Tag: Football League

EFL, League Two 23/24: End of Season Kit Report

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The 2023/24 League Two Season came to a close on Saturday 27th April 2024, with Stockport County securing the title, with Wrexham as runners up who make it back to back Promotions and the final automatic spot being secured by Mansfield Town. MK Dons, Doncaster Rovers, Crewe Alexandra, and Crawley Town will compete in the Playoffs for the final promotion place.

I wanted to take a look at the kits worn during the league stage of the season (not including Play Offs).

Kit Stats

  • 1104 Kits worn (552 Games)
  • 106 Different Kit variations used by the 24 teams.
  • Home Kits – 38% of Kit variations used
    • 41 Home Kits worn in total
    • 17 Home Kit variations worn
  • Away Kits – 35% of variations used
    • 37 Away Kits worn in total
    • 13 Away Kit variations worn
  • 3rd Kits – 24% of variations worn
    • 25 3rd Kits worn in total
    • 5 3rd Kit variations worn
  • Special Kit – 3% of variations worn
    • 3 Special Kit worn

Overview of Kits Worn

Kit Overview

Kit Log – Match 1 to Match 15

Kit Log – Match 16 to Match 30

Kit Log – Match 31 to Match 46

Kit Variations

Looking in more detail at the kit variations worn by the League Two Teams

  • Crawley Town wore 8 Kit Variations: Home x3, Away x3, 3rd x2
  • 2 Teams wore 7 Kit Variations
    • Newport County: Home x2, Away x3, 3rd, Special Kit
    • Salford City: Home x3, Away, 3rd x3
  • 3 Teams wore 6 Kit Variations
    • AFC Wimbledon: Home, Away x3, 3rd, Special Kit
    • Morecambe: Home x4, Away x2
    • Walsall – Home x2, Away x3, 3rd
  • 3 Teams wore 5 Kit Variations
    • Crewe Alexandra: Home x2, Away x2, 3rd
    • Grimsby Town: Home x2, Away x2, 3rd
    • Harrogate Town: Home x2, Away x2, 3rd
  • 6 Teams wore 4 Kit Variations
  • 9 Teams in just 3 Kit Variations
  • Most Variations of Home Kit – 4 Kits
    • Morecambe: Red / White / Red – Red / White / White – All Red – Red / White / Black
  • Most Variations of Away Kit – 3 Kits
    • AFC Wimbledon: All White – White / Blue / Blue – White / Blue / White
    • Crawley Town: Green / Black / Green – Green / White / Green – Green / Black / Black
    • Newport County: All White – White / Black / White – White / Black / Black
    • Walsall: All White – White / Red / White – White / Red / Red
  • Most Variations of 3rd Kit – 3 Kits
    • Salford City: White – Black – Black / White – Black – White / All White
  • Sutton United in 4 different kits with no variations
  • 7 Teams only used Home, Away kits and 3rd Kits with no variations
  • 3 Teams in just Home and Away Kits, with variations used
  • Most worn Home Kit – 39, Stockport County
  • Most worn Away Kit – 16, Harrogate Town / Colchester United (11 Default / 5 with White Socks)
  • Most worn 3rd Kit – 12, AFC Wimbledon

Something new that I have created for this season is an overview of when each of the new kits were first worn, for example… AFC Wimbledon wore their Home Kit in their first game, 3rd Kit in their 3rd game and Away Kit in their 4th game..!

Match 1 to Match 23

Match 24 to Match 46

Kit Grid

Below is a graphic of what kits where worn against what teams, its one that I share on a weekly basis on my Twitter Account – @Kit_Geek

Kit Highlights and Summary

In 2023/24 League Two season teams wore 106 Kits, this was an increase in the number kits compared to last season where 93 Kits were worn, in fact this number of kits was passed just under half way through the season on 23rd December 2023. League Two was only beaten by the Premier League in the number of Kit Variations used in the English Leagues this season.

The most worn Kit in the League was from Champions Stockport County who wore their wonderful Home Kit in 39 of 46 games, only changing 7 times throughout the whole season..!

Harrogate Town wore change kits in all their away games this season, wearing their Away Kit 16 times and 3rd Kit 7 Times in two different variations…!

Between Match 40 and Match 44, AFC Wimbledon wore 5 different kits in 5 games, this included Home Kit, 2 variations of their Away Kit, 3rd Kit and Special Charity Kit.. these games were over 3 weeks between 23rd March and 13th April.

There were three “Special Kits” used in League Two this season, each of them Charity Kits…

AFC Wimbledon for War Child and their own community charity.

