorts are worn, would not have clashed.

    They have a pair of sky blue socks that have been used with the away kit as well so that’s four versions of the same sock design

  75. Yeah, I noticed that too, Denis.

    I’m guessing they were just the away socks, right?

    Villa are an odd one, when it comes to change shorts and socks for the home kit. For the past few seasons they seem to be given sky blue, and also claret change shorts by Nike.

    I don’t know why they get two sets of change shorts, or why they need them. They only seemed to use the claret shorts and socks against Man City, in previous seasons. And use the sky blue change shorts against other teams who wear white shorts.

    You’d think if it was only an issue for Villa when they Man City away, they would just wear their away kit, rather than giving them claret shorts and socks for one match.

    As an aside, just watching the Football League Show, and Sheffield United versus Oldham has both teams wearing white socks!

  76. This thought just occurred to me, you know the claret socks that they have been wearing with the home shirt and away shorts to create the all-claret look against teams with white shorts?

    I think they might be the away change socks. I might be wrong.

    So, I suppose you could say the home kit has the standard black socks, and sky blue change socks. And the away kit has the standard white socks, and claret change socks.

    I mean, most teams have change socks for the home and away kit, so it’s not any different really.

  77. Most teams do have change socks for home and away Eric, but usually different colour schemes and/or designs, whereas Villa’s are all the same design and using the same colours.

    I can’t think of any other example of a team using four different sock colours with a home, or three with an away.

  78. Watched MOTD this morning and was struck how good Villa looked wearing change shorts compared to Wigan vs Swansea where both wore white shorts. I think the shorts clash rule has to come back – makes everything much clearer. Also was really distracted by light boots/sock tape as well grrr….

  79. When Manchester United played Norwich last week, De Gea wore the green goalkeeper kit, and changed to black shorts, as to not clash with Norwich’s green shorts.

    Today, De Gea wore the yellow goalkeeper kit with black shorts, when Tottenham were in their navy shorts.

    What’s the difference?

  80. Yeah, they certainly do need to bring in a rule about sock tape. They should only be able to use the same colour tape as the colour of the part of sock it will be covering or, with so many taping on their preferred socks on the bottom, covering up any different coloured material with correctly coloured tape.

  81. The strange thing is that Swansea wore black shorts with the home kit for a pre-season game with Celtic – this despite the fact they were at home and Celtic were in their third strip, for which they too had black shorts. They also wore them at Barnsley in the FA Cup too.

    Stoke also did this last season where they wore red shorts in the FA Cup whenever there was a shorts clash, but never in the Premier League. I think Wolves wore old gold shorts in a cup game too, but never changed in the league.

  82. The rules of the FA Cup say this: “Where the colours (shirts, shorts or stockings) of the two competing Clubs are similar (as
    determined by the Professional Game Board), the Away Club must change.”

    I’m guessing that, as the PL rules are not as specific, there is more leeway?

  83. That’s a good point, Denis, but I’m just thinking of teams like Arsenal, who don’t like to wear change shorts with the home kit.

    I’m sure they have wore white shorts against teams with white shorts in the FA Cup before.

  84. Any occasion in recent times they’ve changed – against Leeds last season, Cardiff in 2009 (creating a sleeve clash, often frowned upon), Blackburn and Bolton in 2007 (Blackburn having worn blue shorts at the Emirates while Arsenal wore their home in the league game a month previous) and again at Bolton in 2006, when the redcurrant kit had been worn in the league game that season.

  85. If I were Sepp Bladder I would: 

    – Ban long sleeved undershirts under short sleeved shirts 

    – Ensure tape on socks and ankle socks are the same colour as the sock

    – Ban coloured boots 

    – Referees to wear black on all occasions except when a team wear black or navy

  86. @Eric – turns out you were right in a way, though with someone other than Arsenal!

    In the 2010 FA Cup, Manchester City were drawn at home to Stoke City, who wore all black in a draw at Eastlands.

    For the replay, however, City merely wore the away/third black socks and kept the white shorts (Umbro didn’t issue change shorts as they didn’t want the ‘integrity’ of the kit ruined) http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/pablo-zabaleta-of-manchester-city-turns-away-from-salif-news-photo/97026162

    Bizarrely, a week previous to the replay, City had worn the all-black kit in the league game at the Britannia http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/ryan-shawcross-of-stoke-scores-in-injury-time-past-shay-news-photo/96848463

  87. If I remember correctly, Stoke wore red socks in last seasons cup-final against City but wore white socks a couple of days later in the league with City unchanged from Wembley.

  88. Also didn’t Manchester City and Manchester United both wear white shorts in the FA Cup semi final last season?

  89. Yeah, there are a lot of change kits that haven’t been worn, but I don’t think the Guardian Football section would be interested unless, like the green and white hooped QPR third shirt, it had an interesting story behind it. Like Ray Wilkins not wanting to wear it due to his Glasgow Rangers connections, as they mentioned.

    Most change kits, especially third kits that are not used, is usually just because it’s a superfluous kit.

    I can’t imagine, other than kit geeks like us, being interested that the 2000-01 Everton third kit wasn’t worn because it wasn’t needed.

    I could be wrong though…

  90. Am I the only who it absurd that teams in blue aren’t changing now against teams in sky blue?

    I noticed Birmingham didn’t change at Coventry today, when they could have just worn yellow, and this seems to be a trend.

    Also, from what I can tell, Coventry aren’t changing against teams in blue, but are against teams in white.

    Madness!

  91. re villa’s sock count this season. ipswich’s 03/05 home shorts have been used with 5 different shirts.

  92. Regarding the sky blue/royal blue debate, as a referee I would say contrast has a lot to do with the need to change. Dark v light is ok but sky blue v all white not so, hence Coventry’s need to change at Leeds but not at Ipswich or Birmingham.

  93. I’m watching Middlesbrough v Leeds on TV.

    Leeds are wearing all blue, which is interesting as I didn’t know they had retained last season’s away kit.

    Also, there is no real need to change as Middlesbrough wear red shirts and shorts with white socks, and it just got me wondering if Leeds are “doing a Real Madrid” and don’t want “sully” their home colours by wearing change socks?

    I guess, if that is the case, it must be a recent thing, as I remember them often wearing navy blue shorts during the late-90s/early-2000s.

  94. I’m doing the same Eric whilst working 🙁
    I was wondering quite why Leeds changed – although I do believe they like to wear a change kit wherever possible on their travels. Can anyone confirm that I wonder?
    Also, why didn’t they wear their (awful) black/fluro yellow away kit if they wanted to change?

  95. I’ve just had a look on Getty Images, and it seems you are right, John.

    They have worn the blach/fluro away kit at Peterborough, Birmingham, Nottingham Forest, Portsmouth, West Ham and Leicester.

    On the subject of the black/fluro Leeds away kit, have they had those fluro numbers specially made?

