United Kits Through the Ages

More Ebay Dishonesty!

2010-12-06T16:35:00.001-08:00

Firstly, apologies for not updating with a post about the United kits of the past. There is good reason for this, not least being a new arrival in the family. Anyway, I have recently seen several shirts being sold on ebay which sellers claim are player issued/match worn 2010-11 home shirts. Most of these are nothing of the sort.

Recently, Nike launched a new, limited edition version of the current home shirt, marketed as the Manchester United Authentic Home Shirt. It is exactly the same as the players' shirts except for one crucial difference. It has a sewn-in care label, just like the standard replicas. The real players' shirts have the care instructions printed onto the inside of the shirt. Do not be fooled.

Other than that - just like the players' shirts - it features the venting panels under the sleeves and stripes without the devil on the left sleeves.

The launch of the authentic shirt explains my previous criticism of the standard replicas. Another example of cynical marketing by Nike. The authenic shirt sells at £90 - twice the price of the standard version. I imagine it costs only a pound or two more to produce and that includes the cost of the brown cardboard box it ships in. This is a new trend I would like to see the end of. Umbro's retail shirts are exactly the same specification as their clubs' players wear, are made of far superior materials, feature fully embroidered crests and cost the same. With Umbro now being a subsiduary of Nike, this feels like replica-buying supporters of the American brand's clubs are being ripped off somewhat.

Ebay "Match Worn" Keane Shirts

2010-08-30T15:43:00.001-07:00

Browsing ebay lately, I have noticed a lot of listings claiming to be offering genuine match worn United shirts. Some of these seem to be the real deal. While it is impossible to tell just from descriptions and photos whether they are indeed what they say they are, there are many ways to tell if the shirt is the same type that would have been issued to the players.

There are often a few differences between the match shirts worn by the players and replicas sold in shops. Often they are very subtle details which would be missed by most people, sometimes they are immediately obvious. A good example would be the 1994-96 home shirt. The replicas had printed sponsors and manufacturers logos and a machined crest whereas the players' shirts had an embossed Sharp logo and silk embroidered club crest and Umbro logo.

Recently I noticed an auction for a "match worn" Champions League issue Roy Keane shirt, which was described as follows:

MANCHESTER UNITED NO 16 ROY KEANE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MATCH WORN SHIRT SIZE LARGE !!!!

THE SHIRT COMES WITH ALL THE DISTINGUISHING OVERSIZED NUMBERING AND LETTERING THAT DIFFERS FROM NORMAL REPLICA SHIRTS..

THE SHARP VIEWCAM SPONSORS LOGO LETTERING IS LARGER FOR TV PURPOSES AND THE CHRIS KAY FELT NUMBERING AND LETTERING ON THE REVERSE OF THE SHIRT IS LARGER THAN ON ALL REPLICA SHIRTS... THIS IS NOT TO BE MISSED OUT ON AS I THINK ALL OF YOU WILL AGREE THAT THIS WOULD BE A SUPERB ADDITION TO ANY COLLECTION !!!

ALL OUR SHIRTS ARE BRAND NEW WITH TAGS

THE SHIRT IS NOT A CHEAP ASIAN FAKE AND IS A 100% GENUINE REPLICA SHIRT

WE MUST STRESS THAT WE ONLY SELL 100% GENUINE ITEMS, WE DO NOT SELL FAKE ITEMS
ALL OUR MATCH WORN ITEMS ARE SOURCED VIA A KIT MAN IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE.

Aside from the odd contradiction at the bottom ("100% genuine replica", indeed!), this item is clearly being advertised as having been worn by Keane in a Champions League game. I noticed several details that disproved this claim and sent a message to the seller, who I had given the benefit of the doubt to. I have done similarly on other occasions and often the sellers thank me for the information and update their listings with the corrections. In this case, however, this seller did not respond to my message. It sold on the 20th of August for £112.

Just ten days later, I spotted the same item being offered by another seller and this time the description was even more forceful with the claim that it had been worn by Keane in the Champions League:

You are looking at a CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MATCH WORN shirt, worn by the one of United's GREATEST EVER LEGENDS....................

ROY KEANE

It was worn for one of the group games, on the way to winning the world famous TREBLE in 1999.

Roy had a TREMENDOUS season that year, and will always be remembered for his performance in the semi against Juventus, when he selflessly galvanised the side after being booked and ruled out of the final.

It's in the EXACT condition it was in when he left the field that night.

Shirt has all the differences between match issued shirts and replicas from that time (note the pictures).

THE DISTINGUISHING OVERSIZED NUMBERING AND LETTERING THAT DIFFERS FROM NORMAL REPLICA SHIRTS..
THE SHARP VIEWCAM SPONSORS LOGO LETTERING IS LARGER FOR TV PURPOSES AND THE CHRIS KAY FELT NUMBERING AND LETTERING ON THE REVERSE OF THE SHIRT IS LARGER THAN ON ALL REPLICA SHIRTS..........

Complete one off. Any questions, please feel free to ask. And see my other items for more Match Shirts and sports items.

Again, there is a contradiction in the description. Firstly it states the shirt was "worn for one of the group games", then goes on to say that the shirt is in "the EXACT condition it was in when (Keane) left the field that night" - refering to the aforementioned semi final away to Juventus... where United wore their red European home shirts!

The photos used in both listings are the same, although one has been cropped - I believe to obscure a detail that was not present on the actual shirts the players wore in the Champions League that year - the black rectangular Vapatech label. That was not present on shirts worn in that competition due to strict UEFA rules. Neither was the red white and black 'flag' on the right arm. Keane always wore an XL size shirt, I am not aware of any verified match worn Keane shirts in a smaller size and the one in the auction is an L. The sponsors logos are the same size on players shirts as they are on the replicas, contrary to what is stated in the description and UEFA are stricter in regard to the size of sponsors logos than the Premier League, although there was no difference with these particular shirts.

The Champions League name and number sets are currently available to buy in the same size as was used on the players' shirts from the excellent Wiggy Sports online store, so this does not prove anything about the shirt other than that it is merely a replica with the correct retro printing applied to it.

Here is a clip of Ryan Giggs scoring in the 3-3 draw with Barcelona in the 1998-99 season while wearing the away shirt (in a home match, oddly enough):

Spot the difference:

The lesson - beware of what you see for sale on ebay. Things are not always what they claim to be.

Sister Blog - United Transfers

2010-08-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

I have set up another United-based blog at manchesterunitedtransfers.blogspot.com that some readers may be interested in.

The blog is intended to become a comprehensive reference for all Manchester United transfers, with unbiassed references from national newspapers (where available) for each deal.

I have just completed the Premier League years, with the early Ferguson years to follow shortly.

Blog Updated

2010-07-22T17:16:00.001-07:00

Having finally finished (to the best of my knowledge) all the graphics for the known United kits up to the present time, I've gone over this blog, updated all the kit images, corrected any mistakes and added any new bits of knowledge I've aquired since this project began.

Much of this has been with the help of visitors and contributors to unitedkits.com. Thanks goes out to the following:

Alessandro Bacci, John Bailey, Anthony Barras, Joel Bobrucki, Charbel Boujaoude, Mike Brannan, Alan Brennan, Keith Ellis, Alex Howells, Paul Jolleys, Brian Landamore, Leslie Millman, David Moor, Marvin Nash, Tommy Nielsen, Athanasios Papathanasiou, Simon Shakeshaft, Pete Wyatt.

There are more but it's getting late. If I've missed off your name, I apologise but feel free to shout at me in the comments box.

All the main kits worn by United and Newton Heath are available to view on my Flickr account, here. Sorry about the excessive watermarking, but a lot of stuff is getting lifted and we are not getting the credit for it unfortunately.

2010/11 Kits Reviewed

2010-07-14T16:54:00.000-07:00

On July 15th, the new season's home kit was released with the away to follow a couple of months later. The home kit sees Nike opting to use a proper collar for the first time since they took over from Umbro in 2002. In fact, it looks a little like the 1980-82 adidas kit, and no doubt this was the inspiration for the designer. Lets just hope the team perform a little better in this new version than they did in the original.

As part of Nike's new 'Considered Design' range, it is made of recycled plastic bottles. Apparently this process saves 30% of the energy that would have gone into making a conventional football shirt and over the entire range has saved 254,000 kg of polyester going to waste.

Much like the current Brazil home shirt, it features a thin stripe down the sleeves and on the left arm there is a black devil. Why it could not have been a red devil is anyone's guess, frankly. The back of the shirt features an odd shadow pattern that brings to mind the emblem of the evil Decepticons from the Transformers cartoon series, and (a pet hate of mine) just below the collar the script "MUFC" is printed in the same rubbery material as the stripes. Unlike on practically every other Nike shirt this year, there is no contrast trim at the end of the sleeves, just a simple hem. Another cost cutting measure? Possibly, I feel it would have looked a fair bit better with it.

I have noticed a couple of differences between the replica versions and the players shirts. There is an extra panel of material with ventilation holes under the arms of the match shirts and the stripe on the left sleeve does not feature the devil logo. Curiously, the venting is the same as on the Brazil home jersey and is featured on the replica versions of that shirt - why have they not bothered to include it on the United shirt? Again, it can only be down to cost - very sloppy, Nike.

The away kit is sadly a victim of the current 80s fashion revival (as if it wasn't bad enough the first time around) and Nike's new-found love of jagged "lightening flash" motifs, as featured on the new Juventus and Werder Bremen kits. It's a bit of a mess, which is a shame because at least this time Nike got the colours right. A simple inverse of the home kit would have been far more pleasing - even a version of the Juventus away with red and black flashes down the centre would have been preferable.

Both shirts feature the logo of new sponsors, Aon, who reached an £80m agreement with the club in June, 2009.

Sadly, (in common with all United kits since the 2008/09 white away) both shirts also feature the cheap, machined club crests within a sewn-on patch where only the red devil is embroidered. Obviously this is a cost cutting exercise at Nike (most of their other clubs have similar crests currently), but stangely (especially considering the reduced cost of manufacture due to the recycled materials) the prices of the shirts have gone up by about £5.

Nike seem to have scant regard for UEFA rules when it comes to designing kits and once again, this will mean that they will have to use a modified version of the home shirt in European competition. The sponsor's logo will probably have to be smaller and the stripes on the sleeves most likely contravene the rule about leaving a "free zone" there to accommodate the UEFA starball and respect patches.

The home kit (with alternate white socks) was debuted by the reserves in a 4-0 win in the Jack Crompton Trophy two days before it was due to be officially revealed at Ashton Curzon's Tameside Stadium. Thanks to Paul Jolleys for the photos:

The main topic of contention about the kits though is the compatibility with the current green and gold campaign. Should supporters continue to purchase replicas if they want to be part of the protest? Is it putting more of the fans money in the Glazers pockets and prolonging their reign?

These questions are difficult to answer. In simple terms, if you are a match-going fan who is part of the green and gold movement, you should really be leaving your traditional red club colours at home anyway as it makes a better visual protest if you are seen in only the green and gold of Newton Heath rather than "diluting" it with red. It just kind of defeats the point. If you are not a match goer, it doesn't really matter what colours you wear.

At the time of the Glazer takeover, a boycott of the kits (along with other products by Nike and the other official sponsors) was urged by some supporters but was not successful. Although no real fresh attempt has been made to convince supporters to do so this year, it seems that there would likely be the same response.

Some supporters see buying the latest shirts as just another part of how they support the club, just as some see going to the match as such. There are thousands of those who do both, of course.

The facts are that under the terms of the deal United signed with Nike almost a decade ago, the sportswear firm formed a wholly-owned subsidiary to control United's global licensing and retail operations (link). The club get a guaranteed set fee in the region of £23m from Nike per year, regardless of the amount of shirts sold. In the grand scheme of Nike's business, it doesn't mean a great deal. Last year, Nike had revenues of over £12 billion. The vast majority (over 50%) of their business comes from their footwear range. They spend around 13% (roughly £1.6 billion) of their annual revenue on advertising and sponsorships, and their deal with United (even if you factor out any money Nike make from it) is worth around 1.4% of that. It's fairly obvious to say that Nike's main interest in United is in increasing their brand profile and market share. Their sponsorship of United guarantees their swoosh logo a place in the sports pages of newspapers worldwide almost every day of the year. A few hundred thousand £40 shirts not sold would not make a difference to Nike or ultimately to the Glazers either.