Newport County for Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Sutton United for Royal Marsden Cancer Charity

Although not a charity kit Mansfield Town wore Red Socks with their Home Kit for Down’s Syndrome Association awareness week, something they have also done in previous seasons.

Grimsby Town’s home kit, gives us a nice little kit quirk in League Two with several teams having wearing alternative socks due to the red socks worn by the club, last season there were 5 teams that used alternative socks when playing against The Mariners, this season that number was 6 plus Newport County wore white shorts as an alternative against them!

Morecambe with only a Home and Away Kits used 6 different kit variations, with 4 different Home Kit Looks and 2 Away Kits, using 2 Shirts, 3 pairs of shorts and 2 pairs of socks!

There we have it, League Two’s End of Season Kit report for 2023/24, please let me know your favourite kit highlights from this division on the comments below or over at Twitter – @Kit_Geek

You can find other End of Season Reports below when they are published…!

Premier League: End of Season Report

Championship: End of Season Report

League One: End of Season Report

EFL, League One 22/23 – End of Season Report

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The 2022/23 League One Season came to a close on Sunday 7th May 2023, with Plymouth Argyle securing the title on the final day of the season and breaking the 100 point barrier, runners up were Ipswich Town who themselves managed a staggering 98 points to secure automatic promotion to The Championship. Sheffield Wednesday, Barnsley, Bolton Wanderers and Peterborough United will compete in the Playoffs for the final promotion place.

I wanted to take a look at the kits worn during the league stage of the season (not including Play Offs).

Kit Stats

  • 1104 Kits worn (552 Games)
  • 102 Different Kit variations used by the 24 teams.
  • Home Kits – 38% of Kit variations used
    • 24 Home Kits worn
    • 15 Home Kit variations worn
  • Away Kits – 37% of variations used
    • 24 Away Kits worn
    • 14 Away Kit variations worn
  • 3rd Kits – 24% of variations worn
    • 19 3rd Kits worn
    • 5 3rd Kit variations worn
  • Special Kit – 1% of variations worn
    • 1 Special Kit worn

Overview of Kits Worn

Kit Overview

Kit Log – Match 1 to Match 15

Kit Log – Match 16 to Match 30

Kit Log – Match 31 to Match 46

Kit Variations

Looking in more detail at the kit variations worn by the League One Teams

  • 1 Teams wore 7 Kit Variations
    • Accrington Stanley – Home x2, Away x3, 3rd x2
  • 5 Teams wore 6 Kit Variations
    • Barnsley – Home, Away x2, 3rd x2, Special
    • Charlton Athletic – Home x2, Away x2, 3rd x2
    • Morecambe – Home x4, Away x2
    • Oxford United – Home x3, Away x2, 3rd
    • Plymouth Argyle – Home x2, Away x3, 3rd
  • 3 Teams wore 5 Kit Variations
    • Burton Albion – Home x2, Away x3
    • Derby County – Home, Away x2, 3rd x2
    • Lincoln City – Home x2, Away, 3rd x2
  • 5 Teams wore 4 Kit Variations
  • 10 Teams in just 3 Kit Variations
  • Most Variations of Home Kit – 4 Kits
    • Morecambe: Red – White – Black / Red – White – White / Red – Red – Black / Red – Red – White
  • Most Variations of Away Kit – 3 Kits
    • Accrington Stanley: White – Black – White / All White / White – White – Black
    • Burton Albion: All Black / Black – Yellow – Yellow / Black – Black – Yellow
    • Plymouth Argyle: White – Black – White / All White / White – White – Green
  • Most Variations of 3rd Kit – 2 Kits
    • Accrington Stanley: Black – Black – White / Black – White – White
    • Barnsley: All Black – Black / Black / White
    • Charlton Athletic: All Blue / Blue – Blue – White
    • Derby County: Black – Black – Green / All Black
    • Lincoln City: All White / White – White – Black
  • 7 Teams only used Home, Away kits and 3rd Kits with no variations
  • 3 Teams wore 3 kits with no 3rd kit, all using a variation of their Home Kit – Cambridge United, Cheltenham Town, Fleetwood Town
  • Most worn Home Kit – 38, Ipswich Town
  • Most worn Away Kit – 16, Cambridge United
  • Most worn 3rd Kit – 12, Exeter City

Kit Grid

Below is a graphic of what kits where worn against what teams, its one that I share on a weekly basis on my Twitter Account – @Kit_Geek

Kit Highlights and Summary

In 2022/23 League One teams wore 102 Kits, this was an increase in the number kits compared to last season where 94 Kits were worn, the 102 Kits were the most worn in an EFL League this season. All teams wore a minimum of 3 kits with only 3 teams in just home and away kits each of these team wore at least one kit variation of their home kit which gives us some different looks through out the season.

