Kit Geek – Page 25 – Football Kit Geek

Premier League – Kit Grid catch up (MD 14 to 17)

Dec 21, 2018Dec 21, 2018Posted in Premier League Kit LogTagged Football, Football Kits, Kit Geek, Kit Log, Kits, Premier League1 Comment

As many of you already know, I enjoy documenting the kits worn in Premier League and look at who wears what against whom, from this I developed my Kit Grid, which takes the Home and Away format that is often seen with match results but as a Kit Geek, I took that one step further.

See my initial post about this here – Premier League – Kit Grid, Match Day 13

As well as updating the Kit Log and sharing via Twitter, @Kit_Geek I wanted to also share the recent Match Day Updates here as well.

Match Day 14

Match Day 15

Match Day 16

Match Day 17

I will continue to update the Kit Grid and share via Twitter but let me know you thoughts about this, I am looking to also create something similar for the Championship, so watch this space.

Real Madrid, 20 years of Adidas

Dec 20, 2018Nov 29, 2021Posted in General, Kit HistoryTagged Adidas, Football, Football Kits, Kit Geek, Kit Log, Kits, Real MadridLeave a comment

The 2018/19 season sees the 20 year partnership between one of the biggest clubs in the world with one of the biggest brands in the world, Real Madrid and Adidas.

I thought I would take a little time to look back over the kits worn through these two decades and some kit highlights.

Adidas became Real Madrid’s kit manufacturer in 1998 taking over from Spanish kit maker Kelme and last month signed the largest Kit Deal seen in the sport with a reported €1.1 Billion (£950 Million) 10 year deal extending their partnership to 30 years.

The Kit Overview

Looking at the home kits, considering Real Madrid never deviate from their traditional all white kits, it is surprising how many changes there have been to the home kit through each season, only in the 1998/99 and 1999/2000 seasons was a kit used for more than one season.

Over the years the famous all white has been trimmed with Black (the most frequently used), Shades of Grey, Yellow, Navy Blue, Royal Blue, Orange, Pink and Aqua / Turquoise, always given us that slight variation from the season before.

However, given the tradition used with the Home Kit, the away kit is different “ball game” altogether. Real Madrid are team that often turn to away kits when playing away from the Santiago Bernabeu, they will always wear away kits when there are clashes of white shorts / socks, think European games at Manchester United for examples.

In the first few years of the Adidas relationship there were very traditional Real Madrid away colours used, Navy Blue, Purple, Black all playing a prominent part of alternative colours in away and 3rd kits.

There was a change in 2007/08 season, the home was highlighted with purple for the first time in this Adidas Era (previous Adidas kits in 80s, Hummel and Kelme had all used purple elements in their home kits), looking at the alternative kits of that season the away was Navy trimmed with Gold and 3rd was a charcoal grey trimmed with neon green.

The next few seasons saw a return to navy, blue, black and purple rotation of away and 3rd kits. In the 2011/12 season saw a new colour introduced by Adidas in the Real Madrid colour palette, red….

In a kit that took inspiration from one worn in the early 1970’s and was a real change from the norm and the start of run of different colours used in Madrid’s alternative kits which with have also seen this season with another red 3rd kit being used.

2011/12 – Red 3rd kit
2012/13 – Green 3rd kit
2013/14 – Orange 3rd kit
2014/15 – Pink Away kit
2015/16 – Two-tone Grey (with Neon highlights) Away kit
2017/18 – Aqua/Turquoise 3rd kit
2018/19 – Two-tone red 3rd kit

In the 2017/18, there was a running theme of aqua used in all three kits, with both home and away kits having aqua highlights on shirt, shorts and socks, the 3rd kit being a Aqua / Turquoise kits (mentioned above).

It seems there has been a shift in the kits created by Adidas and looks like we now always see the traditional all white home kit and then one of the traditional away palette colours (Navy, Black, Blue, Purple) used for one of the alternative kits and the other will be something completely different…. yellow, neon green… who knows what the future holds here.

My 5 favourite Real Madrid Kits

Home kit, 2009/10

I do have this shirt in my collection, all the way from Bernabeu Stadium itself (my shirt below), I really like this shirt, nice collar, subtle yellow trim, it just all works for me.

Home Kit, 2012/13

A simple but classic kit for me, the navy and light blue trim complements the kit perfectly, there is also a shadow pinstripe on the shirt as well.