Doing things to make sure that the Glazer family do not continue to profit from fans is something many of us are rightly concerned about, but I really do not believe on the available evidence that boycotting shirts will have any effect at all other than to save the would-be customer £40 or so. Ultimately, do what you think is best for your club and for yourself.

1946-1948: A New Dawn

2010-04-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

The Football League was finally resumed on Saturday, August 31st 1946. United's first match was against Grimsby at "home" at Maine Road - a 2-1 win with goals from Rowley and Mitten. The Reds turned out in new kits which I believe were made by local sportswear manufacturers, Umbro. The style of shirts - with stiff white collars and two-buttoned white plackets - are now more commonly associated with rugby, but they would be worn by United players for the next decade. The players wore various different styles of socks throughout the season, possibly due to clothes rationing rules which would stay in force until 1949. The club had appealed to supporters to donate clothing ration coupons during the immediate post-war era, so they had obviously struggled to outfit all of their teams with sufficient kit.

This is an edited version of an image from the extensive Leslie Millman collection, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission.

This is an edited version of an image from the extensive Leslie Millman collection, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission.

A pre-season friendly match between "red" and "blue" United sides combined with photographic evidence tells us that the club used blue change strips during this time. Besides the colour, they were identical to the red first choice shirts. As with the home kits, more than one style of socks were worn with the change strips.

This is an edited version of an image from the extensive Leslie Millman collection, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission.

The 1946/47 season saw United mount a serious challenge for the League title under Matt Busby's leadership and only in the last four matches did they fall behind eventual champions Liverpool. A 1-0 defeat at Anfield in May proving to be a pivotal moment. United's traditional poor run in the FA Cup continues however with a fourth round home loss to Nottingham Forest.

United pulled in the third highest average attendances that season with 43,945, less than 2000 behind Liverpool who topped the attendance charts with 45,732, but they brought in an average of over 4,600 more supporters than City did at their own ground. This is very odd considering the modern rival's assertion that there are no United fans in the city...

One week before the 1947/48 season commenced, United played a public practice match, this time it was billed as "reds versus whites". I have not been able to find any photographs from this match or any others from this era in which United played in white kits so it may be that it was a mistake on the programmes.

By the following season, United appear to have settled on one style of sock design and again they set out to win the league title that had eluded them for the past 36 years. Once again however, they would come second, on this occasion finishing 7 points behind Arsenal. They also finished second to Arsenal in the attendance league, bringing in a huge crowd of 54,890 - an average of just 2 supporters behind their 54,892 in an era of estimated attendances which surely could not have been accurate to such a fine degree. It is fair to say United were already one of the best supported clubs in the country at this stage and easily the best supported in Manchester, drawing in a crowd more than 12,000 supporters stronger than their sky-blue landlords. In fact, since the resumption of peacetime football, City have never recorded better attendances than United.

The 1947/48 United team in their change kits:

This is an edited version of an image from the extensive Leslie Millman collection, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission.

This time around, at his third attempt, Matt Busby reversed United's woeful record in the FA Cup by taking them to their first ever Wembley final against a Stanley Matthews inspired Blackpool. United wore brand new kits - royal blue shirts and socks and white shorts. The shirts differed from the regular change shirts in that the plackets were the blue instead of white. It was also adorned with an embroidered crest of the Manchester coat of arms, another first for a United kit. Photographs of these shirts clearly show that they were produced by Umbro.

The match was a classic, with United twice falling behind in the first half only to score three in the last twenty minutes to win 4-2 and claim their first cup since 1909.

Captain Johnny Carey lifts the cup:

This is an edited version of an image from the extensive Leslie Millman collection, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission.

Upon their return from the capital, the players embarked on an open-topped bus ride through the streets of Manchester. Their first destination was the home of Chairman James Gibson who had missed the final due after suffering a stroke. When presented with the trophy, the ailing Gibson must surely have been assured United's era of success under Busby was well underway and that his own faith and investment in the club had at last been rewarded.

This is an edited version of an image from the extensive Leslie Millman collection, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission.

Updates Coming Soon...

2010-01-20T17:10:00.001-08:00

If you are a follower of this blog, don't worry - it has not been abandoned. After a busy festive period, I have been back at work trying to get the rest of the kits on Unitedkits.com finished. We currently have everything up until the end of the adidas era accounted for (barring on or two alternate versions people have kindly made us aware of).

If you can help with any missing kits or have any suggestions, please use the comments form there.

Hopefully the remaining kits will not take too long and a new post about the immediate post-war years at Manchester United - and the switch to Umbro kits which coincided with the start of the glorious Busby era - will follow here soon.

In the meantime, it will soon be the 100th anniversary of United's move to Old Trafford, so here is a photograph to bring back memories in any centenarians reading!

1939-1946: The Second World War & Beyond

2009-11-29T06:46:00.000-08:00

On September 3rd, 1939, war was declared. The Football League was suspended the following day, although a system of regional leagues and cup competitions was established soon afterwards.

United took part in the Western Region War League during 1939-40, where they finished in fourth place. It was to have been the first Football League season where all teams were required to wear numbered jerseys after the FA had made them compulsory following a number of seasons of experimentation. Presumably clubs wore numbered kits in the regional leagues too, but the first match in which United's players adopted numbered shirts is currently a mystery.

Despite a number of famous names - Such as the great Stanley Matthews - appearing as guests for United during the war years, very few photographic records exist of the time. In fact, the only other period with such scant photo evidence to use for our purposes is the pre-1900s Newton Heath era.

Due to the onset of clothes rationing, we can only presume that the club continued to outfit the players in the kits worn in the years prior to the war, perhaps with numerous repairs and individual kits being supplied to replace those that were beyond such measures. It is very unlikely that a whole new set of kits would have been purchased during this time.

The few photos that we do have are of the MUJAC teams of 1943-44. Although in later years they wore slightly different jerseys than the first team, here they are wearing the same kits that the senior players took to the pitch in during the late 30s, albeit in very poor condition!:

As well as the youth teams above winning the Wythenshaw League Junior Cup and the Rusholme League Amateur Cup, during the course of the war, the first team won the Lancashire War Cup in 1940/41 and 1942/43, the second League North Championship in 1941/42.

The main event during this time, however was the bombing of Old Trafford. The ground was located on the edge of the industrialised Trafford Park where munitions were being manufactured for the British armed forces. It was an obvious target for the Luftwaffe and was bombed many times. On the night of March 11th 1941, German bombs hit the Main Stand, causing a great deal of destruction. James Gibson was devastated, but Manchester City were quick to offer him a solution. United were to share with City, playing home games at Maine Road. From this arrangement, City made a good amount of money, charging a rent of around £5,000 per season as well as a cut of the gate receipts. For United, they really had no other choice but to accept these conditions and so Maine Road became the temporary home of the Reds until the summer of 1949.

Matt Busby officially became Manager of United in October 1945. He had previously played for rivals City and Liverpool (who had also wanted him to join them in a management role after the war) and captained Scotland during war-time friendlies. It was Louis Rocca (again) who had sought out Busby and recommended him to James Gibson. The Chairman and Busby met in Trafford Park in February of 1945 while the Scot was still with the Army Physical Training Corps. After Busby convinced Gibson to relinquish total control over team affairs to him (something practically unheard of at the time), the contract was signed there and then. Shortly afterwards while in Italy with his Army team, Busby met Jimmy Murphy and offered him the job as his assistant. The seeds of success had been sewn.

The Football League was not revived immediately after the war ended, instead the main competition in the 1945/46 season was the FA Cup, which for that season made each tie two-legged. United beat Accrington Stanley in their first tie but were knocked out by Preston North End in the next round.

During the 1945/46 season, they were photographed in shirts that look slightly different than those worn previously. I cannot decide whether they were of a different style or simply a repair job with laces used to replace missing buttons. Further photographs will be needed to confirm this.

A New Resource for United Fans

2009-10-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

As I have been working on this blog, I have also been collaborating with Paul Nagel on a website on United kits. It is designed as a more accessible resource for United fans and people with an interest in football and kit history.

It has been a long time in the works now, but we've finally launched it at Unitedkits.com

Credit for the text and build of the site is due to Paul, who I think has done a fantastic job.

Unitedkits.com is much easier to navigate than this blog, with links to each individual season, with each page containing a brief review of the events of the season and images of all the kits worn in that season. Within each season page is a link to photographic evidence (where it exists) and notes about how we've interpreted that evidence (in the case of black and white photographs). In future months, as we add more kits we intend to also have information on shirt numbering and replica versions etc.

Unitedkits.com is not designed to replace this blog, but to compliment it (and visa-versa) I will continue to post here as I have been doing and all the larger full-res images and photographs will continue to be linked to here. Enjoy.

1934-1939: Fortunes Revived

2009-10-17T13:13:00.000-07:00

After their flirtation with relegation to the Third Division in 1933/34, the following summer United strengthened with the signings of players such as inside forward George Mutch. After a difficult start to 1934/35, they soon went on to launch an unlikely promotion campaign. A run of eight successive wins put United in second place by mid November and by January they were still in the running. They even managed to get past their first opponents in the FA Cup (Bristol Rovers) but were knocked out by Nottingham Forest after a replay in the next round. After that, their league form deteriorated and United won only 6 out of their remaining 16 fixtures and could only finish in 5th place. Still, this was Scott Duncan's best finish to date and a marked improvement on the previous season.

The kits appear to have reverted to how they were at the start of the previous season - red was first choice and the hoops were retained as change strips.

The team photographed in change kits before the away game at Port Vale in September 1934:

The 1935/36 season was in many ways the mirror opposite of that which it followed. League form during the first half of the season was patchy and again United were knocked out of the cup after a fourth round replay. However, this time around the Reds were galvanised and went on an unbeaten run until the end of the season. A draw against Hull on the final day was enough to clinch the Second Division Championship and promotion back to the top flight after five years.

Crowds had also risen at Old Trafford during the season - in part due to this reversal of fortunes, but also because James Gibson had a platform built along the train track opposite the Main Stand to allow supporters easy access to the ground. Old Trafford Halt station still operates every match day.

The station just after it was built:

The United team were photographed in two different variations of their kits during 1935/36. One is the same as worn in previous seasons while the other has socks with red turnovers and white hoops:

They were also photographed in change kits at West Ham in March 1936:

The return to the First Division was always going to be difficult for United, especially as they had failed to properly strengthen their team in the preseason, but it would have been reasonable to expect a little more fight from the team in 1936/37. With only three wins before Christmas it was a certainty that they would be struggling for survival come May.

The United team photographed in the spring of 1937 (the very odd looking player on the far left of the bottom row is recent signing George Gladwin, an outside half):

This is an edited version of an image from the extensive Leslie Millman collection, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission.

Frustratingly, two of those wins had been against a couple of the strongest sides in the country. A 3-2 derby win against eventual champions City in front of a record 68,796 crowd and a 2-0 victory over Arsenal were the highlights of a the season. Arsenal had revenge by knocking United out of the cup - again in the fourth round.

On the final day of the season an away loss to West Brom sealed United's fate - relegation to the second division, while Manchester City celebrated winning their first ever league title.

United's FA Cup defeat at Highbury was filmed for a newsreel and the players were wearing different change kits than in previous seasons. The new, thinner-hooped jerseys were presumably in the same colours of cherry and white while the shorts were dark - probably black:

Although I currently have no photographic or written evidence, I believe United retained these change kits (at least) up until the outbreak of WWII. They would probably also have worn the jerseys with white shorts:

Although 1936/37 was a failure, groundwork had begun that would stand United in good stead in the following years. Young players such as Johnny Carey and Charlie Mitten had been scouted by Louis Rocca and signed up in early 1937. Early into 1937/38, James Gibson himself spotted a promising talent in 17 year old striker Jack Rowley while staying at his holiday home in Bournemouth where Rowley had been scoring freely for the local team, and quickly signed him for United. This most likely caused friction between the chairman and the manager Duncan, who quit the Reds shortly afterwards. Again, Walter Crickmer was handed the managerial reigns on a temporary basis. This arrangement would last until the end of the Second World War.

