The Kraken

Christ alive.

Can't agree with that entirely. Adidas have been extremely generic but the most frustrating thing has been seeing how they can get it spot on for some clubs but not for others, like us, where they've used a standard template that really means nothing. The Ajax shirt is an absolute beauty; simple but classic. Both West Ham's home and away kits have been done very tastefully and have gone down very well indeed with their fans. Aside from the lopsided badge and logo setup, the Sunderland kit is actually very nice. There have been other adidas striped efforts from the PL and round the world that have looked good; but there have been too many have been lazy templates just thrown at the clubs. Dare I say it, adidas seem to be reallyt cornering the market of the PL teams, there's loads of sides that now use them and without a bigger catalogue of available templates, aside from one or two sides who've come out of it well its really been overused as an advertising tool for adidas than for creating a little originality for the teams.

I thought tradition started last year? I'm so confused.

While the season ticket part may be technically true, a number of staff get given a couple of comp tickets for every home game for friends/family to use.

As opposed to what? It remaining in the family's hands and fans not being able to see it? And who needs top see a cup final winner's medal anyway? If the family want to sell it, fine, no problem with that. Just don't expect the fans or the club to fork out for it.

He certainly has much to prove. And depending on what signings we go on to make, there's a potential difficulty in seeing exactly where he fits into a role that is a progression for him from last season.

Never mind all this fancy scientific sh*t, these overpaid primadonnas should be busting their lungs running up sand dunes. Strachan wouldn't have put up with this namby pamby treatment, he knew how to get the best out of real try-hards like Paul Telfer. Gaston would have sh*t bricks if he'd ever have had to run the way WGS had them going in pre-season.

That's actually a really nice kit

Fair play if he wants to sell it, no problem with that. But I wouldn't expect the club to fork out for it. There is obviously precedent set with Peter Rodrigues, though (without wishing in any way to denigrate or prioritise some contributions over others) I'd suggest PR's along with Bobby Stokes' would be more of an obvious case for the club to fund it. Difficult one, but I wouldn't choose to criticise the club if they decide to give this one a miss.

Well those socks have made a return; 1 out of 3 ain't bad....

Hmm, you seem to be another person suggesting that a majority of people who like the kit might not have been polled both on here and on the Echo website. I don't deny for a minute that it'll sell pretty well; but as a shirt that the majority of the fanbase will like, I don't know why you're so keen to look past the numbers. No, it isn't.

The way it was railroaded through was indeed complete bully tactics; essentially a "take this deal or we'll do it anyway and leave you with nothing". Its led to clubs who aren't exactly minnows like Wycombe deciding that its no longer financially viable to run their own youth academy scheme. And you're right, Crewe are a great example of a club with a fantastic youth setup down the years who will now be much more vulnerable to the advances of the big clubs and will receive relatively little in compensation. The end goal is commendable; to get more top PL clubs with a brilliant blueprint of coaching. I just didn't see the need to sh*t on the smaller clubs by insisting upon a vastly reduced compensation structure to get there.

I think the point is that the compensation structure within the new Academy system is inherently low. While it is in PL club's interests to maintain an academy for bringing players through, it's a revenue stream for lower level clubs which has been massively capped and allows bigger clubs to snap up young players for a pittance of a fee. Which is why some lower league clubs are no longer bothering running an academy, which IMO hurts the game overall.

The idea that you think "class" can be achieved by wearing a football shirt with a monochrome badge is quite amusing. Bless.

Christ alive :lol:

I've got no doubt it will sell well. I've long been in the camp that we should mix up our home shirt design every once in a while to maximise sales. As much as I detested last season's design I recognised it was a decent idea from a sales point of view to go for something completely different. This year I also see the logic; I just think its a tragic and lazy design, and so I'll utilise the only "protest" at my disposal, which is to not buy it. But plenty will still buy it, which will justify the decision to have something different to stripes. That doesn't mean I have to like the change, though.

Of course its the majority view you mentalist. Have a look at the poll results here and on the Echo. The majority don't like the style of the kit. Some do and will buy the kit, and some will buy it even though they don't like it. But why try to argue with genuine polled numbers? Of those who have answered the poll, the majority don't like the kit. Unless you're suggesting that the silent majority who do like the kt simply haven't been polled?

Exactly right, because the two issues can only possibly be linked in such fashion.

Can't quite remember! We did like a white away kit (or even the lovely ecru abomination).

The socks were brilliant too; they had a little Saints badge in them. I found a pair for 99p in the sports shop near Debenhams (Sportskit??) and they were my footy socks of choice for years!

Hummel did some good kits for us. That one, and the striped one that we beat Liverpool 4-1 in was an absolute cracker. I also really liked the white and aquamarine away kit they did for us.

1999 called, it wants its joke back. And that's only one sign, not a multiple of signs which would make the "gag" correct.

It not only kind of incorporated stripes but was also a nod to our formative years when Southampton St. Mary's used to wear red and white halves.

Just wondering, how is our club any stronger (or weaker for that matter) depending on the style of shirt the team wears?