3rd Kit, 2003/04

The third kit used in the 2003/04 season (David Beckham’s first season with the club) is one of my favourite alternative kits used, the blue/grey shirt, black short and socks, all trimmed with sky blue and gold, just a pleasing kit all round.

Home Kit, 2014/15

This home kit was trimmed with pink and black across shirts, shorts and socks, there was also an additional pink stripe across the back of the shirt above the players name (we can just see it on the above image), another shirt with a shadow pattern, close examination and it is very similar to the pattern used on several Adidas shirts this season.

3rd Kit 2001/02

A kit that I am not sure was ever seen in action, as I can only find digital (Pro Evo) and pictures like the above but this kit from 2001/02 season was one that combined some of the “go to” colours for alternative shirts but the combination of kit, especially with the black socks really works for me.

Please let me know you thoughts of Real Madrid’s Adidas kits over this 20 year period, use the comments below or contact me on Twitter, @Kit_Geek

Champions League, Kit Log – Group Stages

Dec 18, 2018Dec 18, 2018Posted in GeneralTagged Champions League, Football, Football Kits, Kit Geek, Kit Log, Kits, UEFA4 Comments

After six match weeks, 96 games and we have now seen the end of the Group Stages of 2018/19 Champions League, so it is time for me to look back at what was worn by the 32 teams taking part.

Group A:

Group A saw relatively few kit clashes (yes, that does not normally stop teams from changing their kits, more on that later), with Club Brugge the only team to wear their three kits (3rd at Monaco and away at Borussia Dortmund). Dortmund remained in their “Champions League” home kit for all six games but did wear the alternative black shorts for four of these games. Another variation in kit was the light blue shorts worn by Atletico Madrid away at Borussia Dortmund.

Group B

In Group B we 10 of the possible 12 kits won through the Six Match Days, with Barcelona and PSV Eindhoven wearing all three of their kits. Tottenham Hotspur, as is their tradition went with an all white strip, however with their current home shirt have a gradient of navy in the lower half of the shirt was a little jarring in its appearance. Nike dominating this group, so some of the bespoke 3rd kits on show, both Barcelona and Tottenham have elements of their home cities in their shirt and Inter Milan have a graphic of the cross taken from the flag of Milan and seen used in past Inter kits. The stand out in the group for me was PSV, the kits produced by Umbro for the team this are some of the best, in particular the navy blue 3rd kit worn at Tottenham Hotspur.

Group C

Group C, well we have to start with Paris St. Germain, whose Nike Air Jordan shirts became the go to choice of shirt for the team in the Champions League this season, wearing Black in 5 out of the 6 game and white in the other (home against Liverpool), one word Marketing…. moving on, Napoli were another team that had special “Champions League” kit, very similar to their domestic kit but highlighted with neon yellow trim, the all blue version worn in the first game against Red Star Belgrade was a particular highlight (literally) for me. Red Star the only team in the group to wear all three of their kits. Liverpool only changed to their vibrant purple away kit in the game at Red Star and “forced” PSG to wear their white Air Jordan kit but refusing to change from their Home kit, a clash that caused no problem in the previous fixture at Anfield.

Group D

Looking at Group D, another Group which saw 10 out of the possible 12 kits used, with Schalke and Porto using all three kits. Another great set of Umbro kits for Schalke here, the third kit being a favourite of mine, a full green kit was worn against Porto. Galatasary could have potential worn their home kit for all six games, however wore their 3rd kit in their final home game against Porto wearing their 3rd kit (were both teams could have worn home kits with no clash, as happened in the reverse fixture).

Group E

Group E was one of the groups that saw minimal changes in each team, AEK Athens wore their home kit for all six games, Benfica for 5 games, Bayern for 4 games and Ajax for 3. A group wear Adidas supplying three of the teams in this group, saw a couple of the templates used in 2018/19 season, the Ajax away being one of the best looking kits in that style on show this season matched with black shorts, rather then gold used domestically.

Group F

In Group F, the orange group, with each team using orange as part of their kit through out the group stage. Olympic Lyon taking to the field in another one of the best versions of that Adidas template. Manchester City’s home kit, again showing what a difference socks make to a kit, the navy socks really making the kit stand out especially when compared to the white socks (worn away at Shakhtar Donetsk).