Bristol Rovers had a couple of Kit Tales this season, the first being in their game against Exeter City on 29th December when as the Home Kit they supported The Shelter “No Home Kit” campaign by wearing their Away shirt with Home Shorts and Socks, however they changed shirts at half time to return to their home shirt and ended the game in their full home kit, giving us the only kit variation to be used for half a game!

This half time change led to a run of 18 games, from 29th December 2022 to 22nd April where their only wore their Home Kit, this 124 day run was the longest run of just one kit being used in the English Leagues this season.

Morecambe used 4 Home Kit looks through the season, they used two different looks in home games with their traditional red shirts and white shorts paired with both black (default) and white socks. The other variations used on the road used red shorts with both pairs of socks.

There was only one special kit used in League One and that was Barnsley, who wore a “Red Out” shirt that was to support their “Together Red” campaign which was to help raise awareness Barnsley’s no-tolerance message of discrimination of any kind, ensuring Oakwell is a safe place for all.

Kit sustainability is a topic that has been raised a lot of the past season, so I wanted to call out the many teams in League One that used kits in the 2022/23 season that have been from the previous season… 8 teams re-used 11 kits in total for a second season

  • Accrington Stanley – Home, Away and 3rd kits were from last season!
  • Bolton Wanderers – 3rd Kit was last season’s away
  • Bristol Rovers – 3rd Kit was last season’s away
  • Exeter City – Away and 3rd kits were from last season
  • Forest Green Rovers – Home kit from last season
  • Port Vale – 3rd Kit was last season’s away
  • Sheffield Wednesday – 3rd kit was last season’s away
  • Wycombe Wanderers – 3rd kit was last season’s away

Two of these teams left it late to use their 3rd Kits, with Sheffield Wedsnesday using their’s in their penultimate league game and Wycombe Wanderers using theirs in the final game of the season both teams had only used Home and Away Kits up till that point!

Wycombe Wanderes were also part of one of my favourite “Kit Match Ups” of the season, when they played Bristol Rovers on 26th December 2022, giving us the unusual kit site of two quartered shirts playing against each other, and what a sight it was… perfectly balanced kits and works so well in humble opinion!

My final thought of 2022/23 League One season is with the Champions Plymouth Argyle… their away kit this season which pays homage to the kit worn when they played in Playoff Final at Wembley in 1996. This kit is my favourite kit in English football this season, its design, use of the club’s traditional colours and overall balance is a stand out kit from Puma, so my congratulations to The Pilgrims not only for the return to The Championship but doing it in the one of the best kits of the recent years… (please keep it for another year!!)

There we have it, League One’s End of Season Kit report for 2022/23, please let me know your favourite kit highlights from this division on the comments below or over at Twitter – @Kit_Geek

You can find other End of Season Reports below.

Premier League – 2022/23 End of Season Report

Championsip – 2022/23 End of Season Report

League Two – 2022/23 End of Season Report

The Heat Press – Issue 2

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Time for Issue Number 2 of The Heat Press, if you have not read Issue 1 you can find it here – The Heat Press – Issue 1

This will be regular look at what is going on within the Kit World and Kit Community.

The Headlines

  • The Kitsman Awards, The Winners
  • #NoHomeKit – Who took part?
  • Adidas Logo change?

The Kitsman Awards

On Thursday 23rd December, The Kitsman hosted the 2021 Kit Awards, I wanted to highlighted the winners of each section in case it was missed…

The categories…

Best Tweet – @CavershamUnited for this winning tweet “Alexa? What’s Sunday League Football”

Best Collection – @NorwichShirts

Knows their Kit – @museumofjerseys

Best Contributer – @LaCasacaBlog

Best Photography – @aleksandarjason

Best Charity Fundraiser – @fsfcUK

Best Concept Shirt Designer – @thekitfactor

Best Independent Store – @niclassicshirt

Best Mystery Shirt Box Company – @BundesligaBoxes

Best Video Content – @_Spark_Academy

Best Creative Content – @KitKingdom83

Best Artist – @yoniweisberg

Best Verified Account – @TyBracey

Best Audio / Podcast – @ShirtsPod

Best Twitter Account 2021 – @The_Kitsman

A huge congratulations to all the winners and the finalists in each award, I also want to thank Josh over at The Kitsman for pulling this all together, it brought a lot positivity to the Kit Community but also highlighted many great accounts that are out there in the “Twitter-sphere” at the moment, check out the Kitsman timeline to find some wonderful kit content!

Shelter’s No Home Kit

Although the traditional Boxing day fixtures were severly impacted by postponments due to the current COVID-19 situation in England, we did see a couple of teams embracing this initiative….

