Absolutely no surprises as to the new Saints kits unveiled this morning as both home and away were exactly what had been doing the rounds on the internet.
For a Club who made a big thing of the secrecy and unveiling of the new home and away kits, there is an almighty leak somewhere as both have been doing the rounds on internet sites for the past month and there cant be a Saints fan on line who hasnt seen the home shirt in its entirety prior to 9am today.
Im not going to get into the "stripes" debate, thats for another day, but I will comment on the kit, initially I thought that at least it was a refreshing change from the Liverpool look of last season, but a look around a few other teams reveals that this is not an original or exclusive shirt and that the design is being used by at least two other clubs, Hearts in Scotland have it although their version is in their dark Claret colours, but shockingly a visit to the Bristol City web site shows that they will be wearing the exact same shirt as their home strip this season, the shorts and socks will be different, but as for the shirt the only difference for Bristol City will be sponsor and badge.
As a football kit its not a bad design and if it was exclusive to us it would have its merits, but sadly it isnt and when people see us they will think of Bristol City and probably some other clubs who will have this design, it was bad enough looking like Liverpool circa 1982 last season, but at least you could associate that with success, something you cant do with the 2013 Bristol City team in League 1.
Again the away kit is exactly as shown on the internet for the past weeks, however the distinctive white V neck looks familiar and so it should, last season we headed to Merseyside for the home kit, this one we cross Stanley Park to copy the design for the Everton home kit of 1983-85 albeit in Blue for them, which was reprised for their home shirt four years ago in 2009/10.
I actually quite like this away kit for us, it is distinctive, but its not exactly original and people will again think we are following where Everton lead.
Im pleased that we have gone to Adidas, again another worst ket secret, however as mentioned Im sad that we seem to have merely accepted their off the peg designs and havent insisted on something a little more exclusive, especially as in the case of the away shirt, they have merely copied a design by Le Coq Sportif from 30 years ago.
Im sure it will sell in droves, thats the nature of the modern game, kids have to have a new shirt each year and its a big money spinner as many will buy it no matter what it looks like, but I pray that next year whoever is responsible for selecting the design will not only have a bigger input into the design rather than merely choosing it from the Adidas catalogue, but will pay heed to our traditions.