Group G

Group G was another group that saw minimal change in the kits used, with only 7 of the possible 12 kits used. Holders Real Madrid wore their famous all white home kit in all games, with the other three teams only needing to use change kits twice in their six games. Group G was also one of the groups that had four different kit manufactures from the four team represented (Group C and Group D being the others).

Group H

Finally Group H, another group which sees three of the teams kits being manufactured by Adidas. This group saw the least amount of changes, with each team wearing their home shirt for 5 out 6 games. Manchester United who traditionally wear white shorts and socks with their home shirt in European games but like Tottenham do have a shirt that gradients in colour this season, looked to also stick to their tradition in the first game of the group, wearing Red/White/White combo against Young Boys but for the rest of the group return the Red/Black/Red kit they have been using this season (apart from final game at Valencia where white socks were worn).

Kit Data

Looking at some of the data of kits worn, we can see the following.

Home Kits – 73% (67% Full Home, 6% variation)
Away Kits – 14% (12% Full Away, 2% variation)
3rd Kits – 13% (10% Full 3rd, 3% variation)

Manufacturers in Champions League

Nike – 12
Adidas – 7
Umbro – 3
Macron – 2
New Balance – 2
Puma – 2
Capelli – 1
Kappa – 1
Lotto – 1
Under Armour – 1

Match Week breakdown, who wore what against whom

Match Week 1

Match Week 2

Match Week 3

Match Week 4

Match Week 5

Match Week 6

I’ll end the post by sharing with you my favourite kit worn so far in 2018/19 Champions League. It is PSV Eindhoven’s 3rd kit worn at Wembley against Tottenham in Match Week 4.

Let me know your kit highlights from Champions League in the comments or via Twitter @Kit_Geek

Premier League – Kit Grid, Match Day 13

Nov 27, 2018Posted in Premier League Kit LogTagged England, EPL, Football, Football Kits, Kit Geek, Kit Log, Kits, Premier League1 Comment

I am always keen to find new ways to document what kits have been worn.

This is based on the Home / Away grid sometimes used for match results, it fits my basic kit illustrations well, which helps……

Home Team is vertical axis and then reads across, the away team on the horizontal axis and read down.

Therefore you can see AFC Bournemouth v Arsenal from Sunday 25th November as the game on the top left hand corner (well below the blanked out fixture) and West Ham United v Wolverhampton Wanderers from 1st September on bottom right (this time above the blacked out fixture).

This is up to Match Day 13, I will continue to document the Kits worn in the Premier League in my usual ways but will also update this version weekly for that overall snapshot.

As this may be a little small to read, check out my tweet below for larger image.

#PremierLeague Kit Grid after Match Day 13. pic.twitter.com/SaUOuyjf4U

— Football Kit Geek (@kit_geek) November 27, 2018

Please let me know what you think, I have already made some changes based on the feedback received when I started to develop this.

Cup Winners’ Cup Finals (1961 – 1999)

Nov 22, 2018Dec 10, 2024Posted in GeneralTagged Cup Winners Cup, CWC, Europe, Football, Football Kits, Kit Geek, Kit Log, Kits, UEFALeave a comment

This is probably a post for those people over the age of 30 or those football fans who like their history, as the wonder that is Cup Winners’ Cup was a European Cup competition that was held for the last time 20 years ago this season.

The competition was first contested in the 1960/61 season and was a club competition for the domestic cup winners across Europe to compete in a straight knock out competition, with ties played over two legs. In the early years of the competition this played over four round (1st Round, Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and Final) and later years saw an introduction of 2nd Round as well, so has always been a smaller European Competition compared to the two we see today.

From 1972, The winners of the CWC would then play the winners of the European Cup in the European Super Cup, this would be the case until the end of the competition in 1999, where the Domestic Cup winners were entered into the UEFA Cup (Europa League).

Here we are looking at the finalists and what they wore in that final, all of the finals (apart from the first Final between Glasgow Rangers and Fiorentina) was played as a single game at a neutral venue.

Breaking down the winners, this was a competition that provided and variety of Winners from a number of countries with some Clubs we would come to expect to see wining European Competitions and some that you would not and also those that no longer exist in the form that they won the competition in.