Oldham Athletic at home to Scunthorpe United

Tranmere Rovers at home to Barrow AFC

A Special call out to Dulwich Hamlet, who also had Shelter as their Sponsor on their away kit and are auctioning their shirts to raise money for the campaign.

Adidas to change logo?

It has been reported over the last week or so that Adidas will be changing their logo from late 2022, to coincide with 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The new logo will see a slight change in the alignment of the traditional 3 Stripes and the removal of the “adidas” word mark… with those Counties with their kits manufactured by Adidas participating in the World Cup being the first kits seen with the new logo.

Full details can be found over at Footy Headlines – Link to Article click here

And Finally….

Whats happening in the Kit Community.

I want to end each issue with some of the “going ons” within the Kit Community

The guys over at Kit Mag ran a knock competition to find their follower’s Kit of 2021, the winner was the Liverpool Away kit beating Venezia away in the final with 64% of the vote.

Andorra’s Ildefons Lima Solà gave away one of Match Worn shirts as part of a Christmas giveaway and added a nice touch by signing the number

This wonderful picture was shared by @TRiCKETTengland highlighting the kits worn on 1984/85 Serie A Season

Image

Let me know your thoughts and comments and if there is any content that you would like me to share in coming weeks, please message me and let me know the details or use the comments field below or contact me over on @Kit_Geek on Twitter

English Football – Kit Overview 2021/22

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As always I like to document the kits worn in a season by the clubs in the English top four leagues, we are still seeing some new kits (3rd Kits) being released over the past few weeks but now feels like the right time to look at the kits worn and their manufacturers.

Premier League

9 Different manufacturers with 60 Kits for 20 teams

  • Adidas – 4 Teams
  • Nike – 4 Teams
  • Umbro – 3 Teams
  • Castore – 2 Teams
  • Hummel – 2 Teams
  • Puma – 2 Teams
  • Joma – 1 Team
  • Kappa – 1 Team
  • Kelme – 1 Team

There has been an increase in the number of manufacturers supplying teams in the Premier League, from 7 last season to 9 this season. Adidas seeing a reduction a of their teams from 7 down to 4, Puma also seeing their kits being cut to 2 from 4. There are kit makers that we did not see in the “EPL” last season appearing in 21/22, these are Castore (Newcastle United and Wolverhamption Wanderers), Joma (Norwich City) and Kelme (Watford). Under Armour being the one manufacturer that we will not see this season as they step away from Football.

Championship

8 Different manufacturers with 68 Kits for 24 teams

  • Macron – 5 Teams
  • Umbro – 5 Teams
  • Puma – 4 Teams
  • Adidas – 3 Teams
  • Hummel – 3 Teams
  • Nike – 2 Teams
  • Errea – 1 Team
  • Joma – 1 Team

The Championship saw a reduction in the kit manufacturers in show this season, last season having 11, the three kit makers not seen are due to promotion and relegation, with Kelme (Watford), O’neills (Wycombe Wanderers) and Elev8 (Sheffield Wednesday – although no longer their kit provider). Macron joining Umbro in supplying the most teams, this looks like a direct link to Blackburn Rovers who swap the “Double Diamond” for the Italian Manufacturer this season.

League One

12 Different manufacturers with 63 Kits for 24 teams

  • Puma – 5 Teams
  • Errea – 3 Teams
  • Macron – 3 Teams
  • Adidas – 2 Teams
  • Nike – 2 Teams
  • Elite Pro Sports – 1 Team
  • FBT – 1 Team
  • Joma – 1 Team
  • O’neills – 1 Team
  • Tag – 1 Team
  • Umbro – 1 Team

In League One there was an increase the number of manufacturers for the 2021/22 from 11 to 12, we say goodbye to Admiral who no longer supply Shrewsbury Town but see Joma (Morecambe) and O’neills (Wycombe Wanderers) in League One this season. There are still 9 teams that do not have a 3rd Kit for this season, so we could see these introduced over the coming months.

League Two

12 Different manufacturers with 65 Kits for 24 teams

  • Errea – 5 Teams
  • Macron – 5 Teams
  • Hummel – 3 Teams
  • Joma – 2 Teams
  • New Balance – 2 Teams
  • Avec – 1 Team
  • Kappa – 1 Team
  • Mills – 1 Team
  • O’neills – 1 Team
  • Player Layer – 1 Team
  • Puma – 1 Team
  • Surridge – 1 Team

League Two also sees an increase in the number of kit manufacturers on show this season, increasing by two to 12 kit makers, with new boys on the block Mills (Tranmere Rovers) and O’neills (Hartlepool Town) being the additional manufacturers. League Two also provides the most single use kit makers, with seven manufacturers providing kits for just one team.

Overall view

20 Kit manufactuerers, 256 different kits for 92 teams

71 Teams (77% of all teams) are supplied by 7 Kit Manufacturers (Macron, Puma, Hummel, Errea, Adidas, Umbro, Nike).

Only 9 teams change kit manufactuer from 2019/20

  • Premier League: Newcastle United / Norwich City / Southampton / Wolverhampton Wanderers
  • Championship: Blackburn Rovers
  • League One: Morecambe / Sheffield Wednesday / Shrewsbury Town
  • League Two: Tranmere Rovers

The Two Season Kit Wonder

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On Wednesday 24th November 2021 Brentford FC announced that their home kit for their inaugural Premier League Season will also be rolled over for a second season and will be their home kit for 2022/23 Season.

This is unusual for top flight teams, the last time this was seen in the Premier League was between 2012 and 2014 when Arsenal used their Home kit for two season in a row but this is something more common place in League One and League Two.

So I wanted to share with you the kits that have been used in both 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons.

Arsenal’s Home Kit used for 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons

Premier League

There are two examples in this season’s Premier League of kits from last season being used for this season, both are third kits and one is yet to be used yet, these are the all white third kit from the team that kicked off this piece Brentford and the second team is Brighton & Hove Albion, who’s yellow away kit from last season is registred as their 3rd kit this season.

Championship

There are four examples in The Championship this season, all four of these are again as the Premier League teams being used as 3rd Kits in the 2021/22 season with two being 3rd kits last season and two being away kits.

Cardiff City – Last season’s away is this season’s 3rd Kit and the only kit of the four that appeared in The Championship last season, this has yet to be used this season.

Fulham – their yellow away from last season has been used this as the club’s 3rd kit.

Peterborough United – are using the same 3rd Kit in the 2020/21 Promotion winning season from League One in The Championship this season.

Sheffield United – The second team relegated from the 20/21 Premier League season are using their Green / Gold 3rd kit from last season as this season’s 3rd kit as well.

League One

League One is the first division where we see home kits being re-used for a second season, in total there are 10 kits that we have seen for two division.

Accrington Stanley – A big shout here for “Accy” who are using all three of their kits for second season…

AFC Wimbledon – Closely following Accrington Stanley’s lead, AFC Wimbledon are seeing their Home and Away used again this season.

Cheltenham Town – Promoted from League Two last season, they are also using their home shirts again this season, however pairing with black shorts for 21/22 campaign, it was used with white shorts last season.

Fleetwood Town – Their unique Hummel home kit design, gets its second season of use.

Wigan Athletic – The team retained their home kit for 21/22 League Campaign, the second in a row in their 3rd Tier.

Wycombe Wanderers – Another team relegated last season, Wycombe kept both their home and 3rd Kits from last season, both the classic quartered shirt look for The Chairboys.

League Two

There are another 10 kits being used again in League Two this season.

Bristol Rovers – They are using their away kit from last season as a 3rd Kit now.

Colchester United – The Essex team are using both their home and away kits from last again in 21/22, interestingly they used a different home kit in one of their final home games of last season as a “Fans Kit”

Crawley Town – Another team to repurpose their away kit from 2020/21 as their 3rd kit this season, with the all black giving a constraiting alternative to all red home and all blue away.

Exeter City – Exeter are another team that are pairing their shirt from last season with different colour pair of shorts, last season it was black, this season going for an red short / sock combo.

Forest Green Rovers – A club where sustainability is at its heart, have had their current 3rd kit in use for 3 seasons now, introducing it 2019/20 it has seen use in the each of those seasons (thanks to @achrislatham for pointing this one out to me).

Harrogate Town – In their second in the top four divisions, they are using their Away kit again, their 3rd kit this season also made an appearence last season in the delayed FA Trophy final from 2020.

Mansfield Town – their away kit is being used again this season.

Port Vale – Port Vale’s popular all black away kit (partially designed by Robbie Williams) is retained as this season’s 3rd kit.

Sutton United – In their first season in the top four divisions have retained the home and away kits from promotion winning season, they have also introduced a black 3rd kit that gives us all three kits from the same Macron Template for tidy uniform look.

Although not common practise for teams, this still gives us a total of 26 kits re-used in the 2021/22 season that were previously used last season, with Brentford’s annoucement today will this will see this number grow in the 2022/23 season, is Football Shirt Sustainability and increased shirt cycles the future, let me know your thoughts in the comments below or over at https://twitter.com/kit_geek