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody have them since they started using the Football League introduced the current (horrible) numbering/lettering in 2005.

  96. I thought the same thing about those Leeds numbers the other day, Eric. It surely isn’t one of the options at the beginning of the season.

    And I agree on the style of numbering. If ever there was an effective way to demonstrate The Championship/Football League is lower-grade it’s through ruining the few non-teamwear (or decent teamwear) kits with horrendous numbering. That said, the adidas teams’ style for Euro 2012 isn’t much better. Is it still Sporting ID that do that do you know?

  97. On the subject of teams not wanting to change one part of their home strips, it appears something Man City were forced to by UEFA rules v Sporting Lisbon in the week. The light v dark thing must have played a part as those new navy socks with sky blue turnover just didn’t look right.

  98. I was just as surprised about Leeds wearing blue, I thought why couldn’t they wear different coloured socks with the home kit, they’ve done that before? I certainly recall Leeds during the “good old days” often wearing red (yes, RED!) socks with the home kit when there was a clash of socks.

    Mind you there was a bad (in my opinion) clash at St. Mary’s where Barnsley’s choice of all white wasn’t particularly clever given Southampton’s shirts being predominantly white. Even their red home kit would have been, strangely, more distinguishable!

    Wigan did a double kit nonsense today, not so much for their decision to wear navy at Norwich, but also Ali Al-Habsi wearing black, causing a clash with his own team mates. I don’t know why he couldn’t wear his green strip?

  99. P.S. I agree about the Football League numbering, it does look naff, though its not the worst example of football shirt numbering I’ve seen.

    Ironically the font used on the new adidas shirts is the same font as used by Nike a full 14 years ago for their World Cup team shirts, and by the Football League when they introduced squad numbers in 1999 (and used until 2005). Yes, adidas have added their bit of fancy detail on the numbers but at the end of the day its still the same font used on German road signs (Fette Engschrift).

    I’ll be honest I’ve never been overly keen on entire leagues having the same font, it smacks (obviously) of the league exercising their corporate shilling knowing the sale of personalised shirts will net them a few quid. I think some clubs realise this and have sold shirts with their own numbers and lettering – look at Spurs with their Investec sponsored shirts with the same fonts as the club badge text. I kind of miss that small individuality with team shirts, you could tell an adidas shirt from an Umbro shirt easily from behind.

    Of course, legibility being all that, I’ve seen some horrendous examples of custom fonts on shirts. Just look at Tunisia’s new kit from Burrda, and a font where the 1 and 7 look too similar. And there were a few cases in Italy from a few years ago where the numbers were, well, outrageous!

  100. @Jay29ers – According to this, it is still SportingID who design the Football League numbers and letters.

    http://www.football-league.co.uk/championship/news/20110729/albion-to-wear-special-gold-sleeve-badge_2293322_2404796

    They have been doing them since the Football League introduced squad numbers, and all teams using the same font for 1999-2000.

    I actually really liked that design, it was clean and simple. Although, I take your point about teams losing individuality. To be honest, it’s always surprised me that UEFA haven’t implemented a standard font for teams to wear in the Champions League.

    I know they have a font created, Arsenal use them for example, but I’m surprised they haven’t made in mandatory.

  101. to jay29ers. the white 03/05 home shorts were used with the 03/05 home shirt, they then replaced the original white change shorts of the powergen sponsered 02/04 away shirt half way through 03/04, they were used with the 03/04 third shirt at c palace. they were then used with both the 06/08 e.on sponsered white away and black third shirts many times also using the 00/01 white away socks.

  102. Cheers, Jon, Eric, Scott. I personally loved the adidas numbers in ’06 – despite the choice of four stripes – and ’08. Thought both were great. The last lot of England ones have been poor, whereas City’s Euro printing is great.

    Agree, Eric, that it’s surprising that the CL, Europa League, World Cup and Euros don’t dictate a style of printing to be used. La Liga and Serie A as well. All very odd. I do like the latest SPL printing too.

    The 00/01 white away socks continued to be used for eight years, Scott?! Not just a generic white pair, the actual style/model? That’s crazy.

  103. Sorry to go off topic, but I have a quick question for Jay29ers, since he is a Marseille fan.

    What is the official Marseille goalkeeper kit this season?

    Also, what goalkeeper kit has been used most often?

    Thanks.

  104. Was watching SSN last night and noticed Doncaster v Reading (red and white hoops v blue and white hoops) and Colchester v Sheffield Utd (blue and white stripes v red and white stripes) both went ahead with teams in their normal kits, which was confusing from a distance.

    Woe betide anybody in the Football League who doesn’t solve a shorts clash, but swathes of white in the same designs seems to be fine.

  105. That is a terrible clash, Tardisblue.

    My vote goes to Huddersfield v Notts County from earlier this season.

    http://i43.tinypic.com/33fesn8.jpg

    I remember Coventry causing some terrible clashes in 2001/02, with only a sky blue home kit, and navy blue away kit to choose from.

  106. I’d forgotten about that Tottenham/Blackburn match, Denis.

    What was Blackburn’s away kit that season? Was there a reason why they didn’t wear it?

  107. All black with that odd grey neck design, they forgot to bring it as far as I’m aware (as surely there is no referee who would stop them wearing that because of the black sleeves and decide that the home clashed less?).

    Why Spurs didn’t wear their away kit, I don’t know, especially as in the last game of 02-03 at home to Blackburn they premiered the following season’s sky blue away, forcing Blackburn to wear red

  108. Eric, whoah, you’re testing me now. I think the l’OM “goalkeeper” kit that’s been worn most often is actually the orange Euro kit but the only seemingly official gk kits are an all black one and an all dirty gold one – don’t think I’ve noticed a red one this season. But as they don’t retail them it’s difficult to know whether they’re bespoke designs or something they’ve made up for Mandanda on a whim.

    Incidentally, I’m pretty sure Mandanda has worn one of three outfield strips (haven’t seen him in the all-black fourth) far more often than any purpose-made gk kit this season.

  109. Oh, here’s one more for kit clashes.

    I was at this match, Watford v Barnsley in 2000-01.

    http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/robert-page-of-watford-tries-the-vulcan-death-grip-on-neil-news-photo/1033864

    Barnsley had a red/white/red home kit, but I guess they didn’t have any white change socks, so just decided to wear their away kit!

    Just stupid!

    If they didn’t have white change socks for home kit, they just have just worn the home shirt and shorts, with the navy blue away socks from that kit.

  110. #164-166 Spurs may have played Blackburn in a cup competition that year too because I can definately recall Blackburn wearing a black fronted but silver backed shirt at White Hart Lane, it was the worse kit clash I have ever seen and was what I initially thought you were talking about. How many seasons did they wear that Lonsdale strip?

  111. Manchester United wearing blue shorts and plain white socks tonight at Bilbao – if blue change shorts were acceptable then why weren’t they allowed to wear blue socks???