8, England (Chelsea x2, Arsenal, West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Manchester United, Everton)
7, Spain (Barcelona x4, Atletico Madrid, Valencia, Real Zaragoza)
7, Italy (AC Milan x2, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Parma, Juventus, Lazio)
4, West Germany / Germany (Hamburg, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen)
3, Belgium (Anderlecht x2, Mechelen)
3, Soviet Union (Dynamo Kyiv x2, Dinamo Tbilisi)
2, Scotland (Glasgow Rangers, Aberdeen)
1, East Germany (FC Magdeburg)
1, France (Paris Saint-Germain)
1, Netherlands (Ajax Amsterdam)
1, Portugal (Sporting Clube de Portugal)
1, Czechoslovakia (Slovan Bratislava)

Kit highlights:

As always, I want to take a little bit of time here to look at some kit highlights in these finals:

Anderlecht v West Ham United – 1976

The 1976 final between Anderlecht and West Ham United, Admiral had begun their kit revolution and this design worn by West Ham was one their classic kits and with the white / purple combination of Anderlecht made from a kit show in this final.

Hamburg SV – 1977:

Hamburg in Pink, but its not just about the pink shirt, navy Shorts and blue socks. A combination on paper that should not work but in reality for me, looks fantastic… flappy collar, Adidas stripes…. a beautiful kit, top to bottom.

Juventus – 1984

Juventus, always famous for their black and white stripes but also for me this striking away kit, yellow and blue, again the collar just works with this kit but a classic combo for Juventus away colours that is a regular in the away kit portfolio for Italian Giants.

Barcelona v Sampdoria – 1989:

Another final, where both kits just work together… here at a time where is common place for both clubs to wear their away kits, both of these are classic kits of time. A sky blue Barcelona kit, with single red/blue stripes off centre and the Sampdoria kit a similar off centre stripe with their famous red/white/blue colours shifting to this position. What is not love here with these two kits.

Barcelona v PSG – 1997

Another final where the kits complement each other, both teams in their away kit of the time, Barcelona wearing their Kappa kit, which has a lot going on, flashes for red and blue within the Jade / Aqua base colour and PSG in their classic white away kit, broad red centre stripe highlighted with Navy blue.

What are thoughts of The Cup Winners’ Cup and the kits worn at the final, let me know on Twitter (@Kit_Geek) or in the comments below.

EFL – Championship, Kit Log

Nov 7, 2018Nov 7, 2018Posted in EFLTagged EFL, Football, Football Kits, Kit Geek, Kit Log, KitsLeave a comment

The Championship, one of the most competitive leagues in the World with teams chasing the prize and riches of the Premier League, with 19 of the 24 teams already playing in the Top Flight since the Premier League was launched in 1992.

The League is now a third of the way through the season with teams last weekend playing their 16th games of the season – games being played on 2nd / 3rd / 4th November 2018, so I though it was a good time to take a more detailed look at the kits worn so far this season.

With the 24 teams in The Championship, we have a total of 61 kits available with 11 teams only having the two kits (currently).

Aston Villa have one of the most intriguing kits of season, not produced by one of the larger or even second tier manufactures but by local fashion designer and supporter “Luke 1977”. The Villains Home and Away kits are wonderfully interchangeable and this has seen with four variations of home kit worn this season so far and two variations of away and we are yet to see the 3rd kit used, which being navy could also be combined with home and away kits if needed.

Teams currently only having two registered kits so far:

Birmingham City
Blackburn Rovers
Brentford
Ipswich Town
Leeds United
Queen’s Park Rangers
Reading
Sheffield United
Sheffield Wednesday
Stoke City
Wigan Athletic

West Bromwich Albion’s Home and 3rd kits are for some classic designs, influenced by the kits of the early 80s, the design and colours used are fantastic.

Within The Championship we are seeing a wide selection of colours from across the colour palette… in fact we can even produce a “Championship Rainbow”!!!

And that is not mentioning the Brown (Brentford Away) and varying shades of Grey (Reading Away, Millwall Away), Black (West Bromwich Albion Away) and Pink (Queen’s Park Rangers).

Kits yet to be seen this season:

Aston Villa 3rd Kit
Bristol City Away
Norwich City Away

Kit highlights:

There a few kits that I want to call out, well just because I like them…

Bolton Wanderers Home kit, I really like this kit from Macron…. I think its because it reminds me of the 1986 England Home kit from Umbro.