Players photographed before a match in 1937/38:

United's form throughout the season was again inconsistent, but a final day home win against Bury saw them finish second - just above Sheffield United on goal average - to secure immediate promotion. The Cup campaign had been a slight improvement as United reached the fifth round only to be knocked out by Brentford. Meanwhile, United's rivals at Maine Road became the only side to win the Championship one season only to be relegated the next! For the second time in forty years, the fortunes of Manchester's two great clubs had been reversed.

Meanwhile, Gibson had been working hard behind the scenes towards his dream of building an all-Mancunian team at United and the MUJAC (Manchester United Junior Athletic Club) was founded with a home found for them at The Cliff on Lower Broughton Road in Broughton, Salford which had formerly been home to Broughton Rangers rugby league club. Young players such as John Aston and Johnny Anderson who would form the core of the post war team had already begun their journey which would lead the Club to greatness and glory in the coming years.

The 1938/39 Manchester United team:

Alex Howells, a contributor to unitedkits.com had a trawl through the archives at Getty Images and has uncovered an image of United Vs Arsenal at Highbury in 1939. The United player appears to be wearing a blue jersey:

The season was successful enough for United. While the junior and reserve sides won their respective leagues, again the first team struggled at times but after a fairly unspectacular and unremarkable First Division campaign, they finished in a respectable 14th place. One of the few points of note is that in November 1938, a 20 year-old Allenby Chilton became the last player (to date) to be transferred directly from Liverpool to United.

Chilton would have to wait almost 8 years to make his official league debut for United, as once again, Britain found itself at war with Germany and their allies and the league was abandoned.

1927-1934: The Great Depression

2009-08-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

The 1927-28 season saw United revert to their traditional home colours of red and white. New jerseys with white trim inside button collars would be part of the home kit for the next three seasons (the change kit is currently unknown, but it may have been the previous home kit was used in case of a clash):

For the superstitious supporters, it was not merely a coincidence that United won their first two league games upon the return of the red jerseys - beating Bamlett's previous side Middlesbrough 3-0 at home and Wednesday 2-0 away. Sadly, after another injury put Frank Barson out of action, the run of form did not last and United went on a run of 5 games without a win, including a record 7-1 home defeat to Newcastle.

The worst was soon to come however, when in October the club's chairman and benefactor, John Henry Davies, died at the age of 63. His influence and financial backing would be sorely missed in the coming years.

The rest of the season saw United yo-yo up and down the league table. They put five goals past Villa, Derby and Leicester in the league and seven past Brentford in the cup (although they were ultimately knocked out by eventual winners Blackburn Rovers in the sixth round), but they conceded five to Everton before Derby got their revenge with a 5-0 win of their own. By the end of March, United were second from bottom, supporters were grumbling about the way the club was being run and attendances were shrinking.

On April 21st, it looked as if the return to the second division was inevitable as the Reds slumped to a 2-1 home defeat to relegation rivals Sheffield United. There were just three games to go and United needed to win all of them to stay up. Miraculously they did just that by edging out Sunderland and Arsenal with scores of 2-1 and 1-0 respectively, before hammering Liverpool 6-1 at Old Trafford on the final day to finish in a safe 18th place.

Sadly, Barson had played his last game for the club when attempting to make a comeback from injury, he suffered yet another one at Portsmouth. He was given a free transfer to Watford in the summer.

The following season saw United struggle once more. A string of injuries to key players again proved to be their undoing, leading to more criticism of the directors from the supporters who believed they should have been investing more money into the club and securing more quality signings instead of spending small amounts on endless cheap one-game-wonders. This would only intensify in the next couple of years. Following a sequence of sixteen league games without a win, the club's response was to bring in another couple of low budget players. Luckily, one of these was to prove an unlikely hit.

Tommy Reid had been signed from Liverpool, where he usually featured in the reserves. Upon being thrown into the thick of first-team action at United, however, the Scot striker managed an impressive 14 goals in 17 appearances - alongside strike partner James Hanson (who chipped in with 20 goals himself in 1928/29), he made a big contribution to United's turnaround that season. Come May, United had secured 12th place. In time-honoured style, they were knocked out of the cup in their second tie, however.

1929/30 proved to be another unspectacular struggle against threat of relegation. Eight losses in the first eleven games set the tone and in November, United received a 7-2 thrashing by Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsbrough. Once again, the cup run ended at the earliest opportunity after a 2-0 home loss to Swindon Town. The season's few high points were the 5-0 victory over Newcastle in late December and the club's first ever win at Maine Road (Reid scoring the only goal). Off the pitch, United were becoming increasingly troubled financially, as the poor football being played at Old Trafford and the growing level of unemployment combined to reduce attendances further. United needed an average gate of around 30,000 to break even, but that had not been the case for much of the decade and the debts were now racking up.

Things took a further downward turn during 1930/31. United conceded 26 goals in the first five games of the season, when they were beaten by Villa and Middlesbrough before being demolished 6-2 at Chelsea and 6-0 at home by Huddersfield Town. Newcastle then came to Old Trafford and put seven past the Reds. The disquiet amongst the support grew, the crowds shrunk and before long the Supporters Club, led by a Mr. George Greenhough, proposed a boycott if the board failed to meet with them to discuss the state of the club. Their demands were that the club find a new manager and buy some new players, invest in a new scouting system, and elect members of the supporters club to the board.

It was suggested that the match against Arsenal on 18th August should not be attended by fans and a meeting was held the day before at Hulme Town Hall with 3,000 supporters listening to Greenhough and former club captain Charlie Roberts make their cases for and against the boycott.

Greenhough insisted that as the board had so far failed to act on the Supporters Club's demands (or even to meet with them to discuss matters), the game should be boycotted. Roberts argued that the proposed action would affect the players, who were not to blame for the club's situation, rather then the board, who were. The supporters, however voted overwhelmingly in favour of Greenhough's plan.

By 3 O'Clock the following afternoon, however, it became clear that those 3,000 in attendance for the meeting were in the minority, as the match drew the highest gate of the season so far, when 23,406 turned up despite the adverse weather. Inevitably, United lost, as they did the following game, marking a sequence of 12 successive defeats.

By the end of the season, Bamlett had been let go (with four matches still to be played, Club Secretary Walter Crickmer taking over as temporary manager - presumably in an effort to save money) and United were at the foot of the table, having managed to win just seven games. They had conceded 115 goals, scored only 53 and equalled Middlesbrough's record for lowest number of points scored in a first division season with just 22.

United players (Stan Gallimore centre) pictured in the 1930/31 season in new lace-necked jerseys (minus laces):

Photos on the computer screens at the United museum show players in white change shirts in the same style as the home ones:

In Justin Blundell's "Back From the Brink", United supporter Hubert Stewart, who was a child living with his family in Old Trafford at the time, reminisces about the time of the boycott:

"My father was on the committee of the Official Supporters' Club...(who) used to do their bit to help the club financially and at one time my mother took to washing the jerseys. All the women used to take it in turns to wash the jerseys to save the club's laundry bill. I can't remember how long it lasted but I can remember my mother complaining that it wasn't her turn to do them."

As United prepared to begin life in the second division in 1931/32 they faced financial meltdown. The economy as a whole was in dire straits and unemployment continued to rise. They club had made a loss of £2,509 the previous season and now hadn't even the cash to pay the players wages during the summer. Old Trafford was becoming a burden and the diminishing attendances were a major reason for the mounting debts. The club tried to increase numbers by reducing prices and offering tickets to the unemployed at a further reduced rate but the plans were vetoed by the FA. They had been keeping themselves above water by securing loans from Davies' widow but they could no longer rely on these to keep them afloat.

After winning just 16 points from their first 19 games, the board's belief that United would simply be able to save themselves from collapse by playing their way out of trouble on the football pitch was no more. Crowds above 10,000 had become a rarity and Crickmer had been told by the National Provincial Bank in Spring Gardens that they had withdrawn the club's credit. For the second time in 30 years, the club were close to bankruptcy.

Just like at the turn of the century, however, there was someone ready to come to the club's rescue. A local businessman and proud Mancunian, James Gibson, had been approached by local football journalist Stacey Lintott (although Louis Rocca would make a similar claim), and told of United's plight. Gibson had no interest in football, but had a reputation as someone who could turn around a failing business and as a person cared about his community. He hated the idea of such a famous institution as United becoming nothing more than a memory and so he agreed to do all he could to prevent this happening. His immediate action was to take on responsibility for the club's expenditure over the Christmas period, with the promise that if he was given enough support he would do so permanently.

The players line up before the away match at Wolves on December 26th 1931. They were thrashed 7-0:

The shirts they are wearing were presumably adopted as part of the home kit at the start of the season and are remarkably similar to the style that was worn by United in the sixties. The change kits are currently unknown, but may have been the same worn during the previous season:

On January 20th 1932, Gibson took full control of the club. By this time he had done much to resolve the conflict between supporters and the management by engaging in talks with Mr Greenhough and revealing that he was already looking to bring in a new manager. He had also made public his dreams of producing a United team made up entirely of Mancunians and his wish to set up a youth team - something which would bring United great success 20 years later.

Attendances at Old Trafford started to rise immediately, several new players were brought in and the team were rejuvenated, winning ten and losing just four more matches during the remainder of the season on the way to a 12th place finish (although United - typically - were knocked out of the cup in the third round).

The 1932/33 team photograph:

This is an edited version of an image from the extensive Leslie Millman collection, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission.

Once again, the players are sporting new jerseys:

This cartoon from October 1932 dates United's adoption of the cherry and white hooped change kits to the 1932/33 season. The two games referred to are the away matches against Charlton and Burnley:

There is an anecdotal story about the hooped jerseys being given to United by Wigan RLFC as a gift to help them out when they were in financial difficulties. They are certainly of a very similar style to those worn by the Rugby League side at the time (as this photograph of Ken Gee shows), but as this cartoon suggests that the kits were first worn after the Gibson takeover (and subsequent injection of his cash), there seems to be little to back up this tale.

United's progress under Gibson continued in 1932/33 as players such as George Vose and Tommy Frame were signed and Scott Duncan was installed as manager. The highlight of the season was probably the 7-1 home win against Millwall, but the Reds' poor away form meant all they could manage was a sixth place finish. Yet again the cup campaign was over 90 minutes after it began.

For the 1933 FA Cup Final, Everton and Manchester City wore numbered shirts for what is believed to be the first time. Everton (who won 3-0) wore numbers 1-11 while City wore 12-22. The FA made shirt numbering compulsory in 1939. The exact date when United first wore numbered shirts is currently unknown, however.

The 1933/34 season was perhaps the most desperate in United's history. After they had seemed to have turned the corner since the Gibson takeover, remarkably by the season's end, the club would find itself on the brink of relegation to the third division.

The season opened with a 4-0 loss at Plymouth and it wasn't until the sixth league match away to Brentford that United registered their first win. By the beginning of December, United looked to have staged a recovery, but after the win at Port Vale on the 2nd of the month, they would only pick up three points over the next thirteen games (as well as being knocked out of the cup by Portsmouth in a third round replay during the same period). Also, for the third time in four seasons, United conceded seven goals during one of their Christmas fixtures (this time away to Grimsby Town!) .

The only league win during those thirteen fixtures was away to Burnley, where United wore the cherry and white hooped jerseys. Keen to seize upon anything that may offer United hope of escaping the drop, the "lucky" reputation of the hooped strips grew among supporters and players alike. So much so, that for the home game against Bury on March 3rd, the players turned out in the hoops at Old Trafford - and won 2-1 with goals from Jack Ball and Stan Gallimore. For the remainder of the season the hoops would remain first choice kit (presumably the solid red jerseys were used for away matches when there was a colour clash - possibly at the Dell against Southampton).

By the end of April, United found themselves teetering on the precipice. Lincoln had already been relegated and either United or Millwall would follow them. As fate would have it, those two sides were to meet in a decider at The Den on the final day of the season.

A tense, nervy affair could have been expected, but as it happened, United - by all accounts - enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 win to guarantee their place in the second division the following season. On their return to Manchester they were given a heroes welcome by around 3,000 fans at Central Station. It was a far smaller crowd than had welcomed home Manchester City's players (including a 24 year-old Matt Busby and a young goalkeeper called Frank Swift) after their FA Cup final victory over Portsmouth a week earlier*, but it marked a point where United were in the trough of the wave of success while City were at it's peak and that situation would eventually be reversed.

