SW11_Saint

Sheep and kids will buy them regardless. They will shift a few units due to that fact alone, and just being in the Prem. The stats on the poll and the comments below it - and on other forums - seem entirely representative, around 9% approval rating. P1ss poor, and strange given that this is something that is SO EASY to get right.

Exactly. That is what amazes me about this whole fiasco - it is so ridiculously easy to get it RIGHT!

They were accepted, but then they always retained our red, white & black palette. Some were fantastic, some were bloody awful - but they were always identifiably Saints. The move from some form of stripes is a big issue, but so is the removal of the black shorts. Swapping a clear identity for genericism is never a good idea.

Good for you. The last hundred odd years must have been just terrible for you...

Red, white and BLACK. Other past combinations - even when they have strayed away from the traditional stripes - have stayed with that colour palette, and are always therefore identifiable as 'Saints kits'. That is the other big difference here. The lack of originality and the blandness of this paltry effort just add insult to injury.

Thought it would be difficult to top last years monstrosity, but they have managed it. A drab, boring, bland, generic Adidas template, which says NOTHING about the history and tradition of Southampton Football Club. Truly awful. Four replica kit sales lost in this household. Give the fans what they want to see the team in next year - red & white stripes.

Happy days. I used to write for Red Stripe. And I know who you can blame for that cover...

Commentators do just fine - they have the teams sheets, and their notes, right in front of them on paper...

Though of course nothing is permanent - eventually people move on, or well, you know, depart this mortal coil. So at some point the stripes will be reinstated and sanity (and identity) will be restored. Even Cortese may have a rethink if sales don't go well. If the (unfounded) rumours are true that NC doesn't like stripes or thinks solid colours imply a more successful image, I wonder what he thinks of Barcelona, Inter, AC, and Juve etc?

The sash kit was indubitably Saints - represented our first ever kit, and was explicitly offered as a one-off 125th anniversary kit. In stripes, we don't "look like Stoke or Sunderland" (you just said yourself "our history is stripes"?!?). Why is it people started trotting out this idiotic statement last year?? It is embarrassing - stop it! (Do you confuse QPR and Reading too? Spurs and Fulham? ). PS You seriously need names on the back to know who our players are?!?

It's a lovely kit. For Rotherham Utd.

They only bother doing original designs for the big boys - where there is a truly global market. The rest of us also rans get the bland, generic templates. Of course if you have a distinctive kit - like stripes or hoops - you can still retain some form of identity. Unless of course you decide to ditch it to join the truly generic masses...

Why do people continually think it's about what we fans wear? That has little to do with it. It's what the TEAM wear that is important... It is about identity and culture. Wonder if Celtic fans would be so simperingly submissive if their board decided to do away with the hoops?

The sash was a great kit, and the last one I bought - planned to buy one when we got back into the Prem, but then of course... The sash kit worked as (1) it was a one off / collectors item, (2) said something about our history and tradition, (3) was a bl00dy great bit of design. Last years, and it seems this years are none of the above. As I said on here last year, I have no problem with variation, as long as we stick to the red, black, white colour palette. For me the move to red shorts last year was a worse offence than the bland/boring/unimaginative shirt, as it took us away from our heritage colours. I also said that I worried it might be a stepping stone to a rebrand of the club, though hoped that was just me being paranoid...

So you buy three separate shirts (two to keep in polythene?) when there is no sponsor, yet call The9 a "footy shirt nutjob supremo"? Hmmm...

Well said. Great post.

Believe the sash kit outsold the last years kit significantly. Despite the misleading PR from the club - my, admittedly unscientific, view is that there were less of the 'Liverpool kit' worn at SMS than other recent kits. Of around 30 or so fans I drink with pre/post match with only one bought it.

Generic, yet also tacky. Double whammy. Well done Saints!

Same here. They are only 7 yet, on seeing last years monstrosity exclaimed "that's not a Saints kit!". They won't be missing anything by the the sounds of it this year either...

Wonder if they're changing their home kit to all blue? (and if some of their fans are saying "the kit we wear has no relevance whatsoever"?)

Would take that (in red & white) over the generic crap we're going to get any day. Lucky old West Brom.

Well said. If we'd have introduced a striped shirt this year (or even a variation on the striped theme) I would have bought 4 - two adults, two kids. For the second year in a row I will be buying zero. Most people I got to SMS with will do likewise.

#GenericRedKitOfTheFuture

I think you'll find if they released a decent shirt with red & white stripes, and black shorts, they probably would...

And people like you, with zero interest in our history and tradition, are part of the problem. *"Change whatever you want, none of it really matters"... I'm waiting for the first idiot to trot out the "red shorts take us to 'the next level' line"...