Queen’s Park Rangers Away Kit, this Pink kit from Errea, with its subtle hoops to fit into QPR’s traditional kit scheme works really well for me, combined with navy shorts and navy detailing, the whole package looks great.

Bristol City 3rd kit…. the classic Bristol City Purple and Lime Green should always be given time to shine, what a kit!

West Bromwich Away, I have already mentioned this kit above but still worth mentioning again and seeing in all its glory.

What are you kit highlights from The Championship, let me know here or on Twitter and please feel free to share this post to any like minded kit enthusiasts.

Premier League, Kit Log – Match Day 11

Nov 6, 2018Nov 7, 2018Posted in Premier League Kit LogTagged England, EPL, Football, Football Kits, Kit Geek, Kit Log, Kits1 Comment

The 2018/19 Premier League season is in full swing, we are seeing records being broken at the top (and bottom) of the league but that’s not why we are here, we want to look at the kits, what teams have worn and some stats / details around what they are wearing.

Overview:

Here we have the snapshot of what each team has worn through each “Match Day”:

In the total of 220 kits worn (110 games) so far this season, we have seen the following:

Home Kits worn – 73% (66% full Home, 7% variations)
Away Kits worn – 18 % (12% full Away, 6% variations)
3rd Kits worn – 8% (7% full 3rd, 1% variations)
4th Kits worn – 1% (0.5% full 4th, 0.5% variation – thank you Fulham)

Variations:

Kits are more than just about being Home, Away and Third (and 4th Kits…..Fulham)…, it is also about the variations that worn within these kits and those of you that have read my previous posts and follow me on Twitter will know this part of the Kit “Geekdom” that I really enjoy.

Looking at the variations worn so far this season (11 games):

7 Variations:

Fulham, who fast becoming this simple Kit Geek’s favourite team in Premier League so far this season, what will they wear next… all navy, or White/White/Black home kit combo.

6 Variations:

Burnley, who thanks to wearing three variations of their away kit are now up to 6 variations.

5 Variations:

Manchester City and West Ham United.

Man City, with combinations in both their Home and Away kits, also by wearing a variation of their 3rd kit, so we may see a 6th variation at some point in the season.

West Ham, always one to use a variation of each of their kits, here we may see a fourth variation of their home kit if they go for a white short, blue sock combo.

4 Variations:

We have seen several teams that used four variations of kit.

Arsenal
Cardiff City
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Huddersfield Town
Manchester United

3 Variations:

AFC Bournemouth
Brighton and Hove Albion
Liverpool – (the only team to have used three different kits, no variations so far)
Newcastle United
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur

2 Variations:

Leicester City – wearing their home kit for 10 games and those being the first 10 games of the season
Watford (only have two registered kits at the moment)
Wolverhampton Wanderers (only have two registered kits at the moment)

Points per kit:

Another area I like to look at is the points won wearing certain kits, to keep this simple and not over confuse with the variations used, I have combined variations of kits, so below you will see Home and Away kit League tables based on points per game when the Home and Away kits were worn, there is also a 3rd kit league, this also includes…. yes, you guessed it Fulham’s 4th Kit appearances.

Home Kit League:

Manchester City not surprisingly are sitting top of the Home Kit League, with a maximum of 3.00 points per game for the 7 games they have worn their home kit (and its variation)

The only surprise looking here, would be Watford, who sitting in joint 5th Place with 1.88 points per game.

Away Kit League:

Arsenal and Leicester City top the Away kit League, however there 100% record from just one game is the main reason for this.

Manchester United and AFC Bournemouth are both performing well in the away kits this season, with 2.25 and 2.00 points per game, interestingly (well maybe just for me)

Manchester United have yet to wear their registered away kit season (Pink Shirts, Black Short, Pink Socks), however have worn a variation of Pink/White/Pink and Pink/Black/Black in its four appearances so far.

3rd (and 4th) Kit League:

We have three teams with 100% records in the 3rd (4th) Kit League, Tottenham Hotspur winning all three of the games when they have worn their 3rd kit this season. Burnley’s white third kit’s only outing has also resulted in a win for them.

Several teams are yet to wear a 3rd kit this season, with Watford and Wolverhampton Wanderers currently only having two kits registered, something that will be unlikely to change as we move through the season.