*A recent article in Four Four Two magazine states that the 1934 FA Cup Final was the first occasion that both sides were outfitted by Umbro, who would feature heavily in the story of United's kits.

1922-1927: The Chapman Years

2009-08-12T17:28:00.000-07:00

This period of English football is best remembered for Herbert Chapman leading Huddersfield Town to successive titles before leaving them for Arsenal and immediately turning the north Londoners around from a side battling relegation to one challenging for the title. In his first season in charge of the Gunners, he steered them to second place - just five points behind his previous club, who had become the first side to win the league three times in a row. By the time of his death in 1934, he had repeated his achievements in West Yorkshire with Arsenal and set them well on their way to emulating the Terriers by winning a consecutive hattrick of titles for themselves. Legend also has it that Herbert Chapman had a hand in designing Arsenal's kits - giving their plain red jerseys the now iconic white sleeves.

Chapman's namesake at United did not fare quite so well, although he did eventually succeed in returning the club to the First Division and similarly had a big influence in their kit design.

For home games in the 1922/23 season, United turned out not in their now familiar red jerseys, but in white ones with a red "V" (or more properly "diamonds", as there was another V on the back of the shirts joined at the shoulder seams). These shirts were very similar to those worn by United in the 1909 FA Cup Final victory, albeit with a larger, thicker diamond and a button collar rather than a lace one.

Perhaps the reason for this change was a belief that a design worn back in the glory days would inspire a renaissance at United. More likely however, is that the change was down to the new manager's previous club. He had joined from Airdrieonians, who had been wearing identical kits for a decade (in fact, Airdieonian's nickname was The Diamonds, due to the design of their kit).

When Chapman took over at Airdrie, they had been wearing red and white stripes or hoops, so it seems he may have been instrumental in introducing the new design there, too. Perhaps the jerseys had made the journey south along with John Chapman when he took up the post at United. We will almost certainly never know for sure, but the white shirts would remain United's first choice for the next five years.

The team photographed before the away match at Wolves in the 1922/23 season:

In the top left of the picture is Frank Barson, who was making his United debut. He had been signed for £5,000 from Aston Villa, with whom he had won the FA Cup in 1920, and he came with a notorious reputation having been sent off and suspended on numerous occasions in an era where receiving a red card was a rarity. In his contract was written an agreement to make Barson the landlord of a pub in Manchester if United were to be promoted (presumably due to the club's continued patronage by JH Davies). He would go on captain the club during his six years at Old Trafford before being transferred to Watford in 1928.

United's optimism for the 1922/23 season wasn't quite matched by their performances as they found the second division a little tougher than they had expected. They had enjoyed some decent results, such as a 6-1 win against league leaders and eventual champions Notts County, but they had drawn far too many games and finished three points shy of promotion in fourth place. Their cup run in now typical style had ended in the second round, beaten 4-0 by Spurs at White Hart Lane. Worryingly, it had been a decade since United had progressed any further in the competition.

United's dismal FA Cup record continued in the 1923/24 season when the two Chapmans met at Old Trafford in front of a crowd of 67,000 supporters. Huddersfield, who had finished third in the league the previous season proved too much for United, and won the game easily by three goals to nil.

The Red's league form slumped that season and they finished the season in a lowly 14th place having won only 13 matches - fewer than they had lost (15) or drawn (14). They hadn't finished in as low a position since the Newton Heath days.

The team are photographed before a practice match prior to the 1924/25 season. Half of the players appear to be wearing the old (now faded and stretched) home jerseys worn from 1920-22. Presumably they had been worn as change jerseys since the adoption of the white home shirts:

These photos are part of the extensive Leslie Millman collection that can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and are used with full permission.

The only change to these kits are the slightly different socks worn:

The 1924/25 season saw United's cup run end at the earliest possible stage with a 2-0 loss at fellow second division side Sheffield Wednesday, but their league form was much improved. They strung together an impressive seven wins on the trot in Autumn to top the table and only lost two games in the rest of 1924. They had been deposed at the top by Leicester City, but promotion was virtually assured after a 4-0 home win against Port Vale in the penultimate match, leaving challengers Derby only a slim mathematical chance of taking United's place in the top flight the following season. United's players stayed on the pitch at the end of their fixture and the supporters waited inside Old Trafford with them, anxiously awaiting news of the other games. A huge cheer went up from fans and players alike when it was announced that Derby had been held to a draw at Coventry - United were back in the top flight after three years. Taking much of the credit were the defence who had conceded only 23 goals all season.

Legend has it that Frank Barson was given the keys to his pub shortly afterward, but his name would not remain over the door for long. Apparently, just minutes after it opened, he became so fed up of all the supporters pouring in off the streets to congratulate him, he handed the keys to a waiter, told him the place was his and left - never to return!

The following season saw United improve dramatically. In the league they finished in an impressive 9th place. They had accumulated the same amount of points as Liverpool and Aston Villa but had an inferior goal average. Had it not been for a run of five losses in April, the Reds may well have finished in the top four or five.

On September 12th the first Manchester derby to take place at Maine Road - where City had moved two years previously - was played. It was a 1-1 draw, which was a decent result considering the return fixture saw United hammered 6-1, the Reds biggest derby defeat to date.

Almost miraculously, United came close to ending their 17 years of cup disappointment by reaching the semi-final against their City rivals, having seen off Port Vale, Spurs, Sunderland and Fulham. Sadly, the blues comfortably beat United 3-0 at Bramhall Lane, but it was not to be their year either as they lost the final 1-0 to Bolton and were relegated a week later after losing to Newcastle 3-2 (having missed a penalty in a match they had only needed a draw from to guarantee survival). Apparently a local newspaper's headline the following day read "Bitter Experiences of Manchester City"...

During the FA Cup tie at Spurs, United were photographed wearing red change shirts with button collars like those on the home shirts:

The 1926/27 season was less remarkable for United - at least as far as the events on the pitch. Once again United went out of the cup in the first round, albeit after taking their tie against Reading to a second replay at Villa Park, where they lost 2-1. They won only four fewer points in the league than they had the previous season, but it was enough to see them finish six places lower, in 15th position.

There were also slight changes to the kits as different socks were worn (photographs of this period are fairly difficult to get hold of, but these images have been made with reference to pictures on the computer screens at the United museum):

What the season was ultimately to be remembered for was the suspension of John Chapman. The FA had launched an investigation into the manager in September 1926 at Manchester's Grand Hotel. On October 7th, they announced that Chapman had been suspended "from taking part in football or football management during the present season for improper conduct in his position as Secretary-Manager of the Manchester United Football Club"". No further explanation was ever given and Chapman never returned to his position. Appointed in his place temporarily as player-manager, was Lal Hilditch, who had joined the club a decade earlier, during the war. His brief tenure lasted only until the beginning of April when Herbert Bamlett was given the job. Hilditch remains the club's only ever player-manager.

On the other side of Manchester, there was another one of those "typical City" moments, when on the last day of the season, the Maine Road side demolished Bradford 8-0 to almost certainly secure promotion ahead of Portsmouth, who had gone into the final round of fixtures with a minutely superior goal average and who City fans heard had been drawing 1-1 with Preston at half time. Just as celebrations were about to get underway in Moss Side, however, Pompey scored four second half goals to win 5-1 and pipped City to second place by the most minuscule margin: +0.006 goal average.

2009-10 Away Kit Revealed:

2009-08-05T10:35:00.001-07:00

The away kit for next season has now been officially revealed. Much like the home kit, images of this had been leaked some time ago. It also uses the same template as the home kit but in black and blue colours:

Patrice Evra in the new kit:

Again, the kit is rather perplexing. This time the accompanying blurb mentions how the design "reflects the kits worn in the 1909 FA Cup Final" rather than the kits worn upon United's move to Old Trafford 100 years ago.

It is rather puzzling then that the only one of the new designs Nike have put out that resembles that worn in 1909 is the white goalkeepers kit. It's true that Harry Moger wore the white shirt with red "V" in that match as it was not until the following season that 'keepers began to wear differently coloured shirts to their outfield teammates, but why this white design couldn't have replaced the previous season's unpopular white away kit is unknown.

Nevertheless, Nike have gone back to black with this strip, and that is usually a safe bet for a good seller on the replica market. The previous black away kit (from the 2007/08 season) was so popular that it sold out after only a few months and became quite difficult to get hold of. The red highlights really helped to lift the design that was otherwise in the exact same template as the 2007-09 home shirt. It was clear that these colours really worked well together, which again raises questions as to why Nike didn't simply repeat that formula for success with this new uniform.

Although there has been blue (in various shades) used in United's change kits all the way back to the adoption of the name in 1902, and it was not until 1993 that they wore black, in this case it seems that the more modern change colours of black and red would have worked better. It is simply a far more imposing and threatening combination than black and blue. I couldn't imagine that Christopher Lee would have looked half as frightening as Dracula with a cape with royal blue lining, can you?

In other recent kit news, Edwin van der Sar appeared in a yellow and black variant of this new kit in the Audi Cup final.

New Photographs Added To Badge Gallery

2009-07-27T03:29:00.000-07:00

A brief update to let readers know that several new photographs of badges from match-worn United shirts have been added to the Flickr set.

Here are some low-res links to the full size versions:

1919-1922: The Return of Peace & the Resumption of League Football

2009-07-23T06:04:00.000-07:00

On the August 30th, 1919, the league was resumed, just as it would have for the 1915/16 season, had it not been suspended due to the Great War.

The United team had seen many changes in that time, with the likes of George Wall leaving for Oldham, defensive duo Pat O'Connell and George Hunter also moving on and of course the loss of Sandy Turnbull who was killed in action. They also kicked off the new season without Billy Meredith who was apparently in a dispute with the club as he wanted to return to Manchester City but the club did not want to let him leave for free.

New players making their league debuts that season would include Joe Spence, Jack Silcock, Charlie Moore and Lal Hilditch, all of whom would be at the club until the early 1930s.

The United team line up before the home match against Aston Villa on December 6th 1919. They are wearing the same shirts seen in one of the 1911/12 team photographs, although they have clearly seen better days. Again, some have lost their buttons and been repaired by running laces through the holes. At this time, due to shortages caused by the war, teams had to appeal to supporters for donations of clothing vouchers or make do with whatever they could find, including damaged old kits like these:

Meredith returned to the side on boxing day and by May the team had secured a 12th place finish. Their FA Cup campaign ended in defeat to Villa in the second round.

The following season was much the same as the one that preceded it. United finished 13th in the league having exited the cup after a first round replay against Liverpool ended 2-1 to the Merseysiders.

The players pictured before two matches in the 1920/21 season. The socks do not appear as dark as on previous photographs. Instead, they appear to be the same shade as the shirts, so I will assume that this season the club wore red socks. This may have been the only colour available to the club at the time rather than by choice:

These photos are part of the extensive Leslie Millman collection that can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and are used with full permission.

Billy Meredith finally left the club in the summer of 1921 to rejoin City. He had made a total 335 appearances for the Reds and by the time of his last game at United he was 46 years old. Despite his age he was still one of United's best players and was certainly missed the following season. Remarkably, he would continue to play professionally for a further three seasons.

United suffered from very poor form at the start of the 1921/22 season. They lost 5-0 to Everton on the opening day and by the end of October they had only won three matches out of twelve played. Manager Jack Robson had been suffering with health problems and was replaced in November by John Chapman, previously manager of Airdrieonians. He was not able to change United's fortunes quickly enough however, and that season ended with the club at the very bottom of the table. Jack Robson sadly died of pneumonia on the 11th of January 1922.

The team photographed at Old Trafford before a practice match ahead of the 1921/22 season. They appear to be wearing the same home kits as in the previous season except now with black socks with white hoops on the turnovers. The change kits are the same as those worn in the 1913/14 photograph, with more laces added to replace the missing buttons:

This photo is part of the extensive Leslie Millman collection that can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission

Another photograph from September 1921 shows the players wearing what appear to be plain black socks:

This photo is part of the extensive Leslie Millman collection that can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission

1913-1919: The Outbreak of War

2009-07-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

During JJ Bentley's time at the FA, he had clashed with the United players over their stance with the Players Union. Although he had previously supported the abolition of the maximum wage, he was quoted as saying the following in 1909: "The very suggestion of a strike of footballers shows the meanness of the motives behind it and in my judgement cannot be too strongly condemned".

