I have been banging on for years that the top football clubs have iconic kit designs, that a football club is not known by it's colours but by it's shirt design and Saints are one of a handful of clubs with iconic Red & White Stripes.
Can you imagine Celtic playing in green & white stripes or Liverpool in Red & White strips or for that matter Chelsea in blue & white hoops, the two things that these clubs have in common is that firstly these designs would be in their club colours and secondly these would not dream of changing their shirt designs, they know it is iconic.
Southampton FC were perhaps one of the first clubs who didn't see that when in 1976 their change to Admiral as a kit manufacturer saw the wallpaper kit, followed a few years later by the Patrick red kit with a white stripe another all red kit with a white flash and then Hummel with their pyjama kit that has been copied for this season.
In fact we went 13 years from 1976 to 1989 without playing in anything that resembled our traditional red & white stripes.
The Ugly Inside championed a Save Our Stipes campaign in 1988/89 that saw the club realise the error of their way and for a time Saints once again played in stripes.
The reign of Nicola Cortese saw things change, he had no interest in the history of the club or for that matter the club itself full stop, the introduction of the sash kit was seen as ground breaking and a nod to our history, but after the 2011/12 return to stripes we had a couple of abominations for kits, the first an all red shirt with pin stripes, yes it was iconic if you were a Liverpool fan as it was identical to a shirt they wore in the 1980's when they dominated football, then came the off the peg all red with white flash Adidas off the peg kit that quite frankly saw our identity completely lost.
Katharina Liebherr's arrival saw a few years of kits that were fairly near our traditional colours, but then came the 2017/18 kit a hark back to that 1980 kit as suddenly the club was full of people in the marketing department with Gaziano Pelle haircuts, pointed shoes, tight trousers and shiny jackets that didn't quite fit, they cared little for the history only in trying to make a splash in the industry.
Last season came the worst kit we have perhaps ever played in, not only did it not represent Southampton FC there was so little red in it, we were breaching the trades description act if we sang come on you reds.
This season is another replica and I was despairing that I would ever see Southampton play in stripes again.
So it was good to see a story in the media this morning Southampton Honours It's Stripes and it tells of a creative rebrand.
Yes it is full of advertising bumf, but it says the truth about Southampton FC & Red White Stripes and how iconic they are.
The press release from the company behind this Dragon Rouge said this:
"A football club’s heritage is intrinsic to its identity, and Southampton FC’s new branding is no exception to this. The club, founded in 1885 and based at St Mary’s Stadium, has lent its history as a focal point in its refreshed identity. Collaborating with branding agency Dragon Rouge, the club, which is colloquially known as the Saints, has evolved its visual guidelines to carry it forward into a digital-first era.
"An initial audit of the brand, which hadn’t been updated for a number of years, identified that it had become "fractured and disconnected from their current strategic priorities”, explains Fabiola Wilcox, director of brand experience and communications at Southampton FC.
"The brand previously used a diverse range of styles and an inconsistent presentation, which resulted in an incohesive identity system across the board. To create more harmony, Dragon Rouge honoured one key visual asset: the Saints’ iconic stripes.
"Dragon Rouge worked the stripes into the rebrand so that the Saints’ fans could identify the club’s communications without always having to use its crest. Though some make their appearance in black or white, they are most often red, which is Southampton FC’s primary colour.
Now yes I know this is full of marketing slogans and PR Professional buzz phrases, but the message is clear, whether Dragon Rouge's people wear pointy shoes and tight trousers or are hipsters with beards, they have finally got the point across to the club that we are one of a handful of clubs who can be identified by the red & white stripes.
Yes we are competing with others with this design, but not that many, if someone see's red & white stripes they think, Southampton, Sunderland, Stoke City or Sheffield United not much beyond that.
Black & White stripes are even more exclusive, perhaps just Newcastle, Notts County or Grimsby.
Blue & White Stripes, Brighton or Sheffield Wednesday.
Stripes are iconic and more to the point they are fairly rare, few teams have a striped shirt away kit for instance.
Plain shirts can be iconic, see a red shirt and it's Liverpool or United and if it has white sleeves Arsenal, If someone sees an all blue shirt, they think Chelsea or Everton and to a lesser extent Birmingham City, Leicester or Ipswich, again lots of teams play in all blue.
Let's not even get into those club's including ourselves at times, who have had some bizarre & quite frankly awful kits all excused with the fact that they still are in the club colours.
Club colours are not iconic, it is the design of the shirt that is.
I would hope that having identified the stripes as being intrinsically linked with Southampton that the club will now back that up by actually wearing a kit that reflects this.
I am not a luddite, I appreciate that you have to alter them slightly each year so you can sell more replica shirts, but that should not be a problem, the two biggest shirt sales are Liverpool & United and they seem to do ok with a small variation on the these each year,
Back in 1989 we saved our stipes for 20 years, 35 years later they have needed saving again.