  112. @Denis – it was apparently manager Keith Hill who wanted a purple away kit a la Fiorentina. I emailed the club about it only to be told purple didn’t clash with blue!

    Amazingly, only once did a ref make us wear our White third shirt (at Macclesfield). similar horrible clashes were seen at Chesterfield and on tv v Bury when their chocolate and sky blue shirt even led to the commentary team mentioning the clash.

    Hill’s sides were almost obsessively superstitious about kits and we would wear away strips time and again when it wasn’t necessary.

  113. I think they probably were allowed to wear blue socks, but we all know how much Ferguson likes his team to wear white socks, especially for night/European matches, so I think that was why.

    Reminds me a bit of when they played West Ham a couple of years ago.

    http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/wayne-rooney-of-manchester-united-clashes-with-james-news-photo/94020772

    Mind you, I don’t know why that match sprang to mind, as they have randomly worn white socks a lot over the years.

  114. Yeah, I can recall watching MU v Spurs in the league early in 06-07 and they wore white socks while Spurs had their turquoise away (which had the same shorts as the home but with different colour trim).

    I asked the two United fans who I was watching the game with if they had any idea why they had white socks and bit my tongue when they said, “But they always have white socks, don’t they?”

  115. United went through a period when white socks almost became their first choice for all home games. Went to a League Cup semi second leg v Chelsea which Saw the away side having to change their socks to blue.

  116. Getting a bit fed up with Fergie’s daft obsession with white socks. Didn’t do them much good tonight did it? Would rather him keep the kits constant instead of chopping and changing.

  117. I’m at Cork City v Shamrock Rovers in the League of Ireland now, City’s home is all-dark green while Rovers are like Celtic, but because their away is black, the ref has made City change to red

  118. That game was shown here in England on ‘Premier Sports’ as soon as I turned it on I guessed that Cork City had been forced to change. Those Shamrock Rovers fans are a passionate bunch, when they equalised I thought we were going to have a “Hereford” type pitch invasion!

  119. i remember seeing a clip of Cork playing Celtic in a friendly in the early 1990’s. The first half Cork were wearing a white shirt with the same design as W Germany’s 1990 world cup shirt against Celtic’s hoop’s. In the second half Cork wore a red shirt.

  120. Fergie’s penchant for white socks reminds me of when Ruud Gullit tried the white socks routine with his “shekshee football” era at Newcastle.

    It obviously didn’t work!

  121. Funnily enough, for all what we have said, I quite like Manchester United wearing red-white-white in the Champions League.

    It would seem weird if they went to back to wearing the standard black home socks in Europe…

  122. Slightly off-topic, but in the Championship tonight, Hull City changed from their usual black shorts to an amber pair because of a clash with Southampton. Nothing unusual with that, other than the fact that Hull were the HOME side.

    Do Umbro really not bother providing change shorts for their clubs?

    P.S. @ Azzy above, I remember Gullit at Newcastle, he changed the socks during the 98/99 season claiming they were lucky because he won things with teams in white socks (or something like that). He got them to a cup final, but lost a one-sided game to Man U, then a few games into the 99/00 season, he left in acrimonious circumstances after a derby defeat to Sunderland. Curiously towards the end of the 00/01 season (under Bobby Robson) the black socks were restored for a few home games, but they also used the white pair intermittently too. Bit like Man U in the mid 2000’s, when they seemed to decide at random or depending on Fergie’s mood (maybe)!

  123. And still on white socks……. I remember seeing leaked pics of Aston Villa’s kit, complete with old FxPro sponsorship, paired with white socks, but from which I heard a rumour that some Villa fans were so upset about it that they made a video on YouTube and the current black socks were used instead.

    Not that Villa have fully committed to what socks they actually want to wear with the home shirt, having used black, white, claret and blue (four pairs!) this season!

  124. It’s mad isn’t it, Denis, when you consider the Football League did allow a few teams to wear white against Southampton’s home shirts.

    The Saints are sinners (boom boom!) themselves, wearing the home kit at Reading, whose all-white with blue hoops on the front wasn’t that distinguishable from behind. The yellow away kit would have been a better choice.

    Its ridiculous when teams have perfectly functional away strips, or even worse, a third kit deemed necessary, and yet still wear the home shirt and cause a clash of some description. And then wear the away kit when there isn’t a clash at all……. Blackburn, Newcastle and West Brom fans, look away now!!!!

  125. Interesting stuff regarding Hull/Southampton.

    I wonder if it was personal preference from the Hull players/manager/kit man?

    I mean, I know they are stricter on shorts clashes in the Football League, but they do happen. I even saw a socks clash the other week involving Sheffield United!

    It would be interesting to see, if we can, who was behind the decision. I’m still not convinced that shorts clashes are not allowed in the Football League. I’m sure they are plenty of examples of shorts clashing, but obviously the matches are not as high profile as the Premier League, and maybe go unnoticed.

    Often with these things, I think most of the time it’s just down to the referee. Sometimes you have a referee who is stricter on clashes, than others.

  126. Just watching the goals from the Championship from last night, on Sky Sports News.

    Doncaster versus Millwall has the home side in black shorts, and the away side in navy shorts!

    Sort of backs up my point earlier about short clashes not being totally outlawed in the Football League.

    Also, funnily enough, Southampton wore black shorts against Millwall at the New Den at the weekend.

    http://i44.tinypic.com/1ikh34.jpg

  127. Rochdale played in white shorts when both Morecambe and Crewe turned up in the same colour in 2009/10. Then later the same season, on the day we won promotion in fact, we wore change black shorts when Northampton arrived with white. Looks like it’s totally down to the ref.

    Last night v Tranmere, they arrived wearing their home socks of blue with thin white hoops, these clashed with Dale’s blue/black thick hopped socks – no great thing in itself, except there was a picture in the programme of them wearing alternative white versions of the socks. The sign of a rubbish kitman!

  128. Another curious shorts one…

    As we know, Coventry seem to have decided that their sky blue home kit doesn’t clash with teams in blue, but does with teams in white.

    Okay, so this led to them wearing their away shorts with the home kit against Ipswich earlier in the season.

    http://i40.tinypic.com/d9uyo.jpg

    Yet, last night Coventry played Cardiff, who also wear blue-white-blue, and they just worn their sky blue home shorts.

    http://i41.tinypic.com/344eeyp.jpg

    Personal preference, or down to the referee?

    Either way, another example of the Football League maybe not being as strict on shorts clashes as we have thought.

  129. Nice find, Alexander!

    I suppose it was bound to happen when you have have a blue and white home kit, and a light blue goalkeeper kit! And, a black third kit, with a black, and a dark grey goalkeeper kits!

    Madness…

  130. I just remembered, I think Barcelona have used five goalkeeper kits this season.

    I’m sure they have dark green, black, grey, yellow and blue.

    I’ll try and find some pictures tomorrow when I have some spare time..