Perhaps this was one of the reasons that club captain (and leader of the 1909 protest) Charlie Roberts was sold in the summer of 1913 to Oldham Athletic for a (record at the time) fee of £1,500. Also sold was his defensive partner Alex Bell, who went to Blackburn for £1,000. In turn, these are probably reasons why the 1913/14 season saw United finish in their lowest league position since their promotion in 1906 and exit the cup in the first round. Oldham, led by Roberts on the other hand finished in second place - to date, their best ever league position - while Bell's new club would win the title the season after that.

The 1913/14 United team, pictured before a practice match, in various jerseys they had also worn in previous seasons:

This is an edited version of an image from the extensive Leslie Millman collection, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/

Another photo from that season shows them in home shirts with white collars. These jerseys are similar to those worn in the 1911/12 team photograph, but have a button on the white part, much like a traditional "grandad collar":

A third photograph dating from November 1913 shows the players in change jerseys with thicker stripes than had been previously worn. These would be used until the early 1920s:

Despite the outbreak of the First World War in June 1914, the 1914/15 football season went ahead as usual. United had attempted to make up for the loss of their key defenders by signing Chelsea's George Hunter towards the end of the previous season for £1,300 and Patrick O'Connell during the summer for £1,000. These were large fees for the time, but Hunter would not complete a full season for the club, while O'Connell became the club's new captain.

The 1914/15 team before a practice match. The thin striped change shirts are used once more:

This is an edited version of an image from the extensive Leslie Millman collection, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission.

Just after Christmas of 1914, Bentley, who was in ill health, was replaced by John "Jack" Robson, previously in charge of Brighton & Hove Albion. He would be the first at United to take the title of "Manager" rather than "secretary", and stayed with the club until 1921.

This change of leadership did not greatly help United (who up until that point had only won three games that season), as they continued to struggle and indeed were fighting to save themselves from relegation. In the end they were saved by just one point, but there would be more controversy, as several players found themselves embroiled in a match-fixing scandal.

The game against Liverpool on April 2nd, which United won 2-0 was under scrutiny after Liverpool's lackadaisical approach had seen them concede easily and miss a penalty. Weeks later, a £50 reward was being offered by a bookmakers for information that could help prove the match had been fixed. They had an unusual number of big-money bets had been placed on United to win the fixture 2-0. The odds were 7-1 and when the press heard of it there was a scandal brewing.

The Football League launched an investigation in May which went on until they released their findings the following December. They had uncovered damning evidence that there had indeed been a conspiracy to fix the game. Although the clubs as a whole were judged to have been unaware of the plot, the Football League found that three United players, four Liverpool players and a Chester FC player were at the centre of it. They were banned from football for life.

The United players involved were Sandy Turnbull, Arthur Whalley and Enoch West (the only one of them to have actually played in the game). The Liverpool players included Jackie Sheldon, who had been at United from 1909-13, and who acted as the go-between. West would never admit guilt in the case and even took the Football League to court for libel over their ruling. As a result of this, when the other players were pardoned after the war (which finally brought about a suspension of the league that summer), West was not. His ban was eventually lifted in 1945 when he was 59 years old. Whalley played again for United after the war, but tragically Turnbull, United's FA Cup hero, was a casualty of war - killed fighting in Arras, France, in 1917.

A rare photograph of a United team during the war. This was taken in 1916 and features George Wall, who did not go to fight in the war and an 18 year old Jack Silcock (top, second from right), a defender who would go on to represent England internationally:

This is an edited version of an image from the extensive Leslie Millman collection, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission.

The jerseys the players are wearing in the above photograph are very much like some of those those worn from 1911-14, albeit with the addition of white trim behind the buttons:

1911-1913: The End of an Era

2009-07-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

Following United's second Championship winning season and in those preceding the suspension of the league following the outbreak of the Great War, the club's fortunes took a downward turn. Players and managers left and financial difficulties came back to haunt them - mainly caused by the expense of the new stadium at Old Trafford and the loss of spectators as football fans went off to fight in Europe.

The team are photographed at Old Trafford with the league championship trophy ahead of the 1911/12 season in new jerseys with a white collar:

A close-up of Dick Duckworth and a portrait of Billy Meredith in the new jersey:

Another photo from 1911/12 shows the players in a variety of different jerseys, including the home and change kits from the previous seasons and a red shirt like above but with a red collar - a style of jersey would be worn until at least 1914:

In the 1911/12 season the highlight was the 8-4 Charity Shield win over Charlton Athletic, with Harold Halse scoring a hattrick in each half. Unfortunately, they could only manage a 13th place finish in the league and were knocked out of the cup in the 4th round (equivalent to the modern day quarter-final stage) by Blackburn Rovers.

A colourised photograph of Charlie Roberts in the change kit C1912:

In the summer of 1912, the team who had been so successful over the past few years began to break up. Striker Halse and giant 'keeper Moger left the club. Most surprisingly of all was the departure of Mangnall who went to the other side of town to manage Manchester City. Although in his time there he would only take the blues to second place in the league before he left in 1924 (shortly after that club's move from Hyde Road in Ardwick to Maine Road in Moss Side), there would not be anyone as successful in his position at United until Matt Busby.

Some players were brought in - most notably Jack Mew, who was brought in to replace Moger and would spend 13 years at United and T. J. Wallworth was installed as acting secretary until a permanent replacement for Mangnall was found in John J Bentley - former president of the club and of the Football League - who he was instrumental in founding - and vice-president of the FA.

The 1912/13 United team:

Some players in the above photo seem to have lace-neck shirts, but this is most likely a quick repair done to replace lost buttons on the previous season's jerseys with the red collars. Other players have jerseys with no collar like those worn between 1903-11 but with three buttons instead of two. These jerseys would be worn (apparently concurrently with several other variations) until at least 1915:

United's league form improved in Bentley's first season as they finished in 4th place, although they had less success in the cup where they were knocked out in the third round by Oldham.

1909-1911: From Outcasts, To Old Trafford & To The Championship Once More

2009-07-01T17:19:00.000-07:00

United's FA Cup triumph was almost immediately followed by controversy. In the summer, the FA banned the entire team from taking part in the next season's competitions after they refused to abandon the Players Union - the founding of which they had been heavily involved in.

It had been at Harry Stafford's Imperial Hotel - a pub on Piccadilly of which he had been made manager by J H Davies - where Billy Meredith, Charlie Roberts and other players gathered for several meetings in 1907 that had led to the formation of the Union which the FA now perceived as a threat - so much so that they made all clubs write new contracts for their players that forbade them from becoming members. There was some resistance at first, but eventually all the league clubs buckled to their demands. All except for United. The FA did not humour their disobedience and took the measure of immediately banning all of the players from participating in the league and cup. They even closed the club's Bank Street ground to them, forcing the United players to practice over the other side of town at Fallowfield Stadium - a ground that had hosted the FA Cup Final in 1893 - and this was where the famous "Outcasts F.C." photograph was taken:

(This photo is part of the extensive Leslie Millman collection that can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission)

The players steadfast stance inspired other such as Everton's Tim Coleman (also on the above photograph) and eventually his teammates joined United in refusing to give up their Union. So did those from Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Sunderland and Liverpool - and from many other teams from across the country - until the FA was left with no choice but to back down and rescind the bans. The league was to go ahead after all, and with United as part of it as usual. For more information on this chapter of football history, see this article on the excellent Spartacus Educational site. Another article on that site reports that "When the Manchester United team played in the first match of the season on 1st September, 1909, they all wore AFPU arm-bands". Sadly I currently have no photographs from this match.

1909/10 was not to be an outstanding season for the Reds as the previous one had been - they finished 5th in the league and were knocked out of the cup in the first round by Burnley, whom United had beaten on the way to the previous season's final - but it was to be memorable as it marked the club's move to Old Trafford.

The move four miles west had been agreed back in 1908 and the plans were announced in March 1909, shortly before the club's appearance in the FA Cup Final. It was decided that Bank Street was not only unsuitable for use as a football ground with it's toxic fumes and waterlogged pitch, but that the team and their rising number of supporters had now outgrown it.

The famous architect of football grounds such as Ibrox to Goodison Park and White Hart Lane, Archibald Leitch, was hired to work on the new ground to be built on land owned by the chairman between the railway line and the canal on Warwick Road. It was originally designed to hold 100,000 spectators but was scaled back to 60,000 due to financial restraints.

Below is an artist's impression of the new United ground, complete with two covered stands - although only one would be covered when the ground opened (the current South Stand or Main Stand as it was known). The other stands also extend further back from the pitch than they did when the stadium was actually built:

(This photo is part of the extensive Leslie Millman collection that can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission)

The last game at Bank Street was played on 22nd January against Spurs - a 5-0 victory. Only days later a storm blew one of the stands over causing extensive damage to the terraced houses opposite - United had chosen just the right time to leave Clayton.

The first game at Old Trafford took place on February 19th 1910, but was one to be forgotten - a 4-3 loss to Liverpool, with United squandering a 2-0 lead in front of over 50,000. Sandy Turnbull scored United's first ever goal at the ground. However, it was to be a rare home loss at that time, as United won all their remaining games at Old Trafford that season and all but one in the next, when they were again crowned League Champions after the title race went to the wire. In the end, United pipped Aston Villa to the post by a single point.

The team before a practice match at the start of the 1910/11 season:

(This photo is part of the extensive Leslie Millman collection that can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission)

The text states United's colours as "red stripes", but this appears to be one of a number of inaccuracies in the text - several player's names are spelled incorrectly for example. It is fairly unlikely that any team would wear red as a home kit and red and white stripes as a change kit as they would clash, meaning another kit would have to be kept as third choice which was very uncommon at the time. Instead, it is far more likely to have been blue and white stripes like previous United change kits:

Teaser Trailer: The Next Half-Century

2009-06-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a short video clip I put together to give a taster of what you can expect in upcoming posts. The footage features Manchester United in a variety of famous (and not so famous) kits between 1911 and 1958*:

*This video is for general information and educational purposes. All rights reserved by the owners, Manchester United, 2009.

Music: Follow Me by Levenshulme's finest - Black Curtain.

2009/10 Home Kit Revealed

2009-06-24T03:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Manchester United sent out emails with a teaser image of the new kit for next season:

The kit will be officially unveiled on July 1st, but the image leaves little to the imagination and it appears to be the same one that leaked photos appeared of several weeks ago. It has a black chevron across the chest and a black crew neck. The shorts feature red flashes down the sides, similar to those worn most recently with the 1996/98 home kit. The socks feature a red chevron on the back of the calves with the Nike swoosh below:

An article was published on manutd.com where Rio Ferdinand talked about the new kit:

New kit's nod to history

United's new home kit for the 2009/10 campaign will be officially unveiled next week, but it is now available to pre-order online.

The red kit celebrates 100 years of Old Trafford and part of the design will reflect that which was worn by the Reds a century ago.

The players will don the kit for the first time during their pre-season tour of Asia next month. The squad fly out to the Far East on 16 July - the day the kit goes on sale and on which pre-orders will be delivered.

Rio Ferdinand says the players are always excited to see the new kit and insists the historical aspect acts as an inspiration to everyone.

"Maintaining the traditions of the club is very important," he told ManUtd.com.

"Last season we had the blue kit to remember the European Cup winners of 1968 and this one dates back to the 1900s to celebrate 100 years of Old Trafford.

"This club has always taken pride in its history - it acts as an inspiration to all of us and it’s great to see it represented in the new kit."

This article is strange for a number of reasons. Firstly it had previously been reported that the kit was to be a tribute to that worn for the 1909 FA Cup final, which had a "V" sash on the chest (see below). Secondly, Nike's policy for these kits is to bring them out for the season after the event. The blue third kit from last season was to commemorate 40 years since the club's first European cup win, although it was worn 41 seasons after the event (1967/68 was the European Cup winning campaign, but the 40th anniversary kit came out for the 2008/09 season). This was also the case with Celtic's home kit from the 2007/08 season.

The fact that United didn't make the switch to Old Trafford until midway through the 1909/10 season and that they did not wear a kit resembling this one in any way (a different kit with a "V" sash was worn again by United, but not for another 12 years) makes it obvious to me that this kit would not have been designed as a nod to the 100th anniversary of the move across town, but in recognition of the centenary of the first cup win. The mention of the latter event seems to have been no more than an afterthought.

