2009-10 Football Thread

[Jaffa Cake]

That's quite ugly - but never mind Rooney, I've seen worse shirts.

That shirt is apparently based on the one they wore 100 years ago when they won their first proper trophy, although that shirt had a white chevron rather than black. The chevron is a feature more commonly used in rugby league - and very, very rarely these days in English football at least - but I don't see this design as looking 'American' in the slightest. Unless of course you count the logo of the American kit maker who the supporters don't complain about, or the American company whose logo adorns it as sponsor.

Are chevrons used more commonly in US sports, then? I'm struggling to think of any examples...

 

[swiftaw]

That's quite ugly - but never mind Rooney, I've seen worse shirts.

That shirt is apparently based on the one they wore 100 years ago when they won their first proper trophy, although that shirt had a white chevron rather than black. The chevron is a feature more commonly used in rugby league - and very, very rarely these days in English football at least - but I don't see this design as looking 'American' in the slightest. Unless of course you count the logo of the American kit maker who the supporters don't complain about, or the American company whose logo adorns it as sponsor.

Are chevrons used more commonly in US sports, then? I'm struggling to think of any examples...

No, I don't think it is very american either, certainly rugby league though.

Interestingly historicalkits has no reference of a red shirt with a chevron, but they do have a white shirt with a red chevron (I wonder if that'll be their away kit this season, if so they'll look like my very own St Helens RLFC).

Chevrons are a bad idea on football jersey's, see Southampton 1993-1995.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Interestingly historicalkits has no reference of a red shirt with a chevron, but they do have a white shirt with a red chevron.

Hmm... it looks like you're right and I had the colours reversed. Mind, while it's a very good site Historical Kits isn't immune from the odd error.

I had a look elsewhere and retro shirt manufacturers TOFFS have a version of the 1909 shirt for sale – and it is indeed white with a red chevron.



Now, it seems that when this shirt was worn (in the 1909 FA Cup final) Manchester United were facing Bristol City, who themselves play in red, so this shirt was actually United's second choice shirt. It seems though that the Robins also wore their away strip, as they played this game in blue shirts.

I may be wrong, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that this wasn't an uncommon practice in those days when there was a clash – both teams would turn out in their second choice attire, especially if the game was being played on neutral ground.

This would also explain why Historical Kits doesn't show this particular Manchester United shirt, as they generally only record the home kit designs.

 

[swiftaw]

Following on from the Newcastle away kit discussion, it seems that hideous away jersey's are nothing new for the toon army. See this wonderful collection:

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Newcastle_United/Newcastle_United-change-kits.html

 

[Jaffa Cake]

My, there really are some beauties in there.

Just a final word on the Manchester United 1909 kit – I've been having a look on Historical Kits and they've got an FA Cup final section, recording what was worn in each particular final. 1909's entry confirms what we've been saying, and indicates the shirts worn on this particular occasion were special one-offs created for the Final, due to the clash of first choice attire...

Both teams changed from their usual red shirts for the game and for the occasion, they both sported badges. United's featured a Lancashire rose and City carried the Bristol coat-of-arms. This is the first time that clubs had special commemorative kits made for the FA Cup final.

So that's settled that, then.

 

[swiftaw]

My, there really are some beauties in there.

Just a final word on the Manchester United 1909 kit – I've been having a look on Historical Kits and they've got an FA Cup final section, recording what was worn in each particular final. 1909's entry confirms what we've been saying, and indicates the shirts worn on this particular occasion were special one-offs created for the Final, due to the clash of first choice attire...

Both teams changed from their usual red shirts for the game and for the occasion, they both sported badges. United's featured a Lancashire rose and City carried the Bristol coat-of-arms. This is the first time that clubs had special commemorative kits made for the FA Cup final.

So that's settled that, then.

Turns out I was right, that will be their new away kit:

Looks like this:

 

[Jaffa Cake]

The presence of a miserable, inconsolable Leeds team on that lower picture redeems it beyond any criticism.

EDIT: The new Manchester United kits have actually been launched today it seems, and the picture you posted above looks to be fake, or at least a discarded earlier version. The home shirt has a round black collar, thus...



...while the white shirt with red chevron is indeed part of the line up – although it isn't a change shirt, it's actually the goalkeeper's top.

 

[Silencio]

Mexico's national team's kit had a chevron a few years back and I thought it looked fine.

Not a fan of Man Utd's new kit. The chevron is just needless visual busy-making. I liked the simplicity of the old kits, personally. However, there are far worse kits out there for 09-10: Everton's dickie is far worse than Man Utd's chevron.

 

[oscillatewildly]

Don't mind a bit of busy, my favourite white shirt is the mid/late 1970s Admiral with three stripes, although mines a tad small for me now.

New shirts - first thoughts are that I prefer the thinner chevron and neck of the older shirts.

Cheers,
OW

 

[NathanCH]

What the heck is wrong with kit designers this year?

 

[swiftaw]

...while the white shirt with red chevron is indeed part of the line up – although it isn't a change shirt, it's actually the goalkeeper's top.

Hmm, going to be interesting if the other team is wearing white, could get confusing in the box.

 

[OllyW]

Don't mind a bit of busy, my favourite white shirt is the mid/late 1970s Admiral with three stripes, although mines a tad small for me now.

I loved that away strip, so much that I even painted a Subbuteo team in those colours.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Subbuteo is ace.

Meanwhile, England are through to the final of the Under-21 European Championships on penalties after blowing a half-time 3-0 lead. Have we taught our young footballers nothing, we're supposed to be knocked out on penalties. Bloody kids.

 

[DiamondMac]

Don't really like the United kits.

V is just too weird and off for my taste

 

[Nieval]

The Man Utd kits would be alright with the black shorts, the white ones just seem off.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Some news that I'd missed, but that has filled me with good cheer – useless referee Mr M Riley (West Yorkshire) has retired. Hurrah! Never again will he spoil our matches with his reckless card waving and big club adoration.

However, the flip side to this particular coin is that, come January, he's replacing Keith Hackett as general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials, giving him scope to be even more useless but on a wider scale. God help us all.

 

[oscillatewildly]

OllyW - , did you paint their hair?

England U21 - nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. No Agbonlahor or Campbell, and possibly no Hart - how daft was that? To beat Germany on penalties ...

Cheers,
OW

 

[Jaffa Cake]

To beat Germany on penalties ...

I've heard that Pearce has been somewhat more fastidious in his penalty preparations than most English managers, who generally do nothing more than ask "Who fancies taking one, then?" once the whistle for full time is blown.

Apparently, he's had them practising spot kicks in every training session for the past two years, and the results have been carefully recorded – the number successfully converted, the part of the goal usually aimed for, and so forth. This has basically given him statistics on how likely each player is to convert, and he literally has a list 1-23 of his entire squad dictating the order they'll take them. This is the reason why, despite 'keepers generally going last, Joe Hart stepped up to take the second kick against the Swedes – statistically he's shown himself to be the squads second best penalty taker.

The appliance of science.

 

[oscillatewildly]

The whole 'You can't practice penalties' thing annoys the H out of me. The more natural a task becomes, the more instinctive it becomes. Sure you can't create the crowd and tension, but casually knocking a few during training versus being well practiced and able to take a good penalty without really thinking - no contest. Why bother putting pilots through emergency training?

Cheers,
OW

 

[OllyW]

OllyW - , did you paint their hair?

Not guilty.

If I remember correctly, it was a Leeds team that I got for nothing from the toy shop where I had my Saturday job because it had some broken players.

I sold it on eBay a few years ago for £12.50.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Well, the Confederations Cup Final isn't too far away now – I'm hoping for a USAian win, personally. That'll show those fancy Dan Brazilians.

 

[jecapaga]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16)

Watching from a local bar/restaurant. Up 2-0. Looks a bit like ants chasing an aspirin I must say but I'll keep watching

 

[jecapaga]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16)

Scratch that. Brasil just scored.

 

[DiamondMac]

What the hell happened to the USA D in the 2nd half?

I just told my father how the holes were being plugged perfectly in the 1st half.

Seems all holes have been opened now with Brazil getting 2nd/3rd chances almost every time near goal

 

[Jaffa Cake]

The US can count themselves very fortunate – the ball certainly looked to have crossed the line from Kaka's header.