2009-10 Away Kit Revealed:

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.

2009/10 Home Kit Revealed

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:

Reaction: The Champions League Final

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: