The9

Erm, you haven't been on the kit thread then. The upcoming debate is "wtf, where are the stripes?"

Or not.

Mmmm, I'm knocking 40 and as an adult I've never seen Saints play at home in anything other than stripes except the sash, the last non-striped kit before that being 1986-ish if you allow the Denmark kit to count as "stripes". The thing with the history argument is that the sash is inarguably linked to the club, even if people don't remember it themselves. The red thing is ok as a kit, but it's just not what you expect for a Saints kit and has no historical relevance. We've worn plain red before, back when people were first pushing the boundaries of advertising and kit marketing, but we've never worn plain red with pinstripes or anything like it. I think you're probably in a minority with your view of the aesthetics of the sash shirt as well, most people loved the design. I'm hoping Umbro haven't just chucked something half-assed out, but I have a few "printed" colour shirts, and they're all cack compared to the ones with a solid base colour in the material. It doesn't matter so much when it's white with red stripes on it because there's not really many other ways of doing that, but a whole other base colour is just a bit cheapy. I assume it's a technical thing, easier than printing white (and grey) pinstripes onto a dark background, but I'm not sure I'm keen on the effect. A lot will depend on how it looks with the shorts and socks though. If they go with the diagonal hooped socks it will officially be hideous overall no matter what the shorts look like.

To summarise : You specify a home and away kit, and wear your home kit at home unless there's going to be a clash. You can have a third kit if you want. You can only wear your away OR your third kit if you have one, a maximum of 8 times. You can also have a new home or away kit for the last game of the season provided you wear it the following season.

Said model on twitter replied to one question saying it WASN'T the reverse, which is a shame. The rules (PDF!) : http://www.premierleague.com/content/dam/premierleague/site-content/News/publications/handbooks/premier-league-handbook-2011-12.pdf See Rule 21 in red below. Section F, pages 135-8, last year's Premier League Handbook : SECTION F PLAYER IDENTIFICATION AND STRIP Player Identification 1. Before the commencement of each Season each Club shall allocate a different shirt number to each member of its first team squad. 2. A Club shall likewise allocate a shirt number to any Player joining its first team squad during the Season. 3. Save with the prior written consent of the Board shirt numbers shall commence with the number one and shall be allocated consecutively. 4. While he remains with the Club a Player will retain his shirt number throughout the Season for which it was allocated. 5. Upon a Player leaving a Club the shirt number allocated to him may be re-allocated. 6. Each Club shall forthwith provide to the Secretary on Form 8 full details in writing of shirt numbers allocated so that throughout each Season the Secretary is aware of the names of members of the first team squad of each Club and the shirt numbers allocated to them. 7. When playing in League Matches each Player shall wear a shirt on the back of which shall be prominently displayed his shirt number and above that his surname or such other name as may be approved in writing by the Board. 8. The Player’s shirt number shall also appear on the front of the left leg of his shorts. 9. The size, style, colour and design of shirt numbers, lettering and the logo of the League appearing on a Player’s shirt or shorts and the material from which such numbers, lettering and logo are made shall be determined by the Board from time to time. 10. The colour and design of the shirt and stockings worn by the goalkeeper when playing in League Matches shall be such as to distinguish him from the other Players and from Match Officials. 11. The captain of each team appearing in a League Match shall wear an armband provided by the League indicating his status as such. 12. Any Club acting in breach of any of Rules F.1 to F.11 inclusive will be liable to pay to the League a fixed penalty of £300 for a first breach, £600 for a second breach and £1,200 for a third breach. Any subsequent breach may be dealt under the provisions of Section R. Home and Away Strip 13. Each Club shall have a home Strip and an away Strip which shall be worn by its Players in League Matches in accordance with the provisions of these Rules. 14. The logo of the League shall appear on each sleeve of both home Strip and away Strip shirts. 15. Neither the home Strip shirt nor the away Strip shirt shall be of a colour or design alike or similar to the outfits of Match Officials. 16. Not later than 4 weeks before the commencement of each Season each Club shall register its Strips by submitting to the Secretary Form 9 together with samples of its home Strip, away Strip and goalkeeper’s Strip complying with these Rules and a brief written description of each and the Secretary having entered the descriptions in a register will cause the same to be printed in the handbook of the League. 17. Each Strip submitted for registration in accordance with Rule F.16 shall have on it: 17.1 the shirt number and name of any Player in the Club’s first team squad, displayed as required by Rule F.7; 17.2 any advertisement for which the approval of the Board is either sought or has already been given under the provisions of Rule F.28.1. 18. If pursuant to Rule F.16 a Club seeks to register a Strip which does not comply with these Rules: 18.1 the Board shall give to that Club notice in writing to that effect giving full details of the changes required to achieve compliance; and 18.2 the Strip in question shall not be worn by that Club’s Players until a further sample has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Board. 19. Subject to Rule F.20, Strips of the description thus registered shall be worn throughout the Season immediately following and no changes to it shall be made except with the prior written permission of the Board. 20. On the occasion of a Club’s last home or away League Match in any Season an alternative Strip may be worn provided that: 20.1 at least 7 days’ prior written notice of intention to do so is given to the Secretary and the opposing Club together in each case with a sample of the Strip intended to be worn; 20.2 the alternative Strip shall be subsequently registered as the Club’s home or away Strip for the following Season. 21. Subject to Rules F.20 and F.22, when playing in League Matches the Players of each participating Club shall wear its home Strip unless the home Strips of the participating Clubs are alike or similar or are in the opinion of the referee likely to cause confusion in which event Players of the Visiting Club shall wear its away Strip, third Strip or a combination of its home Strip, away Strip and its third Strip. In the event of any dispute with regard to the Strip to be worn by either Club, the referee’s decision shall be final. 22. Players of the Visiting Club may wear its away Strip or third Strip when playing in League Matches provided that they shall not do so on more than 8 occasions in any Season, including those occasions, if any, when required to do so by virtue of the foregoing provisions of Rule F.21. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this Rule shall limit the number of occasions a Club may be required to change its Strip pursuant to Rule F.21. 23. At least 7 days prior to each League Match the Visiting Club shall notify the Home Club on Form 9A of the Strip it intends its Players (including for the avoidance of doubt its goalkeeper) to wear. If the Home Club is of the opinion that this is likely to cause confusion it shall immediately notify the League. 24. Subject to Rule F.20, no Club shall participate in a League Match wearing Strip other than its registered home Strip or away Strip or third Strip or a combination of the three except with the prior written consent of the Board. Third Strip 25. Each Club may have a third Strip in addition to its home Strip and its away Strip. 26. The provisions of Rules F.14, F.15 and F.16 shall apply to any third Strip as well as to home Strip and away Strip. Strip Advertising 27. Provided that: 27.1 the content, design and area of the advertisement is approved by the Board; and 27.2 it complies with the Football Association Rules for the time being in force; advertising on Strip shall be permitted.

There are a few differences though (mentioned already in this thread somewhere), the sash was a tangible part of Saints' history and tied in with the 125 anniversary, so people accepted it as a nice touch and it was positively received precisely because it was an appropriate time for a one-off and to be a bit different. Plus is was a top quality kit, didn't look cheap and tied in with the polo-wearers and leisure market. This red thing doesn't look remotely like any previous Saints kits, there's no "good" reason for it not being stripes, and it's not even a classic design (unless you're a Nottingham Forest or Liverpool fan). Also, it's not even red material, it's white with the red printed all over it, which is about as cheap-looking as it gets with football kits. I'm not hopeful, but you never know, it might look better on... Interesting point re: the Asian market btw, but surely if we have some red already there's no benefit in going all red ?

Moneyball theory ? Keepers are usually dirt cheap, but consider how many points a good keeper can win in a season compared to a bad one. If we think we've got a really good one who is available (irrespective of the comments, our scouts are usually decent at this), £6m is still Premier League peanuts compared to the cost of strikers who may only play 50% of the time and think how much you'd have to pay to get a striker that makes as much difference to the score as a keeper. Maybe we're just looking at it wrongly. Oh, and who was it that was saying we'd spent the budget on Rodriguez ?

I'm hoping he was somehow having a sense of humour in being extremely tongue-in-cheek, but it would be somewhat out of character and completely in line with what I had assumed were legitimately annoyed comments about making him hate the kit by saying bad things about it a few pages back. Very strange anyway, you'd think people would want to be able to make their own minds up, if I have mass media mind control powers I should probably use them for good, not, erm, kit critique.

Ah, I could have Googled, but... at least I know what Fireball XL5 is, even if it was a couple of years before my time. I will now have to Google a picture anyway to get the reference.

Well it IS much bigger than yours.

Both.

I didn't say.

Seems feasible... for once.

Not unless it's on the away kit. Or the white kit is the home kit...

She posted that to him, not vice versa. You'll be lucky to get one without a sponsor logo - I spotted a few GK shirts in the West Quay shop the other week but I think they were random leftover stock.

Yeah, I noticed that earlier, realised Draper sponsored the kit I was thinking of and forgot to edit it. I have no idea what a "Steve Zodiac" is though...

I think Preston aside, none of the IFC fans' teams get within a mile of the proper facilities. We did get to play at Preston's training ground once though, which was decent. We reciprocated by playing them on a cabbage patch at Wide Lane and another one at Fleming Park, after we'd kicked the little kids out of the goalmouth.

I'll tip him off that you're looking for him.

And Saints kit wearing models, fortunately for us on the Kit thread.

Is their academy also in Eastleigh or do they just scuffle about in a field in Portsmouth ?

I'm shocked that MLG has not mentioned that You imply, I infer. But anyway.

Yeah, but how many hundreds of clubs have been taken over with the owners promising that ? Crewe are well known for their academy and aren't in there, they're at the same level as we were then. There aren't many League One sides in Cat 1 consideration now...

More likely not to have a club than no players. If they sign a Prem keeper they should get shut down on principle (not just general principles).

We shall see... probably though.

That was what I was worried about !