As I do most seasons, here’s an opinion piece on how our lads & girls will look in the coming season; whether you’re bothered about the subject matter or not.
Hey, why not?
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As is often the case with this blog posting, the release date does appear quite late. However, not only do I choose to wait until all-3 kits are released but other, more important and often long pieces take priority at this time of year, such as last season’s player ratings, last season’s predictions results; this season’s predictions as well as pre-match blog postings for the start of our season.
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Some fans simply can’t WAIT for the new gear to come out; some even just buy it regardless of what the kits look like and often get a shirt within minutes of the official first day of sale.
Others wait & see what they look like and make decisions accordingly…while some fans just couldn’t care less – for them it’s more about who wears the kit rather than what it looks like and that’s fair enough too.
*Over the years, particularly in my younger days, I have bought loads of tops. So many, in fact, that I once donated a dozen or more old tops to one of City’s overseas charities. However, even then I only ever mostly bought one when I felt that it represented our club / traditions and / or was significantly different, design wise, from the previous one (there were periods in the 90s & 00s where the club appeared to get a bit lazy to me and produced home tops / kits with very little change from the previous season).*
That’s where I most-definitely stand now – they have to ‘look Manchester City’ for me…although I buy far, FAR less than I use to regardless of their appearance, I have to say; with price being the main ‘driving factor’. Absolutely crazy prices!
The home kit
A sash on the home kit?! Yeah, why not I say.
Those who know me well understand that I’m quite fond of a sash on a football shirt. 😊 A few South American club sides have ‘em and, of course if you didn’t know, we’ve had a fair few on our second or third kits over the years.
I think I’m correct in saying that we started adorning our away white tops with a black and red sash back in the 1970s; Malcolm Allison, I understand, had a big say in starting this tradition at our club and it was a decision that took some time for a lot of City fans to warm to.
Having been well established by the time I started taking serious notice of our football team and club in the mid-to-late-70s, I’ve always liked it. The most notable one is, of course, the black and red sash on a white shirt but we’ve had a red and white sash on a royal blue top in the 70s and, hideously in more recent times, an orange sash on a purple top. WTaF?!
But on a home top? Well, I just can’t fault it and I love it.
As for the shorts, they had to go an’ spoil, for me, the look of the whole kit with another one of those bands across the back. Last season we had a navy blue band at the top-of-the-back-of-the-thigh area. This time, at least, it’s sky blue but still it’s there; closer to the waste on this occasion.
And…slight niggle number-2: They just couldn’t resist sticking a bit of navy blue in somewhere, could they?
If you read last season’s piece you might recall that I’m not a fan of us using navy blue in our home kits in particular. That’s despite researching and discovering that we had a history of navy-blue socks from the moment we changed our name to Manchester City in 1894 all the way up to 1951. I arrived on the planet 🛸 much later than that and, from my perspective from the mid-to-late-1970s onwards, that shade of blue is just not City.
Marks out of 5? The club’s rating system whenever they decide to send out fan surveys? A high-scoring, 4.5/5. Call me fussy, if you will, but I’m dropping half-a-point for my ‘picky points’ regarding the shorts and socks.
The away kit
I don’t usually like us havin’ an all-black (or all-navy) away or third kit – I often think of ‘em as a lazy, ‘Here ya go - it’s got a City badge on it what more d-ya want?’ type of kit. However, this one I have to say I like.
I think what really sets it off – and sets it apart from previous all-black tops and kits – is the silver-metallic features. I think that makes it look really quite smart and classy. In days not so long ago, Puma / our club would have made those bits fluorescent lime green, yellow or pink. 🤢
The club have been keen to inform us, on this occasion, that the intension was to give a nod to our history and roots when we were known as St. Marks. That’s good and fair enough but I don’t recall that message coming out of the club whenever they’ve released previous all-black kits. It seems like a theme in recent seasons to give a reason why a kit looks like it does. Remember last season’s 0161 telephone area code reason / theme? Jeeezz… 🙄
Yeah, dead smart this one though. 👍
Shorts: Nothing to comment on really…and no effin bands at the back! 👍
Socks: Likewise, plain black socks finish off the whole neat-‘n’-tidy-kit nicely.
Marks out of 5? 5.
The 3rd-choice kit
Okay...this one most definitely comes under my personal category of, “Nothing whatsoever to do with Manchester City”. In fact, on this occasion, our club itself has practically admitted so.
Apparently, it symbolises our electrifying football ( stop laughing now! ) that we play despite Manchester’s often-rainy weather; a common misconception by millions of people, especially when you compare us to other parts of the UK – just ask residents of Wales, Northern Island, the County of Cumbria and Scotland; particularly the north and west of.
When I first saw the leaked images and, later, confirmed pictures; before I had read what the kit was supposed to represent, to me it looked like a very cold can of fizzy lime pop that had just been plucked from the fridge. I’m not joking, it actually made me feel a little thirsty and I wanted to go out and buy a can or bottle of cold, limey fizziness.
And…I SPOKE TOO SOON! They’ve only gone and “lumified” it (a word I’ve just made up when luminous colours are introduced to an object).
Our club’s badge has been brutally attacked with lime green and, what I would call, turquois on the aforementioned watery, silvery background and our shirt sponsors have been reduced to all-lime-green too. In fact, I’m not sure how happy Etihad are with it because even when viewed on a computer screen up close, the luminous, lime green lettering doesn’t really stand out that much at all on the silver background – it’s barley readable!
It sounds like I hate it, doesn’t it? Well…huffff…not REALLY.
For a start, I’ve seen FAR worse second and third kits over the last decade or more – far more offensive colours and designs both luminous and dull. It does have an eye catching vibrancy about it and I find the silver raindrop part of the kit quite appealing, for whatever reason.
Shorts: Simply a continuation of the top that blends in with the shirt.
Socks: In sharp contrast, all very luminous lime green with a blue cuff.
Marks out of 5? For a kit that, once again, has nowt to do with our football club, I’m actually going to give it a quite reasonable 3.5/5.
That’s makes this season’s scoring, a most excellent 13/15!
If you’re still reading, thanks for doing so and hope to see you back when I post my next piece, which is likely to be my pre-match blog posting ahead of the Manchester v Trafford derby.
Bye for now.