  131. I doubt anyone could beat St. Étienne keeper Jérémie Janot for the number of goalkeeper kits he used in a season. He wore at least 12 kits for me to know of in the 2004/05 season, most of his kits were themed.

    Check out this image with various shirts: _
    http://mircea21dominte.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/his-t-shirts-during-time.jpg?w=640

    As you can see, a few homages in there, from the mountain stage leader jersey in the Tour de France, an orange version of Spiderman, and a shirt based on Stade Toulousain rugby club (which ironically he wore against Toulouse!!!)

    He famously wore a red Spiderman strip, and posed with a mask in the team photograph before kick-off!
    http://mircea21dominte.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/against-istres-in-2005.jpg?w=640

    Sadly since adidas started sponsoring St. Étienne in 2005 the mad shirts have rarely been in use, though Janot did wear a shirt based on Stade Français’ outrageous pink/navy leopard print (also made by adidas) last season. He once donned a red and black teamwear shirt against old rivals Lyon, after the latter got KO’d by Milan in the Champions League.

  132. Great call with Janot there. I wasn’t so sure about the red/black shirt though. I had heard that he had expressed a desire to do that but St Etienne banned him.

    I’ll have a look and see if I can find a pic.

  133. Getting back to kit clashes (and I do realise I’m changing sport as well!). There’s a picture on the RTE Sport website today from last nights Armagh v Down game. Worst clash of colours I’ve ever seen……

  134. That is amazing, Denis.

    I know some might say that we are kit geeks and maybe make too much of a fuss about kits clashing, but both team are just wearing red!

    Even the most lenient referee can’t have thought that wasn’t a huge problem!

  135. I stand corrected Denis! Kerry and Limerick have had some ridiculous clashes in recent years as well. None as bad as the examples highlighted by you though.

  136. Just out of interest, Denis, what are the worst clashes you’ve seen in football?

    I remember you mentioning the Tottenham/Blackburn one from like 2005, but do any others spring to mind?

  137. Is that a North Kerry club match by any chance Denis? Wherever it is back home, I can’t believe they got through that game!! Unbelievable!!

  138. Thanks for the reply, Denis.

    I actually remember that game. I may be wrong, but wasn’t the problem that Newcastle’s away kit that season was white?

  139. Yeah it was Eric, but if something similar to Hull-Southampton had been done and Tranmere had changed shorts to white it wouldn’t have been as bad.

    Of course, Newcastle could have worn their blue and yellow 98-99 away…

  140. Yeah, I agree. Black and white stripes shirts against white shirts, isn’t too bad, but the thin black stripes on Tranmere shirt makes it hard to look at.

    Like you say, it’s surprising Newcastle didn’t retain the blue away kit from the previous season. You’d have thought they would have done so, knowing the problems having a black and white home kit, and a white away kit, can throw up.

    Wasn’t the white kit only worn once? I think it said that in TC1.

  141. By the way, was anybody else surprised that Aston Villa wore light blue shorts and socks with the white away kit at the Emirates?

    I thought they would just wear the claret change socks they have.

  142. They did the same in the cup game there, I assume that the refs didn’t want red/white-white-white against white-claret-claret – though this of course goes against the concept of white and sky blue clashing!

    The two goalkeepers were similarly attired too, not identical but definitely clashing

  143. Newcastle only wore that white away kit just the once, and the result was actually 4-1 to Coventry. Here’s a pic

    http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/1239321.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF878921F7C3FC3F69D929FDF584F3D949F46CD2B724C4A368DAF59AB9105D5E4E42845B

    Strangely, Newcastle wore their home kit at Sheffield Wednesday that season, where blue and white stripes vs black and white stripes would have been regarded as a bad clash of colours. I’m not sure why the white kit wasn’t used that day. Having said that, it was foolish for Newcastle have a white away kit, even more so when a third kit wasn’t available. Why they couldn’t press the previous season’s blue kit into service I do not know. I remember that cup game at Tranmere, it was live on TV, and it was so difficult to watch.

    Still not as bad as 2002/03, where they had the silver/greeny-navy “Ajax” style kit, used just twice against Juventus and West Brom, and caused equally bad kit clashes.

    Though not as bad as that clash of kits from that hurling match that Denis posted. How on earth did the referee allow that to go on?

  144. Sadly, it was not an isolated incident, this pic was taken a few weeks ago and was from a third-tier national league game http://www.sportsfile.com/id/602699/

    Newcastle wore their home, with white shorts and socks, away to Wimbledon that season too, when the white kit would have been perfect. Incidentally, their ‘set’ that season featured one of my pet hates – shorts and socks from different kits which are close but cannot be mixed and matched http://www.truecoloursfootballkits.com/articles/mix-and-mismatch

  145. Kerry involved again Denis! At least they were the home team so the onus was on Carlow to change, saying that I’ve never known Carlow to change or have ever seen a change jersey of theirs

  146. Whenever I’ve seen Ipswich this season, they have worn a grey goalkeeper kit, with navy shorts and socks.

    And, I know this doesn’t really mean anything, but that is also their goalkeeper kit on FIFA 12…

    Here is a (not great) picture – http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/chelseas-serbian-defender-branislav-ivanovic-vies-with-news-photo/107945506

    So, according to that, it was used last season, also.

    Obviously, we need an Ipswich fan to tell us if that green goalkeeper kit from 08/09 is still being used, or if it’s just somebody not sorting out their online shop!

  147. #201 – That takes beating alright Denis.The worst aspect of it is both sides met in the under 21 semi final in 2004 (which I remember backing Armagh at even money – happy days!) with a change for cork so it is baffling as to why they both were wearing home shirts 3 years later.

    The Cork kit for the 2010 minor quarter final takes the biscuit though.You’d be forgiven for thinking it was a Nike/Adidas hybrid with a touch of 70s admiral thrown in for good measure.

    http://www.sportsfile.com/id/447811/

    The worst high profile GAA clash was the 1996 all ireland final between meath and mayo.at one point a meath player was through on goal only to pass the ball to a mayo player he thought was a meath man unmarked.not as bad as the cork armagh game but still avoidable.

    http://www.inpho.ie/media/fuMV5r6VB1IsamONVGV2Ow..a?ts=PyPQMcLZ9QvdP1AyW4ZU4A..a

    The lixnaw kilmoyley clash is interesting.again not in the same league as cork/armagh but given that they play regularly in a small hurling county you’d think it would call for change.horrible nike mercurials worn by the lad on the right.

    the photo must have been taken 5 seconds after the throw in.no torn jersey or blood stains visible!

  148. #201 – Denis.That is easily the worst of any clash in GAA.Could just as easily be a training session.To make matters worse both sides played in 2004 with cork wearing a white jersey (Remember that day well as I backed Armagh at even money – happy days) so there was no excuse for the situation that occured 3 years later.

    Cork did go a bit overboard with the choice of kit for the 2010 minor quarter final against the same opposition.You’d be forgiven that it was a Nike/Adidas hybrid with a 70s style Admiral stripe thrown in for good measure.

    http://www.sportsfile.com/id/447811/

    The most high profile bad colour clash in GAA was probably the 1996 all ireland final between mayo and meath.The game finished in a draw but at one point a meath player was inches away from goal and passed the ball to a mayo player he thought was an unmarked meath man.

    http://www.inpho.ie/media/fuMV5r6VB1IsamONVGV2Ow..a?ts=3D5De7xZAaXbkIAcPnXAVbcZ3TPl74Ww7ZRmEhFOXl8.a

    As for the hurling clash (no pun intended) thats remarkable seen as how they have probably met each other more than 50 times given how small hurling is in that area.surely by 2002 a compromise could have been reached.Lixnaws future fashion trend setter Paul Galvin must have been appalled that day.

    The photo must have been taken about 5 seconds after the throw in.No ripped shirts or blood stains are visible.

  149. I was surprised to see Fulham in all-white at Old Trafford, also Denis.

    I’m sure they have worn black change shorts (well, technically the shorts from the away kit) when playing away to teams with white shorts this season.

    Actually, I was half expecting Man United to be in red-white-white, due to Ferguson’s fondness of white socks for night games, and Fulham in white-black-black.

  150. I’m watching Benfica v Chelsea, and Petr Cech is wearing his change shorts again, with the white and claret goalkeeper kit, as Benifca are in red-white-red.

    That’s good, but surely if he is going to change his shorts, he should change his socks too?

  151. Cech does have white change socks for that goalkeeper kit, doesn’t he?

    Sure he’s worn them already this season…

  152. Ipswich indeed have used the green goalkeeper kit for the last 4 years. They use it against teams in white normally like Leeds. Incidently Ipswich 08/09 red away kit has been used for 4 season aswell.It has been used at Millwall for the last 2 seasons due to our black away kit clashing with Millwall’s dark blue kit that they have been wearing.

  153. Thanks for that, Scott.

    Interesting stuff.

    You know, I’ve always thought that the Mitre kits for Ipswich always looked the same, but maybe, after what you have said, they are just the same kits! 🙂

  154. Ipswich are due to unveil their new kits for next season next week on http://www.itfckits.co.uk. Ipswich now joining the ranks of teams to change both kits every year from next season. Ipswich also had an orange version of the green goalkeeper kit but this hasn’t been used since the silver kit was brought out.

  155. Interesting to see Milan change to white at home to Barcelona, with Barcelona wearing their home kit.

    I noticed some of you guys on Twitter say it was probably due to Milan wearing white when they beat Barcelona in 1994, and I think that was probably the reason. Milan do seem to be a little superstitious about the white kit. Didn’t they ask to wear white against Liverpool in the 05 and 07 Champions League finals?

    Also, I noticed Marseille wear their home kit against Bayern Munich. I know they usually wear their orange third kit in Europe. I was expecting Bayern to be in white, or black.

    They also wore their home kit against Inter in the last round, according to Jay29ers, possibly being a nod to a win over Inter in the home kit a few years before.

    I wonder if Marseille have decided to drop wearing the third kit as first choice in Europe?

  156. I think a couple of seasons ago Bayern Munich had a champions league kit which they wore in the group stages. When they reached the knock out stage they reverted back to their normal red home kit.

  157. Oh, I know, Scott.

    I was just expecting Bayern Munich to have to change, because I assumed Marseille would be in their orange third kit.

    Just wonder if Marseille have dropped wearing their third kit, as first choice in Europe.

  158. To Jon, i have 2 Ipswich photo books i got for xmas. In them they have pictures of a couple of addition’s/correction’s for you books. In the first it has a picture of Ipswich playing Coventry in march 79 in what appears to be the brown kit but Coventry are wearing white socks. In the second book Ipswich’s 84/86 3rd shirt(red+black stripe’s) Ipswich have black sock’s not red. Finally the second book has a picture of Ipswich playing Birmingham at home in season 87/88 and Birmingham appear to be in all yellow with no sponser. This kit is not in your book. The books are Ipswich Town 1970’s and 1980’s. They have lot’s of black and white photo’s showing Ipswich through the 2 decade’s. Does this help. Ialso know of several other Ipswich kit oddities that you don’t list in vol 2 of your superb book’s.

  159. Sorry to go off topic, but I was trying to find a clip of an old match on YouTube, and ended up stumbling on the highlight from Oxford vs Wolves from 1996/97.

    Anyway, with Oxford obviously wearing yellow, Wolves had to wear their away kit, which if you remember that season, was that slightly odd two-tone green strip.

    But look at the Wolves keeper, I think it’s Mike Stowell. I know it isn’t the same kit as the outfield players, but for a second I thought it was!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61NxnjDfXDc

    Just thought you guys might be interested…

  160. Wolves didn’t help themselves that year by having a home GK jersey in the same shade of green as the away kit, but with red flashes on the shoulders, and that blue kit which isn’t easy to distinguish in poor light as with the clip above.

    Mind you it isn’t as bad as the time when Oxford hosted Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup that same season. The Owls turned up in their third strip of two-tone bottle green, which had been the away kit in 95/96. Long-serving goalkeeper Kevin Pressman appeared to wear a shirt in a marginally darker shade of green, and worse still wore the same white shorts and socks as his team mates. It caused a really bad clash and how the referee didn’t spot it I’ll never know.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85REisLeNBk

    It looks like the same shirt as he’s wearing here: _
    http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/1257910.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF878921F7C3FC3F69D929FDE05C37EA2D7AE72632F0DF6EFB2245301A29BAFD053AB252
    Here’s a video clip,

    The only other shirt he had available that year was an amber jersey, which would have clashed with Oxford’s shirts! He did wear that when Wednesday wore the orange “Mr Tango” kit at Everton later in the 96/97 season, rather than the more sensible green one. Madness!

  161. One thing which has improved over the years, when it comes to kit clashes, is goalkeeper kits.

    As somebody who grew up watching football in the 1990s, it seemed as though the referee didn’t even bother checking the goalkeeper shirt, to see if it clashed with the outfield players.

    Mind you, with some of the garish goalkeeper kits in the 1990s, sometimes it’s hard to say what colour it is, and what it would clash with!

  162. Was it really that bad Eric? I know there were some poor enough ones, such as Arsenal having a black GK shirt with navy away in 94-95 and 95-96, but the other side of that is that in 90-91, Seaman wore a blue jersey away to Norwich, who didn’t have a massive amount of green on their home.

  163. Good to see CorkCity up and running Denis.Thought I was looking at QPR for a moment there but sure they wouldnt be your team of choice.

    That Wolves GK shirt certainly had me confused near the end of the oxford game when oxford were on the attack.the ref might have noticed the slight similarity but ignored it possibly because it was unlike nearly every other 90s GK shirt in that it didnt look like vomit.

    Yeah GK shirts are better now in terms of clashes.Interesting to see AC Milans GK wearing a short sleeve kit tonight.he must have known he would have to make a few dives in the nou camp.

  164. Goalie jerseys in the 90’s were an absolute riot of colours and complex designs. I know the Premier League handbook and FIFA/UEFA tournament guides define the colours of goalie kits these days but can you imagine them trying to define the colours of the kits in the 90’s? If they did I’m sure “multicolour” would have applied to most teams!

    It seemed to get out of hand in the 1994 World Cup with lots of crazy goalie jerseys, and none moreso than the extremely loud kits worn by Mexico’s pint-sized stopped Jorge Campos. Well that was it from then on, almost all the top manufacturers had multicoloured goalie jerseys – adidas, Puma, Lotto, you name it.

    Umbro’s extreme use of colour and graphics were often summed up with David Seaman’s change goalie kit from Euro 96, dubbed the “packet of refreshers”

    http://threeandin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/seamanrefreshers.jpg

    Ironically it was only when Nike started becoming a big player in the football kit market that goalie jerseys started quieting down again towards the end of the decade, though we have seen a fair number of exceptions that still revive the loudness since then.

  165. Yeah, looking back it’s amazing how bad GK kits were, wasn’t the approach that it made it difficult for forwards to see exactly where the keeper was against the backdrop of the crowd?

  166. I think it was down to the general “90s excess” in kit design, Denis.

    For some reason, when the outfield kits started to became more minimal or traditional in the late-90s, goalkeeper kits continued to be crazy for a couple more years, before calming down around the turn of the millennium.

  167. They have really calmed down now, there’s no real ‘look’, most sedate designs from 10 years ago would work now and vice versa, the biggest difference is the fit

  168. Yeah, that’s true, Denis.

    Although, Nike used to (from 2000 onwards) have quite sedate designs, but if you look at their goalkeeper kits this season, and the lightning bolts from last season, it seem they are edging towards busier goalkeeper kits.

    Actually, that seems to be a move Nike are heading towards with all of their kits, unfortunetly.

  169. Sorry to go off topic, and this isn’t anything to do with kits, but I’m watching Chelsea v Benfica on TV.

    I was just wondering, why do in some Champions League games, they are not allowed to use the first few rows of seats?

    I might be wrong, but it doesn’t seem to even be every stand at Stamford Bridge tonight…

  170. I believe there is a minimum distance allowed between the hoardings and fans. It’s only really noticeable at English grounds as the stands are tighter to the pitches.

  171. UEFA use hoardings of a different height and as the games come under their governance that is what is used. As for the seats i think it is due to this height and the view is blocked that is why they are not sold.

  172. Big clash at Huddersfield- Sheff Wed today. Wednesday’s pale grey/silver strip offered little contrast against the stripes/white shorts of Huddersfield.

    Puma have done third kits for various sides so don’t know why Wednesday don’t have one – black or yellow would be obvious choices.

  173. Yeah, I noticed the Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday clash, also.

    @Denis – Puma also gave Wednesday four kits, for no apparent reason, in 2000-01 too!

  174. Can anyone remember a game where Sheffield Wednesday played away at Newcastle and both their home shirt and the away clashed with the home team so they ended up wearing the Newcastle away shirt? I think this also happened to Spurs one year away at Coventry….

  175. I’m watching Southampton v Reading on TV, and oddly Reading are wearing blue change shorts and socks, for no apparent reason.

  176. I’m watching Real Madrid v Sporting Gijon, and Gijon have turned up wearing their red and white striped home kit.

    I know that normally isn’t much of a problem, but there is more white on the shirt than red.

    Don’t know why they didn’t just wear their red away kit.

    They are very liberal in Spain, it seems, when it comes to clashes.

  177. Just watching Match of the Day…

    Am I the only one who thinks Sunderland should wear a change kit at Villa Park? They always seem to wear their home kit!

  178. Going off subject again…… But does anyone know what the story was regarding the names on the back of the Celtic shirts yesterday?

  179. They were in Thai in support of the Thai Tims (www.goodchildfoundation.com) charity. I take it the shirts are going to be auctioned off.

    The Good Child Foundation helps kids with Downs Syndrome in Thailand and is based at the school at which Reamonn Gormley worked at before he was killed back in Scotland.

    You may remember a version of Just Can’t Get Enough being released as a single by the Thai Tims last year.

    Celtic did something similar against Hibs last season by having names in Japanese to support those affected by the earthquake/tsunami.

  180. Remember what I said about Petr Čech?

    Well tonight in the Barcelona v Chelsea semi-final second leg he is wearing the old navy shirt from 2009/10, not the newer template of the same colour scheme that he wore in the group stages of the Champions League.

    Unlike the other kit it has white numbering on the shirt and shorts, instead of light green. So that’s 4 kits he’s worn this season: white, fluorescent yellow and both navy variants.

  181. Also, I’m surprised he wore the navy kit, with Barcelona wearing basically a blue kit.

    I know he couldn’t wear the white one as Chelsea were in their white third kit (having a goalkeeper kit in the same colour as one of your outfield kits has always annoyed me!) – but I was expecting Cech to be in the fluorescent yellow goalie kit.

  182. I don’t think there was any clash Eric, and when teams have three outfield kits and three (sometimes four) GK kits there’s always the possibility of overlap of colours

  183. Sorry to go off topic (again!) but I was wondering if you guys could help me out with something…

    I have a friend who is a Nottingham Forest fan and we are having an argument over a couple of things.

    Can any of you guys find a picture of the Forest 1999/2000 away kit? It was purple (probably chosen as it the corporate colour of the kit sponsor, Pinnacle) and was, according to True Colours 2, ditched during the season and the 97-99 away kit was brought back. Bizarrely, it was brought back as a third kit for 2000/01.

    Also, does anyone have a picture of the 1999/2000 third kit? It was black with a yellow trim and was a basic Umbro template. This one might be harder as according to TC2, it’s unclear if it was actually worn.

    It’s a bit of a long shot, but I’ve looked in all of the usual places and can’t find anything!!!

  184. Watching Sunderland and Bolton today a change should have been made by bolton.colours are not that different and the sun is making it a bit hard to acknowledge players at times.

  185. I agree, Ciaran.

    It’s in situations like this where the allowing of shorts clashes these days, really doesn’t help matters.

  186. In agreement as well. Always found it strange that against the clubs that wear red-and-white stripes, red shirted teams obviously see that there’s a clash but white shirted teams (and officials!) don’t. Plain as day to me…..

  187. Notts County have no alternative shorts and socks for either of their strips. Just hope that as Rochdale have now changed to Fila, that we’re not in the same boat – both are new kits have blue socks!

  188. Good point Dennis.

    On a pedantic note, are Ciry’s socks Sky Blue or White?

    I say white with a sky blue turnover and sky blue stripes.

  189. Yeah, it’s a bit of a weird one, I suppose.

    Like for the past three seasons, Man City have worn an away kit at White Hart Lane, but Tottenham haven’t changed when they play at the Etihad, I mean, what is the difference?

    Man United always seem to be very quick to change their kit, for instance the Wolves game last season, and wearing white socks in away evening games (if the other team are not wearing white socks, i’e Wigan the other week) as it seems Ferguson seems to want to create the most distinction possible.

    To be fair, when I posted that, I had forgotten about the FA Cup match in January, when United wore white shorts.

  190. Going back to the point made about Hibs wearing their change white socks against Motherwell who were in all silver, again at the weekend Hibs wore the white socks against St Mirren who have White and Black hooped socks. Apparently it was decided that the outfield players white socks did not clash with the St Mirren ones but the Hibs Goalkeepers black socks did clash which meant the GK wore last seasons yellow 3rd kit socks with the yellow and black goalkeeper kit.

    Baffling to say least as i dont understand how where socks that are 50/50 black and white can be deemed as clashing with black but not white!

    not to mention that when Hibs played at St Mirren Park earlier in the season they were kitted out in green shirts/shorts/socks and this time wore green/white/white.

    All season Hibs have chopped and changed combinations between the standard issue green/white/green, green/green/green and green/white/white whether there has been clashes or not, or even in last 2 noted cases causing more of a clash!

  191. That’s very odd, David!

    The game on now, Cardiff-West Ham, is, IMO, a good example of why changing shorts or socks doesn’t always solve a clash. West Ham have sky blue shorts and (normal?) white socks while Cardiff have white shorts and blue socks, so in a scramble you’re still just seeing a mish-mash of blue and white.

    Claret shorts and socks would have worked for West Ham, or even sky blue shorts and socks to get rid of any bit of white, those socks could still be told apart from royal blue ones.

  192. I don’t think Macron have bothered giving West Ham any change shorts and socks, Denis.

    If they did, they probably would have been claret.

    The light blue shorts they were wearing tonight, were simply from the away kit, weren’t they?

  193. Yeah I presume so Eric, it’s a similar state of affairs to 93-94, when they had Pony and the away was the ‘classic’ design so those shorts and socks were used as home change sets.

  194. Man City signed to Nike today beginning at the start of the 2013/2014 season.not entirely unexpected but still a shame as the Umbro stuff was great.hard act for Nike to follow.

  195. Again for some reason I wasn’t entirely surprised to hear the news. I have always been a massive Umbro fan but lets see what Nike produce 🙂
    Keep the comments up 🙂

  196. Interesting one tonight, possibly a first!

    Cork City (all green) were playing Dundalk (white shirts, black shorts, yellow away socks for some reason) in the League of Ireland Premier Division, and it was pelting rain.

    In the old days, players would have changed at half-time to long-sleeved jerseys but I don’t think either side has a set, or if they do they weren’t on site, so both teams changed to their away shirts at half-time, City to red and Dundalk to yellow.

    As the officials had worn in yellow in the first half, they had to change to grey!

  197. A strange night in turners cross so Denis.You would think that Umbro would be aware of the high chance of rain in League of Ireland matches and would be well prepared for it with long sleeved tops.

    That said the cost of long sleeved tops might be a bit higher so maybe the likes of skins and under armour have rendered long sleeved tops redundant.

  198. I’m watching the FA Cup final…

    I don’t mean to be picky but shouldn’t Petr Cech be wearing his white change socks, as the claret standard pair clash with Liverpools…

    Interesting to see Chelsea wearing their own design numbering and lettering. Do Tottenham still do this in the FA Cup? I think Liverpool did last season, didn’t they? They have stopped this season…

    Chelsea’s own design looks pretty naff, I must say…

  199. I noticed also that the officials were wearing a new kit.

    I wonder if Umbro designed them as a one-off for the cup final, or if it was a preview for the new season? I think it’s about time, I think they have had the current design, which I’ve never liked with the weird white piping, since like 2008…

  200. Far too much red and white at Accrington-Crawley today. Red-white-red (white hoops on socks) v white-red-red.

  201. The socks are especially odd, Tardisblue, as usually white versus red and white hoops is okay, but red versus red and white hoops is not…

  202. Sounds like the new Umbro Diamond strip the PGMOL officials will wear next season. (had to follow the game on my phone as I was at a wedding!)

  203. I couldn’t help but notice West Brom are wearing the sky blue change strip at Bolton today, a kit they haven’t worn for some time!

  204. It was the first time I’ve seen West Brom wear that kit, Jon.

    It’s very shiny isn’t it?

    Also, I wonder if there might be a problem at the Blackburn v Wigan game tonight, with Wigan having a blue home kit, white away kit and navy blue third?

  205. Portsmouth were able to wear their navy there in 03-04 and 04-05 too, though in 04-05 Blackburn had blue shorts and socks so Pompey had white shorts and socks, so that wasn’t ideal

  206. I’m watching This Is Spinal Tap on ITV4, does anyone know what football shirt one of the guys is wearing?

    It’s orange and purple stripes, made by Umbro.

    I’m sure one of you guys must know!

  207. is anyone else watching itv4 on saturday mornings as they are re-running the big match. currently it is 1982/83 season.

  208. #320 – Back in the days when kits for teams went up as far as 11.Now where did I leave my coat again?

  209. I was just looking at FootballShirtCulture.com at the new kits for next season, and they have the new Swindon away kit.

    Is there a reason why the FIFA computer game sponsor them? It seems such a random choice…

  210. New Liverpool kit for 12/13 is out, it’s good, very good!
    The Liver Bird is back and embroidered in gold. Classic!

  211. Eric, Leyton Orient also have Fifa 13 as their new away strip sponsor and Samsung on the home kit, just like Swindon.

  212. #323 – Not a bad kit alright.the only thing that spoils it for me is the gold colouring.should have been white instead.Just brings it down a bit.

    Other than that a good first effort.not far off the tailored by umbro range.

    Man Utd’s new home kit looks dreadful.Man city should be begging Nike to reconsider the new agreement and plead with them to stay with Umbro.

  213. Thanks, Andrew.

    Just seems odd that they sponsor Swindon, and Leyton Orient (and not even their home kits!) – no disrespect to those teams, just thought for such a big brand, that they would sponsor more high profile teams.

    I agree with you, Ciaran, but I have a feeling that Nike will soon be going back towards more traditional and simple designs. From say, 2001 until 2008, they were more conservative with their designs, and I just think they almost ran out of ideas and went for more outlandish designs, almost so after a few seasons they can go back to more simple designs, if that makes any sense…

  214. Chelsea wore their new home kit.

    Also United wore blue shorts at Sunderland so as not to clash. Looked good too, was a deeper blue. Tardis blue even!