Park Ji Sung in the new kit:

As far as the kit itself goes, well it's a disappointing effort as far as I'm concerned. Nike have produced some excellent kits for the coming season for the likes of Barcelona, Aston Villa and Paris Saint Germain (although that is not without controversy as the famous central stripe has been removed from the home shirt), but United's kit seems to have little effort gone into the design. The collar is very basic - presumably a cost saving choice- and the v-neck featured on the Barcelona and PSG shirts would surely have been better suited to complement the chevron:

The shirt would also have been improved by the addition of the sleeve caps featured on almost all of the other 2009/10 Nike shirts - again, I can only put the absence of these down to cost.

United seem to be victims of their own success when it comes to things such as inflated transfer fees, and kit design appears to suffer, too. Manufacturers know they do not have to make any particular effort to produce a good kit, as they know whatever design they put out will sell in the millions. To add insult to injury, the shirt is priced at £42.99 on the United on-line store - £3 more than last season's.

Still, on the bright side, it is not as bad as Everton's new home kit - the shirt from which resembles a Val Doonican-style cardigan over turtle-neck combo - or Newcastle United's new away kit which appears to have been influenced by the fact the designer was munching his way through a 3lb bag of lemonade fizzbombs while working on it.

Update: The shirt has been officially unveiled earlier than previously announced. From manutd.com:

The red kit celebrates 100 years of Old Trafford with a large chevron across the chest, reflecting the design of the shirts worn by United when the stadium first opened during the 1909/10 season.

The back of the shirt has an engineered mesh, which is a series of small chevrons, a performance feature to offer the players even greater ventilation during games. Inside the black round-neck collar is a high quality woven label in red, white and black, while engineered into the side seam is a small label that reads ‘The Theatre of Dreams Since 1910.’

The shirt is made from Nike Dri-Fit fabric, which keeps the players drier, cooler and lighter by drawing sweat from the body to the fabric’s surface, while it’s three-dimensional construction gives more air space around the skin to reduce clinging.

The white shorts have a red stripe along the side, a red devil graphic on the back of the waist band, while the draw cords feature 'MUFC' on the tips. The black socks have a red chevron on the calf.

The players will don the kit for the first time during their pre-season tour of Asia next month.

The red-highlighted part of the text is odd, as United would wear their regular red shirts in their first season at Old Trafford. I can only imagine that this "tribute" element has been added as an excuse to change the kit after just one season, as Nike did with the 2006/07 home kit. The chevrons are actually far more likely to do with Nike's current "V For Victory" campaign than anything else.

Here are the official photos of the home kit:

These are the goalkeepers kits:

1908-1909: The First FA Cup Win

2009-06-13T07:18:00.000-07:00

Shortly after returning from the club's first international tour, where players and officials had been stoned by opposition fans after a 7-0 win in Hungary, United took part in the newly rejigged FA Charity Shield, where they faced the winners of the Southern League, Queens Park Rangers at Stamford Bridge. It was a 1-1 draw, but United won the replay 4-0, with Jimmy Turnbull scoring a hattrick. They wore their usual home kits for both games.

The team line up for the start of the 1908/09 season, with their haul, the Charity Shield, the League Trophy and the Manchester Cup (click any of these images for higher res):

The team photographed before a public practice match at the start of the season:

This is an edited version of an image from the extensive Leslie Millman collection, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission.

In the league, United were unable to replicate their success of the previous season, finishing in a disappointing 13th place. They also lost their record for most points in a season to Newcastle, who beat it by a single point. They were to have more luck in the cup, however.

The campaign began at home to Brighton and then Everton. Both games finished 1-0 with Harold Halse scoring both goals. Then came Blackburn, also at home, who were thrashed 6-1, with hattricks each from Sandy Turnbull and Jimmy Turnbull (no relation).

United were through to the quarter-finals, which was as far as they had ever got in the competition previously, and were drawn away to Burnley. With only 18 minutes of the match to go and losing 1-0 it looked as if they were again destined to go out in the last eight, but for a blizzard to save them as the referee was forced to abandon the match.

Legend has it that referee Herbert Bamlett's lips were so cold he could not blow the whistle to end the match so Charlie Roberts had to blow time himself. Oddly, that wasn't to be the last United would see of Bamlett, as he would become their manager in the late 1920s.

The replay was a thrilling 3-2 win for United and in the semi-final they beat cup-holders Newcastle 1-0 at Bramhall Lane, with the goal coming once again from Halse.

The final was to take place four weeks later, on Saturday, 24th April 1909 at Crystal Palace against Bristol City.

United were to face their cup-final opponents in the League just twelve days before the showpiece, and they were held to a goal-less draw at Ashton Gate, where they were photographed in white lace-neck shirts with a red "V" on the chest. Note that goalkeeper Harry Moger is wearing the same kit as the outfield players. This was common practice until the FA allowed keepers to wear different shirts from their teammates the following season:

These kits are commonly thought to have been worn only in the final - albeit with the addition of a badge with the red rose of Lancashire on the chest - but the images above show that is not the case. It is unknown whether they were worn for any other matches, however. The shirts are also said to have been purchased from Billy Meredith's sportswear shop in St Peter's square (the site of which was cleared to make way for the Town Hall extension and Central Library in the 1930s). The shorts were white and the socks appear to have been black with a white band between two red bands on the turnovers.

The programmes were quickly printed up:

Shortly before the Cup Final, popular music-hall star George Robey presented the team with their kits - now adorned with the red rose. Although one or two United players are pictured in socks with white hoops on the turnovers, the majority wore plain black socks without hoops:

Here's a colourised version:

In front of a crowd of over 70,000 the game kicked off. Apparently it started brightly and after 22 minutes, United went ahead, with Sandy Turnbull (who was struggling with a knee injury that would have kept most on the sidelines) turning in a rebound from a Halse shot. It was the only goal of the game.

Billy Meredith's shirt from the match, on display at the club museum:

Sandy Turnbull's cup final shirt - missing it's badge and in poor condition - on display at the museum:

They returned home to Manchester on the following Tuesday, arriving at Central Station before making the short trip over to Albert Square for a reception at the Town Hall where they were greeted by thousands of cheering supporters:

Incredibly, they then had to travel across town to Clayton for a match against Arsenal, where 30,000 fans awaited, where they inevitably lost. Despite this, the Arsenal players were invited to join in the continuing celebrations with the United team.

100 Years On...

To mark the centenary of the final, supporters of United and Bristol City organised a rematch - which took place exactly 100 years to the day, at the exact time and on the same ground as the original. United won 2-1.

Nike have said that they will use the designs of the shirts worn in the historic match as inspiration for the 2009-10 kits.

The Mystery Charlie Roberts Shirt

2009-06-10T04:36:00.000-07:00

At the Manchester United Museum at Old Trafford is a display case of items collected by former club captain Charlie Roberts throughout his career.

One if the items is a blue shirt which is labeled as being an "early 1900s United shirt":

There is no photographic or written evidence that United ever wore solid blue change shirts, however, at least not while Roberts was at the club.

The only shirt that bears any slight resemblance is the one in this photograph of Roberts at a Players Union gala match against Newcastle on 29th April 1908 at St James' Park:

If anyone has any other information about this shirt, or photographs from the PU gala match, please let us know.

Also, as a point of interest, the label on the shirt bears the name of Alec Watson Sports Outfitters, Manchester:

This company was based at 1 Newton Street and their label appeared on some other United shirts up until the ones worn in the 1957 FA Cup Final. The address is now the home of Empire Books and their sister company Empire Exchange, who have a fine selection of local football programmes and memorabilia in stock and which is well worth a rummage around if you are passing.

1906-1908: From New Boys To Champions

2009-06-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

In August of 1905, United's local (and at the time more successful) rivals City were embroiled in a scandal. They were found to have been paying their players illegal payments above the £4 a week maximum wage. The FA acted by handing out a draconian punishment to the Ardwick-based side - it dismissed five of their directors and banned 17 of their players from appearing for the club again. The team that had won the FA Cup the previous year were effectively dissolved.

United were quick off the mark and with news that the players were set to be auctioned at Manchester's Queens Hotel in November, it was rumoured that they decided to make approaches to the players they wanted before the event, as they were concerned about the prices they would command at auction.

The Queens Hotel, on the corner of Piccadilly and Portland Street, C1905:

If the newspapers were to be believed, Mangnall privately met with a number of the City players and negotiated their transfers to United. This caused fury amongst the other interested clubs, but the FA were not interested and United secured the services of Sandy Turnbull, Jimmy Bannister and Herbert Burgess.

As well as those three, Mangnall had persuaded Billy Meredith, "The Welsh Wizard" to come to Clayton. The scorer of City's only goal in their 1904 FA Cup final victory, Meredith had been embroiled in a bribery scandal the following year and was lucky to escape a lifetime ban. Instead he was banned for a year. During this time, he was disappointed in City's unwillingness to pay him his wages and it was he who blew the whistle on their "under-the-table" dealings. Despite this he was still widely regarded as the jewel in City's crown.

These events marked the shift of power in Manchester from blue to red, and it has (barring a period between the wars) remained that way ever since. All the momentum that City had built up was transferred directly to United in one summer.

United would have to see out 1906 before they could field their new signings, and this photo shows the rest of the players at the start of the 1906-07 season in training outfits:

A photograph taken at the public practice match just before the start of the season shows the players in two different kits. Eleven of them are in the familiar home kits, while the other eleven are wearing light coloured jerseys with white collars. Not many teams wore light colours at the time. The light salmon pink shirts (as worn by the likes of Everton) had fallen out of favour several years beforehand, meaning that the choice of light colours was limited to light blue or possibly gold or yellow (although teams we traditionally associate with wearing yellow jerseys such as Norwich and Watford had not yet adopted the colour). This means it's quite possible that these shirts were in the same colour as United's rivals at Hyde Road:

This is an edited version of an image from the extensive Leslie Millman collection, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission.

There have been a lot of anecdotal stories told by City fans over the years about how we gained our nickname (currently used exclusively by Blues) "The Rags". One of these stories involves United being so strapped for cash that they had to donate us some of their ragged old jerseys. This story certainly does not tally with the 1906 photograph as it was City who were having money problems and United who were enjoying an influx of investment.

The above photograph is also puzzling because it is the only one that features United in the light change shirts. By the first game of the 1906/07 season - a 2-1 away win at Bristol City - they were wearing new white change jerseys, which would be retained until 1909:

Once again, with a black and white photograph as our only evidence of the kit we have to make some presumptions about colours. Although the dark collar, cuffs and socks could have been any dark colour, it is most likely they were red, in keeping with the club's traditions:

January 1st 1907 saw the long awaited debuts of the ex-City four and they were cheered onto the pitch at Bank Street by a crowd of 40,000. United beat Villa after Meredith crossed for Turnbull to score the game's only goal.

That season ended with United in a respectable 8th place, while Newcastle set a new record by winning the league with 51 points.

The downside of 1906/07 was that the Reds were knocked out of the FA Cup in a first round replay by Portsmouth. In the first game, away at Fratton Park, United again wore the new change kit, which would be used until 1909:

The 1907/08 United team line up for a practice match at Bank Street.:

This is an edited version of an image from the extensive Leslie Millman collection, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/ and is used with full permission.

Although the kits were practically identical to those worn in previous seasons, the hooped-topped socks had been gradually replaced by plain black ones. These kits were to be worn for the next four seasons. Some players also wore socks with "cadet stripes". In fact Billy Meredith was was almost always seen in them and they seem to have appeared simultaniously with the arrival of him and his fellow ex-City players:

By May, United had beaten Newcastle's record by collecting 52 points in the First Division; The League Title had been won by a Manchester side for the first time.

George Wall, Jimmy Bannister and Sandy Turnbull in the change shirts:

1903-1906: An Upturn In Fortune

2009-06-07T14:56:00.000-07:00

Manchester United's first season under their new name and ownership was a moderate success, they finished in fifth place after only managing to come fifteenth the previous season. Although they beat their neighbours 2-0 at Hyde Road, it would be City who came top winning promotion to the first division.