Unseen 2018/19 kits:

Looking at these stats it shows a number of kits that are yet to be used this season in the Premier League (however some have made appearances in the League Cup), these kits are:

Newcastle United Away (one that I am looking forward seeing in action)
Tottenham Hotspur Away
AFC Bournemouth 3rd Kit
Brighton and Hove Albion 3rd Kit (last season’s yellow away)
Leicester City 3rd Kit
Manchester United Away (this is surprising giving the marketing giant that is MUFC)
Southampton 3rd Kit

and

Fulham 5th kit…. go on, you know you want to!!

So that’s it, a view and some stats on kits, let me know what you think and what your favourite kits of the 2018/19 Premier League season have been so far.

My favourite, at this moment a variation of Huddersfield Town’s home kit, worn with Black socks, a simple but classic look.

Journeyman Series #2 – Peter Beardsley

Oct 5, 2018Oct 5, 2018Posted in Journeyman SeriesTagged Beardsley, England, Football, Kit Geek, Kits, Liverpool, NewcastleLeave a comment

The Journeyman Series returns, taking some time to look at one player and some of the kits worn through-out their Journeyman career.

Journeyman Series #2 – Peter Beardsley

Peter Beardsley is a name that you would not automatically think of as a Journeyman Player but a closer look at his career shows he played for 11 different clubs between 1979 and 1999 (this involved two spells at two different clubs) across three different Continents.

Whilst being a player that will often be thought of for his playing days at Newcastle United, Beardsley is one of the rare players that has played for both Liverpool and Everton, as well as both Manchester United and Manchester City.

Added to the spells with Newcastle between 1983/87 and 1993/97, Beardsley also had two spells at NASL’s Canadian Team Vancouver Whitecaps, firstly in 1982 and returning in 1983 after his short, often forgotten spell at Manchester United.

As well a club career that spanned 20 years, Beardsley also represented England at Senior and “B” level, winning 59 caps and scoring 9 goals across 10 years including playing key roles in Mexico 86 and Italia 90 World Cups.

A selection of kits worn by Peter Beardsley for the teams he represented.

* on loan from Parent Club

Some kit highlights:

Vancouver Whitecaps, 1982

NASL, what a time for a Kit Geek.

This in terms of NASL kits was a fairly conservative offering by Vancouver Whitecaps, there was also an “2nd” kit which was this kit with the colours reversed also worn by Beardsley during his two spells at the club.

Newcastle United, 1996

One of the classic kits of the 1990’s, the first kit produced by Adidas for Newcastle United was simple but very effective and one where the sponsor also just worked perfectly with the kit, coupled with a unique away kit (which is what the 2018/19 Newcastle United away kit also based on).

Manchester City, 1998

For me this kit falls under the bracket of “Kit Perfection”, a truly wonderful Manchester City kit created by Kappa (remember it was the late 90’s, the perfect storm of Oasis, Manchester City, Kappa), although this was not a successful time on the pitch for the club, they will certainly be remembered for this beauty (and its sister away kit of navy and fluorescent yellow stripes – another kit which influences the club’s 2018/19 season’s away kit).

Liverpool, 1989

At the time the biggest club in country, Liverpool took to the field in one of their classic kits, the late 80’s is where football kits seemed to shift to another level in terms of design, this Liverpool kit is one that will never be forgotten and again another kit that pair with its “Silver/Grey” away kit is a favourite for Kit Lovers and Liverpool fans alike.

England, World Cup 1986

Finally, Peter Beardsley wearing one of my favourite England kits, the 1986 World Cup version of the home kit produced by Umbro, this was slightly different from the Umbro produced kit worn between 1984/87 to help combat the Mexican heat but all in all a great kit worn Beardsley at the start of his England career.

There are several other kits worn by Peter Beardsley that deserve an honorary mention, at Newcastle United, any of the silver Umbro kits, the Asics home and away kits of the 1993/94 season, the Everton kit (NEC sponsored) kit of the early 90’s to name just a few.

What are your Kit highlights for Peter Beardsley over his career?

If you have a Journeyman that you would like to see featured in this series, then please let me know.

Premier League, Match Day 5 – Kit Review

Sep 17, 2018Posted in Premier League Kit LogTagged Crystal Palace, EPL, Football, Fulham, Kit Geek, Kits, Manchester United, Premier LeagueLeave a comment

The Premier League is now in full flow, the recent weekend (15th – 17th September) or known as “Match Day 5” in some corners has now been and gone with no great surprises in terms of results but did give us some interesting talking points in terms of kits, so lets dive in and have look at some of the kit talking points in more detail.

Fulham – 4th Kit of the season

There is only one place to start and that is Fulham who wore their 4th different kit of the season and in fact it has been 4 kits in 4 games, quite possibly a record within the Premier League era.

This run of kits started with the introduction of a red third kit in the game against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium on 18th August 2018. This kit was no surprise giving that a change was needed with Fulham’s home and away kits not providing a contrast to Tottenham’s current home kit. This was not a new kit but last season’s third kit, updated with this season’s shirt sponsor.

In the next game, Fulham’s home game against Burnley played on 26th August 2018 there was no surprise that they would play in their traditional White shirts / Black shorts / White socks combination.

The next game, away at Brighton and Hove Albion on 1st September 2018 is the one that took the our little kit world by surprise, again as with the game against Spurs, Fulham’s home and away kits would potentially cause a clash with the blue and white stripes worn by Brighton but assumption would be that the red 3rd kit would then make an appearance providing an adequate alternative, however in this game they wore last season’s black away shirt with this season’s home shorts and socks, providing them with a 4th kit for the 2018/19 season.

This brings us to this past week (15th September 2018), where Fulham away at Champions Manchester City would see the first appearance of their new navy blue away kit, however the full away kit was not worn it was paired with what appears to be the home socks, the registered socks with their away kit this season are also navy blue.

I am unaware of a reason behind the choice of kits, particularly in the Brighton game but it creates good conversation and debate around this and football kits, for me a simple Kit Geek this is indeed a wonderful thing.

Crystal Palace – New 3rd Kit

As expected when Crystal Palace visited Huddersfield Town this season we would need to see an alternative to their Home and Away kits, this was launched at the weekend with a fantastic all yellow kit, with a faded red / blue stripe running down the centre of the shirt.

With the additional of this kit, I believe Crystal Palace have one of the best set of kits in the Premier League this season.

Away kit variations

Another area of the world of kits that I enjoy is those variations within a team’s kit, different shorts and socks worn with each kit. This weekend we saw six different variations for team’s kits, West Ham United and Arsenal wore variations of their home kits. Fulham (which we have already discussed), Manchester United, Cardiff City and Brighton & Hove Albion all wore variations of their away kits.

West Ham’s home kit combined with sky blue shorts and socks, is one that really works for me and a variation that I like to see on the pitch.

Manchester United wore their pink away kit for the second time game in a row and for the second time varied from the Pink – Black – Pink combination, this time surprisingly wearing white shorts with the Pink shirts and socks. I was surprised that when moving from the registered black shorts that they did use pink shorts as an alternative but the white seemed to work okay as a contrast.

Plenty of discussion points from this week’s Premier League fixtures in terms of Kits, let me know your thoughts on this.

Premier League, Kit Log – Match Day 2

Aug 22, 2018Aug 22, 2018Posted in Premier League Kit LogTagged EPL, Football, Football Kits, Kit Geek, Kit Log, Kits, Premier LeagueLeave a comment

We are now two games into the 2018/19 Premier League Season and based on what happened in the World Cup with the number of Countries using there both Home and Away in the opening games (World Cup Kit Log, Group Stage Round 2), I thought it would be a good time to look at the kits worn this season so far.

The Kit Log….

Surprisingly (well maybe just for me) we have seen 30 home kits worn out of a possible 40 kits from the first 20 games and of these 30 kits, 29 have been the full home kit with no variation, the only team to wear a variation of their home kit… Arsenal wore red socks when playing Chelsea on 18th August.

Kit Breakdown after Match Day 2:

Home – 75% (29 Full kits, 1 Variation – Arsenal)

Away – 12.5% (4 Full kits, 1 Variation – Burnley)

3rd – 12.5% (5 Full kits)

As we approach Match Day 3, there are 10 teams that have worn two different kits so far, will any of these make it 3 kits in 3 games…. West Ham United are likely to based on their fixture away at Arsenal and having not used their blue away kit yet.

Overall my initial feelings of the kits on show have been great, I always prefer to see a kit in action before passing any judgement but 2018/19 feels like a good season…. and my favourite kit so far…. Manchester City Away, worn against Arsenal on 12th August.