  215. That’s a good point actually, Denis.

    I also thought teams could only preview the following season’s kit at home. Hence during 1998/99 when Tottenham wore their new home kit against Chelsea during their final home game of the season, and then going back to the standard one for the Man United game at Old Trafford on the final day of the season.

    Is this the first time a team in the Premier League has previewed next season’s kit in an away game? I can’t think of anyone doing it before…

  216. I can definately recall 2 seasons when Spurs previewed the following seasons away kit in the final home game. The navy adidas kit v Sunderland and the pale blue kappa kit v Blackburn.

  217. am i the only one who doesn’t like teams wearing their new kit on the last day of the season.

  218. To be honest, I don’t either, Scott.

    I always enjoy seeing the kits in action for the first time in the highlights of pre-season friendly matches on Sky Sports News. Sort of makes it feel like the new season is on it’s way!

  219. Yeah Eric people are losing the run of themselves over the EPL title race.

    What happened in montpellier last night was where it was at.

    Although I imagine “nobody” enjoyed the weekend of sport any more than Denis.

  220. The first time a new kit should be worn is either pre season or start of the season otherwise what is to stop teams bringing new kits out every couple of months.

  221. Fully agree with the above.New kits to be first worn at start of new season, no exceptions.

    It should be one of the ten commandments of football Kits.

  222. Interesting one tonight in the League 2 playoff semi – Torquay have worn white socks with their home kit for most of the season, something they’ve done regularly in recent seasons despite yellow socks being the “official” colour.

    However Cheltenham have turned up wearing white socks not the usual black ones of their home kit. Is this an example of a deliberate attempt to upset superstition??!

  223. Sorry to go off-topic (again!) but I was just watching some old football clips on YouTube, and you know when Crystal Palace and Wimbledon shared grounds in the 90s and early-2000s?

    The “away team” always wore a change kit. Do you think they did this because of a clash, or to sort of help signify who was the home team?

    I’ve often wondered this.

    When Palace were at home in 2000-01 – http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/mikael-forssell-of-crystal-palace-has-his-shot-blocked-by-news-photo/945142

    And when Wimbledon were the home team, later in the season…

    http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/wimbledon-players-protest-to-referee-paul-taylor-during-the-news-photo/955206

  224. As a referee I would have been happy for both tams to wear home strips. No clash whatsoever.

  225. my team Ipswich have on occasions worn the blue home kit at Palace. I suppose it is down to the amount of red or blue on their kit at the time. Usually Ipswich do change to an away kit there. i think the last time we wore the home kit at Palace was 98/99 with our white sleeved home kit.

  226. Palace often had blue or navy backs on their shirts in the late 90s and early 00s, don’t forget

  227. Yeah, I think it’s one of those where if you ask 10 referees, 5 would say it is a clash, and 5 would say it isn’t.

    By the way, yeah, I’ve seen the new Barcelona kits. I think they are awful. I’ve kind of lost all hope with Nike…

  228. The worst clash with Palace was in 2006 when they played Reading at home. Palace had an all blue kit with red stripes on the front, while Reading decided to turn up in their home kit (blue with white hoops on the front), with white shorts and socks from their third kit. Why the Royals didn’t go all the way and wear the white third shirt as well I don’t know, especially as they did wear it for the match that sealed promotion to the Premier League later that season.

    From the front, it was passable, but from behind, both shirts were the same colour, albeit slightly differing shades (Palace’s was a bit darker). How the referee let it go by, especially with the game being broadcast live on Sky.

    Here’s a snippet I found on YouTube:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtvvICiA6JM

  229. That is ridiculous.

    I’m sure that season Reading had a grey away kit. Why didn’t they just wear that?!

  230. EricGeneric

    Reading had a navy/dark mauve away strip in 05/06, with grey shorts, which wouldn’t have been distinguishable enough for the trip to Palace, but the white third kit (which had been the away kit the previous season) would have been the answer.

    Indeed, the white strip seemed to be forgotten that season, except for the day they clinched promotion at Leicester…… the navy kit got used at Birmingham in a cup tie, which wasn’t exactly ideal!

    http://cache3.asset-cache.net/gc/56769076-steve-sidwell-of-reading-tussles-for-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=OCUJ5gVf7YdJQI2Xhkc2QGZ3aj8oDLa0LHqnaaQYN2foJ7Eq9zG2gXlW%2f1ccICdEKVQGqUTkqkiZQQwDeX%2f5Ug%3d%3d

  231. @Denis – Yeah, I heard that the other day, I think it was on the Football Ramble. Interesting stuff.

    @Jon – I thought that kit was dark grey and light grey, until I saw the picture you posted. Although, I don’t think it really caused a problem in that match with Birmingham, as Birmingham had quite a lightish blue, with lots of white on it, that season.

    As you say though, they should have just worn the white third kit.

  232. Having said that, I think I’ve found the worst kit clash of 2012.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBuKQA1ifjg

    This was a match in the Peruvian league, where Universitario (in cream) played against Alianza Lima, who for some bizarre reason wore their third kit, white with a navy cross on the front. Normally, Alianza wear a “West Brom in the late 70’s” style bold navy and white strip, but changed to a Nike teamwear navy kit with white “stripes” on the front, so why they wore this kit I don’t know, but god help anyone watching on Peruvian TV.

    Almost puts Chivas v Necaxa in 2003 to shame…..

  233. It’s a desperate excuse for a football kit Dennis, I have Arsenal away kits from the ’71 cup final, the brilliant green number from ’82 and many more. I won’t be adding that to the collection. “Purple Reign?” they say, I know what I say and it rhymes with “ollocks”…….

  234. Yes, Nike have officially lost it completely.

    From say 2000, until 2009, they were always my favourite manufacturer.

    I also like the fact that the away goalkeeper kit is pink.

    With Arsenal’s home colours obviously being red, surely they’ll never be able to wear it?!

  235. Ah but Eric, don’t forget how often they change against teams in white!

    And anyway, as silly as it sounds, Fabianski wore pink away to Wolves in 2010-11 despite the fact that home kit was worn.

  236. Do Arsenal not bother changing against teams in white anymore though, Denis?

    I’m sure that last season they wore the home kit against Fulham, Swansea and Bolton.

    And, Tottenham, but I suppose that is different.

    Fair point about pink/Wolves situation, I forgot about that. Was that a one off, or was the pink goalkeeper kit worn with the home kit in any other matches that season?

  237. You know, I had to laugh when I saw this picture of Wojciech Szczesny promoting the new pink away goalkeeper kit…

    http://i.imgur.com/tB6CM.jpg

    Considering I remember him Tweeting about wanting to avoid wearing the pink away goalkeeper on the way to an away game in 2010/11!

  238. You might be right, Denis.

    I just seem to remember him saying something like…

    “Looking forward to the (insert team) match tonight, I’m hoping to avoid wearing the pink kit!”

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