The team, photographed at the beginning of the 1903/04 (courtesy of manchesterunitedman1 - click on all these images for much higher resolution):

The team appear to be wearing two or three slightly different kinds of shirts, but as there are only 21 players in the photograph, that suggests it was not taken before a practice match and that they are probably all red home shirts. Clubs were still not particularly bothered if the players' kits did not match, so long as the colours were correct. Captain Harry Stafford is wearing a badge on his shirt, although the details are difficult to make out and I am unsure of it's significance. Stafford would retire from the game shortly after this was taken, without kicking a ball that season.

Although the investment from the likes of Davies and Stafford had bolstered the club financially, the fact was they were still a second division side - and this was not good enough for the new directors. Secretary James West found himself shouldering a lot of the blame - "For mistakes for which he was not really responsible", according to the Evening News - and promptly handed in his resignation to the board.

On September 30th, 1903, just two day's after West's departure, the board appointed the Burnley secretary Ernest Mangnall to the vacant position at United. Over the next decade, he was to have a profound influence over the club.

Mangnall was famous for his trademark boater:

Just over a month later, instead of paying a transfer fee for Joe Schofield and Charlie Wright, United played their old club Ashton Town. Following the death of Alec Bell's father, "Out of respect the United turned out in new black and white jerseys". We can only guess that they looked something like this:

Almost as influential a figure as Mangnall in United's early years would be Charlie Roberts, a young half-back signed from Grimsby in 1904. Roberts would soon become United's captain and their first player to be selected for the English national side. He is said to have caused a stir by insisting on playing in short shorts when the FA rules at the time stated they should be knee-length (photograph C1911):

Roberts' debut came during the penultimate home game of the season and saw United beat Burton Utd on the way to finish in third place, narrowly missing out on promotion. They found themselves in the exact same position at the end of the following season, but in the 1905/06 season, United finished in second place and were finally promoted back into the top flight after 12 seasons in the second division.

The 1904/05 team, with Major the St Bernard front centre (also courtesy of manchesterunitedman1):

The team line up before a match early on in the 1905-06 season (again original photo from manchesterunitedman1 collection):

The home jerseys were in the style of those worn in the previous season (this style of shirt would be worn until 1911, albeit with plain black socks from 1907 onwards). Other photos from this time period show that the socks worn were mainly the ones with the blue hoop, although in this photograph some players are wearing plain black ones.

Charlie Roberts in the home shirt, showing the two-button collar in more detail:

Another photograph from the 1905/06 season shows the players before a practice match with half of them in home kits and the other half in white change shirts. Details are hard to make out, but they appear to be the same as those worn as part of the home kit at the turn of the century:

Shirt Badges Photo Archive

2009-06-03T04:22:00.001-07:00

Over the last couple of years, I have been photographing and collecting images of the badges and crests on old Manchester United shirts.

I thought it would be a good idea to share these, so I have added them all to a set in my Flickr account. Many of these photos were taken of player's shirts in the museum at Old Trafford over several visits, while others were found elsewhere on the internet. Some are in very high resolutions, while others aren't as good quality. I will add more as and when I get them.

Click here to view the archive.

Below are a few low-res tasters:

First Video Footage of United?

2009-06-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

The BFI have tagged this early Mitchell & Kenyon footage of Manchester United (from their excellent archive on youtube) as having been shot during the 2-0 victory over Burnley at Turf Moor, on December 6th, 1902.

Several things about this claim do not seem to correlate with the video, however.

About 10 seconds into the video, is that Ernest Mangnall emerging from the tunnel and waiting to the left as the players follow him out? Does the sixth United player out of the tunnel not look a lot like Sandy Turnbull? Neither of those two were at United in 1902.

Also, the goalkeeper appears to be wearing a different shirt to the outfield players (this only started to happen around 1909).

Could this footage possibly be from either United's 3-2 win on 10th March 1909 or Burnley's 2-0 win on 15th January 1910 instead?

1902-1903: Dawn of United

2009-06-01T17:13:00.000-07:00

It had been nine years since Newton Heath had vacated the area which gave them their name, but still the club stuck with it, much to the annoyance of visiting teams and their travelling support, who would often find themselves several miles away on the wrong side of town come time for kick-off!

It was decided that with all the behind the scenes changes that had occured, it would be the right time to decide on a more appropriate name for the club. Suggestions apparently included Manchester Central and Manchester Celtic, but (at least according to legend) Louis Rocca, who had played for the reserves and served as the club's tea boy, hit on the name Manchester United and it was settled.

It is unknown, however, who decided on the change of colours. Although they had worn a combination of red and white before, this was to be the first time the club would wear solid red jerseys, white shorts and black socks as their first choice kits. The following year, the Manchester Evening News reported "new jerseys of bright red cashmere with red collar and white knickers and black stockings with blue tops”. We will therefore presume that the socks were the same colours in 1902:

Change kits were blue and white striped shirts, white shorts and the same black socks as worn with the home kit:

The squad line up during the 1902/03 season, with players in both first and second choice kits. Thanks and credit to Leslie Millman (manchesterunitedman1) for the original photograph:

1900-1902: On The Brink

2009-06-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

By the end of the 1900/01 season, Newton Heath had finished in their (then) lowest-ever position of 10th in the second dvision. They were struggling both on and off the pitch, but a chance encounter had already set the club on the path to greatness.

The club retained the same white and navy home kits that they had worn since 1896. Although no photographic evidence exists, it is probable that the green and gold striped change shirts were worn in this period.

The team are photographed at the start of the 1901/02 season:

In early 1901, the club had organised a bazaar where they hoped to raise £1000 in order to pay off some debts and bring in some new players. It was held on February 27th at St James Hall on Oxford Street, but, despite good publicity in the Manchester Evening News, it was not a success. The money raised was barely enough to cover the cost of hiring the hall, however it was to be a very profitable exercise for another reason entirely.

During the event, club captain Harry Stafford had taken a St Bernard dog called Major along to collect donations in a box he carried. At some point the animal escaped and was found wandering the streets by a publican and friend of local brewer, John Henry Davies, who took a fancy to the dog, but decided to track down his owner. When Stafford explained the circumstances behind the dog's escapade, Davies was moved to give a donation to the club and made a promise of further help in the future. The Heathens captain would thankfully not forget it...

The venue of the bazaar, St James Hall, pictured C1903:

A year later, the financial trouble had worsened for the club to the degree that they were almost disolved. A winding-up order was served against them when the then-club president, William Healey, had taken the club to Ashton-Under-Lyne county court in an attempt to recover some of the money he had lent to the Heathens. The club owed him the figure of £242, 17s and 10d, but their total debt was around ten times that amount.

Below is a transcription of an article printed in the Manchester Evening News on January 9th, 1902:

The Affairs of the Newton Heath Club

Winding-Up Order Granted

At the Ashton-Under-Lyne County Court this afternoon, Dr. Bradley, barrister, instructed by Messrs. Brett, Hamilton and Tarbolton, solicitors of Manchester, applied to the Judge on behalf of Mr. W. J. Healey, of Salford, for a compulsory winding-up order against the Newton Heath Football Club Company, Limited. There was no appearance to the petition.

Dr. Bradley explained that the petition was brought on account of an unsatisfied debt of £242. 17s. 10d. due to Mr. Healey, who was at one time a director of the club, and who brought these proceedings with very great reluctance. Mr. Healey had filed an affidavit in which it was stated that the club was incorporated in 1892, and that the registered offices were at Clayton. The capital of the company is 2000 shares at £1 each and the amount paid was £765. 3s. 6d. The object for which the company was established was to carry on the business of a football club. The club was indebted to Mr. Healey for the amount mentioned.

No Opposition Present

His Honour: Is there any opposition present?
Dr. Bradley: No.
His Honour: What is a football club, limited? How do they carry on business? Do they make money?
Dr. Bradley said the club engaged professional players to play matches and took the gate receipts. He did not suppose that a company of this kind was formed with the object of gain. It was formed with the object of ascertaining the liabilities and seeing that they did not exceed a certain amount. According to what the gate receipts were, they paid the players.

A Modified Success

His Honour: Was it a success?
Dr. Bradley: At first it was, but lately it has not been.
His Honour: Has it paid any dividends?
Dr. Bradley: I don't think so. I think I may safely say it has never paid any, the object being not to pay dividends but to play football. The club is in the second division of the League.
His Honour: Are all the proceedings regular?
Dr. Bradley: The application has been advertised.
His Honour: Have you received any notice of opposition?
Dr. Bradley: No; the latest time for opposition to be lodged was 6 o'clock last night, but none had been received at eleven o'clock this morning.
His Honour: Is there no correspondence, no answer from the secretary?
Dr. Bradley: No. Negotiations have taken place for a settlement of the debt, but they have not come to anything.
His Honour: Your debt is not disputed?
Dr. Bradley: No. We have had an offer of 10s. in the pound after the proceedings were commenced. We agreed to accept the offer, and they did not pay
His Honour: You seem to be entitled to your order. The proceedings are regular, and the order will be made, with costs.

The Position of the Club

No Question of Extinction

The decision arrived at this morning in the Ashton County Court, though serious from a financial point of view to many of those connected with the club, does not mean the death of Newton Heath as a playing club and a member of the second division. . No one who has the slightest interest in such an old club could contemplate this fate with equanimity, and it is certain that when the immediate stress of financial resources has been removed a big effort will be made to put the club on a much sounder basis than it has been for the past few years. Many clubs in the country are propped up by one or two men of means, but the withdrawal of these financial supporters would not, of course, involve the complete downfall of the clubs. It is possible for a club to be absolutely insolvent one month and to be in a comparatively flourishing position the next. This fact is realised, and for the most part, the gentlemen who have advanced money to the club are content to wait until the change of fortune comes.

Mr. Healey is doubtless quite justified in taking steps to recover his money, though it might fairly be expected of such an excellent and liberal supporter of the game that he would have shown a little more patience. However, Mr. Healey's claim will have to be met in some way or other, and providing other creditors do not press their claims, there ought to be no difficulty in making an arrangement. One or two really good "gates" would soon improve matters, and rather that there should be any fear of the club not being able to meet its League engagements the thousands of footballers who have long followed the fortunes of Newton Heath will doubtless be prepared to make some special effort in the near future. There is, of course, nothing to prevent other clubs coming to the assistance of Newton Heath, temporarily or otherwise. This has been done in other cases where the club has had no such record to boast as the old Manchester organisation.

Originally formed in connection with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway carriage works, the club became a member of the old Alliance in the days when the League was formed. In 1892 they gained a place in the First Division but fell to the bottom of the table with the result that they had to take part in the test match. This gave them another lease in the premier combination, but in April, 1894, they were defeated in the final test and disappeared from the First Division. Since then they have existed in the Second Division with varying fortunes, last season being the worst they ever had from a playing point of view. Bad luck rather than bad management is responsible for their present plight, for both last season and this season they have had many attractive matches ruined by the weather from a financial point of view.

The Future of the Club

Saturday's Match to be Played

The Newton Heath Football Club, although the pioneer of Association football in Manchester, has lately fallen on evil days, and even the bazaar held in St. James's Hall failed to clear the club financially. It was hoped that things would be put right this season, but the weather has been all against large gates at the important home matches, and the crisis has at length arrived. One of the directors told our reporter this afternoon that they had done their best to come to terms with Mr. Healey with regard to the money he had advanced, and they much regretted that the matter had had to go into court. He emphatically denied that the granting of the winding-up order would mean the extinction of the club, and said the match arranged with Middlesbrough on Saturday next would certainly take place at Clayton, indeed the team is to be selected this evening. The directors confidently believe that, given fine weather, there should be a big gate at the match, and if this should be the case and the supporters of the club will turn up in force, they are sure that the present great difficulty will be overcome. The directors meet to-night to discuss the situation.

The Football League and the receivers then closed the Bank Street ground and postponed the club's next fixture - the above-mentioned Middlesbrough match. During this time, Harry Stafford tirelessly campained to raise money for the cause and if he had not managed to raise enough to pay the travel expenses for the away fixture at Bristol City, then Newton Heath may well have gone under.

In March 1902, a meeting was called at the New Islington Hall in Ancoats, where Stafford announced that he had found five investors who would each put up £200 for the club - one of whom was himself, while another was J.H. Davies, who soon found himself installed as the new club president. Major the dog found himself living in the Davies household while the club would shortly find itself a new name, and new colours, too...

