It cannot be denied that the new kit design for next season looks nice, however it is not the traditional stripes that define us as a football club.
It was the worst secret in the World that Saints would be wearing a kit next season based on the design worn between 1980 and 1985 and I can see why those responsible for kit designs at the club would feel that a kit that harks back to arguably one of the clubs golden ages would have the feel good factor.
I have to admit that it looks good, but the problem for me is that it is not a Saints kit, it wasn't back in 1980 when it was not that popular and it isn't in 2017.
What the kit designers have missed the point on is that when you are trying to create a global brand as Saints clearly are these days, it is about that brand being instantly recognisable, think about it the likes of McDonalds are recognisable wherever you go, it is not because of their corporate colours, it is because of their branding, the look, you can tell a McDonalds from a mile away and that is the same with football shirts.
The top clubs in the World have built their "brand" on their shirts, not their colours, after all there are hundreds of clubs who play in red/white, blue/white etc.
Can you imagine a Celtic shirt that was green and white stripes and not hoops, can you imagine Liverpool playing in red and white stripes or Manchester United in the kit we are going to use this season, I could go on and name dozens of other clubs, yes they would be the same colour designs these clubs have traditionally used but they would not be instantly recognisable.
If you want to create a football club that is seen as one of the top clubs you create a brand, that starts with the kit and takes in history, tradition etc, if you want to create a football club that is seen as a johnny come lately or the new kid on the block then you change the kit design on a regular basis.
Of course red & white stripes is not the sole right of Saints, but when a football fan walks down any street and sees red & white stripes he thinks Saints, Sunderland or Stoke, as I say take a look at the truly big clubs, they have one thing in common, they do not change the design of their kit, look at last season's top seven and there is your proof.
That being the case why are we doing so, Saints have worked hard to make us a global name/brand in recent years, this is not helping that it is hindering it.
Ironically the original kit back in 1980 was not popular, yes it was different, but those were different times with clubs bringing all sorts of weird and wonderful designs out, although as i said take a look at the big clubs kits back then, they did not change much.
Saints fans general view of it was that it did not have stripes in it, the previous kit was not great but it did have stripes, this one was seen as an Ajax kit in reverse, yes it was worn by some of the greatest players the club has ever had in some of the best seasons, but no one liked it.
Given that it was then followed by two kits in four years that again were just not Saints, by 1989 and the emergence of the fanzine movement saw The Ugly Inside launch it's Save Our Stripes campaign, the club listened and for 1989 we had our iconic look back.
But for those that were not there over a decade of appalling kits meant that whilst other clubs were selling replica shirts by the bucketload we were not, even the early 90's did not see an upsurge whereas other clubs were selling them like hot cakes, a trip to most grounds would see replica shirts a plenty with barely a splash here and there at the Dell.
Indeed it took the design of 1995 to change that and guess what it was back to a traditional stripes design.
37 years on and times have changed, I get that, as I say I have to admit it looks good as a football kit, I even like the away kit, however on all levels it is not a Saints shirt just a very nice looking football kit.
If we want our football club to be seen as yet another gimmicky club trying to muscle in on the top ten then it is fine, but if we want Saints to truly be seen as a club with style, tradition, history and class, then we have to act like it and not dress up our players like they are playing for a park team.
Remember the kit five years ago, the all red number with white pin stripes ? well if you do you are in a minority no one else around the country does and that tells us something about poor branding, in two years time this kit will be gone too, forgotten just as the original version was for 32 years, I just hope that whoever is responsible in 2019 remembers that they are custodians of Southampton Football Club, they are here to keep its traditions going and move it forward, not to try and make a brief snazzy point.
Of course I'm sure that it will sell well and that people will say I am wrong because of that, if it's popular then it must be good will be their mantra, well in football form is temporary class is permanent.
On August 16th 1980 when the original kit was used for the first time in a competitive match, against Manchester City at the Dell, a look at the top thirty singles shows that Sheena Easton sold more records than David Bowie, that The Gibson Brothers sold more than Kate Bush, Bob Marley or The Electric Light Orchestra, if that doesn't illustrate the point then perhaps the single sitting at number 30 should do, "You gotta be a hustler if you want to get on" by the long forgotten (possibly by October of that year) Sue Wilkinson ironically on Cheapskate records, the top clubs don't hustle they build their brand and don't keep trying to reinvent it.