United Landmarks - For Google Earth Users

2009-06-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

While reading lots of books about the history of the club, I found myself both surprised and confused about some of the locations and events associated with Manchester United.

For example, I was surprised about the part the town of my birth had played in the troubled early days of the club, and that a building I had lived in for a couple of years had been the venue for a mysterious FA investigation into the affairs of a United manager.

Although many locations have been victims of the wartime bombings or of modernisation, there are still a few places left standing with which many Mancunians will be familiar but quite probably unaware of the significance of with regard to the footballing history of both Red and Blue sides of the city.

Also included are sites of United victory and tragedy across several continents:

Click here (Megaupload) to download the file*Updated/Corrected 10/11/2010

Simply double click on the file once it has downloaded and Google Earth will launch it. For those without the program, it is free to download:

Click here to download Google Earth

Here's a taster screenshot:

Comments, corrections or suggestions for additions are most welcome!

Reaction: The Champions League Final

2009-06-01T04:20:00.000-07:00

Well, what more can be said of last Wednesday's game other than the better team on the night won?

Had United played to their usual standards, it may not have gone the way it did, but then again, had it not been for some great stops from van der Sar, it could have been a far more comprehensive victory for the Catalan side. Congratulations to Barca.

The worst thing in the aftermath of the match (besides the crushing disappointment felt by United fans) was the way the press - who had previously been touting United as world-beaters - attacked the team in a way usually reserved for the England side when they (inevitably) get knocked out of an international tournament at the quarter-final stages.

According to the tabloids, at precisely 19:56hrs, United had gone from the best team in the world to the worst - and in need of a major clear-out of players. This was in spite of them not noticing that United, despite their success, had not been playing particularly thrilling "United style" football for the the best part of two seasons (on a consistent basis, at least).

Never the less, had someone offered any United fan the chance to finish the season with another league title under our belts, after the first serious challenge from Liverpool for the best part of two decades, and another couple of trophies to boot, I'm sure - like me - they'd have bitten their arm off at the elbow.

Wednesday was simply a very disappointing finale to a very successful season.

As for the kit (in order to stay relatively on-topic), United turned out much as they did last time they faced Barcelona in a European final back in 1991 - in all white. The shirt itself was a slightly different version of the regular away kit from this season, with a different cut around the shoulders with the whole of the back of the shirt made of a fine mesh to provide extra venting and keep the players cool. It also had the details of the final embroidered in a rather odd maroon colour on the chest:

The (aforementioned) victorious 1991 European Cup Winners Cup Final team line up before kick off against Barcelona in Rotterdam:

1895-1900: Troubled Times

2009-05-26T16:26:00.000-07:00

For the next six seasons, Newton Heath were often in contention in the Second Division, finishing in the top four on five occasions, but it was to be their local rivals, City, who would be the promoted to the top flight first.

During this time, the players turned out for home games in white jerseys - perhaps for economic reasons, as white shirts were much cheaper than coloured shirts, or because of an increasing superstition amongst football clubs and fans that green was an "unlucky" colour (hence the reason there are so few clubs playing in green kits today). It certainly hadn't brought the Heathens much luck over the years, but they probably retained the green and gold jerseys as part of a change kit until 1902.

The team pictured during the 1897/98 season:

During the same season they are pictured in the striped shirts possibly of green and gold:

Off the pitch at this time, the club was struggling with it's finances, racking up large debts to it's creditors. By the turn of the century, it was in real trouble...

1893-1895: Moving On

2009-05-26T15:25:00.000-07:00

The Heathens' first season in the Football League was not successful, and they were saved from relegation only by beating Small Heath - later to become Birmingham City - in the playoffs, or Test Matches, as they were then known (there was no automatic relegation and promotion between the two divisions at the time).

Also, the club had a further breakdown in their relationship with the railway company, who had increased the rent on their North Road ground (despite it being sub-let from Manchester Cathedral, who apparently were not in favour of charging spectators to attend matches there). It was obvious that Newton Heath would be forced to find themselves a new home.

A ground three miles away at Bank Street in Clayton was secured in time for the club to begin their league campaign the for the 1893-94 season and the kit was again changed - this time to green and gold striped shirt, navy kickers and socks:

Unfortunately, the ground at Bank Street was no improvement on North Road. The pitch was just as bad, if not worse, but now there was the extra problem of toxic fumes from the adjacent chemical works that would leave the ground almost permanently shrouded in a thick, acrid haze. In fact, there was a power station to the other side and the site of the pitch itself had also previously been a chemical works!

That the club would, for a further nine years, keep the same name as when it played at Newton Heath caused much confusion for visiting teams and supporters, too.

A map of the Bank Street area C1909, overlayed onto a map of the area today:

Below is an aerial photograph of the Clayton area taken in the 1920s, the site of the ground is highlighted, but was disused at the time:

The luck that the Heathens had the previous season was to desert them at Bank Street, as they were again forced to fight for their First Division survival in the Test Match, but lost to Liverpool at Ewood Park.

The 1894-95 season would see them take their place in the Second Division alongside newly re-named neighbours Manchester City, then playing at Hyde Road in Ardwick. Once again, the Heathens switched their jerseys for the new season - to new green ones with gold collars, which they also wore the following season, along with white knickers and dark - possibly black - socks. The change kit is unknown, but may have simply been the same shorts and socks worn with any of the prevoius shirts.

There are a few variations that the players are wearing - some with gold trim, some without - but this appears to be the most common one:

1892-1893: League Football At Last!

2009-05-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

After applying several times to enter the Football League, Newton Heath finally got their wish when the League was expanded to two divisions in 1892-93. They were elected to join the First Division, which was to be made up of 16 clubs rather than the 14 it had done previously.

In anticipation of joining the league, the club became a limited company and in reflection of this change, the "L&YR" of the club's name was dropped and official ties with the railway company were severed. 2000 shares of £1 were issued but they were not as popular as had been hoped. In response to this, the railway increased the rent charged for the North Road ground and ended their offer of cheap train travel to players and supporters. The club also hired a secretary for the first time, Alf Albut who had previously been with Aston Villa.

Alan Shury and Brian Landamore's The Definitive Newton Heath states:

“In friendly matches with Football League clubs at the start of the season, Newton Heath lost to Stoke and drew with Bolton Wanderers. The report of the latter game mentions 'Powell and his men in their familiar red and white costumes'. Though Newton Heath are generally known for playing in green and gold shirts, the colours registered with the Football League in 1892 were 'red and white quartered shirts, blue shorts'. By 'quarters' it was meant that the shirts were 'halved' on the front and the back, as can be seen from the group photographs.”

The only photos known to exist from that year are the ones below, and they are probably the most well known photos from the Newton Heath era. It is from these that several retro shirt companies have based their products on... albeit in the wrong colours, it would seem:

They had been thought to show the the players in their more famous green and gold, but in fact, these are the aforementioned red and white shirts. It is, of course, possible that they are pictured in change colours (of which there is no record) but the top photograph is thought to have been taken on January 7th, 1893. It was on that day that the Heathens played Stoke away and their goalkeeper, Jimmy Warner, had missed the train. This accounts for why there is no recognised keeper amongst the eleven players (thanks to historian and author Charbel Boujaoude for this information).

The rules at the time stated that all teams should keep a set of white change shirts in case of a colour clash. Also, up until as late as 1921, it was the home team that should wear change shirts in case of a clash. Stoke at the time wore navy and red stripes, so there may not have been a reason for either team to change anyway as the referees were much more lenient about such matters back then.

In colour, the kit most likely would have looked like this:

One player in each photo (Farman top and Wood bottom) is wearing a variant shirt - presumably one of the other style had been destroyed!:

1878-1892: The Heathens

2009-05-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

Newton Heath were formed at the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company's Carriage and Wagon Works, on North Road in the area known today as Monsall. Overseen by the works supervisor, Fred Attock (a Liverpudlian), the club would play their earliest matches in unknown colours. No records exist, but in the early days of the association game, teams were often identified by the caps or sashes they would wear on the pitch rather than any specific team uniform.

In 1879, a year after the club were founded, Attock presented the players with a set of quartered (a style which, confusuingly, would now be refered to as "halved") jerseys in gold and green, the corporate livery of the railway company. Players had to provide the other items of kit themselves, however.

One of the earliest known photographs is from the mid 1880s and is of an early club captain, Sam Black. He is wearing the jersey with long white "knickerbockers" and black "stockings". The jersey bears a badge on the left hand side, which Black received when he was one of four ‘Heathens’ called up to represent the Manchester & District FA in 1884. It was common for district and international players to wear the badge of their local association or home country on their club shirts during this era, and for these "quartered" shirts to be worn in variations by players on the same team - some having green on the left and gold on the right and others having the colours on the opposite sides. In the early days of football, there was ironically very little uniformity in the uniforms:

Here is a colour representation of that kit - which was probably worn with several combinations of black, white and navy knickers and stockings - minus the badge:

During the early years of association football, all teams were required to keep a set of "change" shirts (most commonly white) to be used in case of a colour clash. However, it was the home team who were required to change their kits in these circumstances, rather than the away team.

Possible change kit used by Newton Heath during this period (as with the home kit, they would have been worn with the same combinations shorts and socks):

Newton Heath historian Brian Landamore informs me that in 1888, a handbook for the Manchester and District Football Association stated that Newton Heath were wearing red and white, although (according to Gary James' Manchester A Football History) as entrants for the 1887-88 Manchester Cup, they were still listed as playing in green and gold. It's probable that they switched colours in the summer of 1888, although no photographic evidence is known to exist. I have assumed that the jerseys were in a similar style to that worn by Black in the earlier photo and that the same rules applied to the shorts and socks:

The reasons for the change in colours can only be guessed at, but one theory is that the club simply updated them in line with the railway company who had discontinued the use of green as livery for their stock in 1883 and had opted instead for black exteriors with red and white lining.

In early 1890, the Heathens won the Manchester Cup for the third consecutive year and they were photographed with the trophy the following September. This is the earliest known photo of the team:

By this time the players were wearing what would more properly be described as "shirts" rather than "jerseys" and they seem to have settled on one colour for the knickers and socks, which we believe were navy:

Another photograph survives from the following season. Taken around March 1892, the players appear in quartered jerseys once more, albeit again in a slightly different design, along with the now familiar navy shorts and socks:

League football was beckoning...

Background: The Early Years

2009-05-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

Newton Heath L.Y.R. (Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway) Football Club were formed in 1878 by the workers of the Newton Heath Carriage Works and they played their games on a field opposite the works, on North Road (now known as Northampton Road).

The Newton Heath carriage and wagon works, with the football ground to upper left (aerial photo taken in the mid 1920s):

Another photo with the football ground in the upper center, North Road running diagonally across the upper right, with the works to the left of that. Moston Fever Hospital is in the foreground (aerial photo taken in the mid 1920s):

A section of a map from the period when Newton Heath played at North Road:

The ground had a very poor surface, suffered from drainage problems and was not ideally suited to football. The players had no facilities and they had to change in various pubs on Oldham Road, such as the Three Crowns and the Shears Hotel (both now demolished) which were around half a mile away.

The Three Crowns, Oldham Road (photo taken in the early 1970s):

The Shears Hotel, Oldham Road and Shears Street (photo taken in the early 1960s):

United Kits Through the Ages

2009-05-23T05:40:00.000-07:00

A complete record of the history of Manchester United's kits.

This is where I intend to post photos and graphic representations of every kit worn by Manchester United from their founding in 1878 (as Newton Heath LYR) up until the present day. I hope to add some historical detail and insight along the way, and I may even be tempted to write a little about other football matters every now and then, too.

Many thanks should be given to Dave Moor at historicalkits.co.uk and Paul Nagel, who has done vast amounts of research on this subject and has been kind enough to share some of it with me.

About the blogger:

My name is Tim, I am 29 years old and I was born in Ashton-Under-Lyne. I have spent most of my life living in Greater Manchester but currently live in Lincolnshire. Welcome to my new blog.

Category: Kit History

2009-05-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

Index:

Category: General History

2009-05-01T03:47:00.000-07:00

Index:

Category: Topical News & Reaction

2009-05-01T02:51:00.000-07:00

Index: