The 12 Graphs of Christmas: Day 2

# "On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me...

...A Christmas pudding showing the proportion of matches Newcastle United have won in the captial (i.e. London) during 2008." #

Premier League Kit Parade (Part 3)

Yes folks, as sure as night follows day and Great Britain follows Swaziland in the Olympic medals table, it's now time for Part 3 of our look at the new shirts being worn in the Premier League this season. Before we start, a quick 'hello' to all of you joining us from Fifastadt.de who, like us, enjoy finding out about the latest garments being worn in the world of football. Nice to have you with us.

So to begin, a curiosity. This might be a unique happening for 2008/09, but Manchester United start the new campaign with only one new shirt to show off, and it's this white, red and blue away offering from Nike. In case you're wondering, their red home shirt was brought in last season on one of those old-fashioned 'two year deals', so they'll be wearing that one again this time around. How very quaint!

Anyway, this away shirt of United's looks like a decent design to us. We're not sure about the red and blue highlights as we're probably used to seeing Man U in white and black away from home, but nonetheless it seems to reek of Nike's usual high production values and should be a fan's favourite in a very short space of time. Oh, and don't be surprised if a new Man United third strip comes out during the course of the season, but for now, that’s all there is from Old Trafford.

And so to Middlesbrough who, after a one season break, have returned to one of their all-time favourite designs - a classic that should never under any circumstances be discarded: the classic red shirt with a white band across the middle. Last year's all-red affair was decidedly uninspiring, but the white stripe's back and it looks pretty good to us.

Then there's the new away shirt which also returns to former values in the form of a blue-and-black-striped creation. This looks rather nice and is a hell of a lot better than those rather iffy looking kits featuring gold and ecru that have been concocted by Errea in the past.

And that reminds us - why Errea? They've been supplying Middlesbrough's kit since 1994 and to be honest they rarely seem to come up with the goods. Isn't it time for a change now, Mr. Gibson? For the time being though, these are a couple of reasonable shirts to be going on with.

Next up it's Newcastle and like Man United, they're keeping their home shirts from last year. Instead, they've got new away and third shirts to show us and these aren't too bad either. Away from home, Newcastle have come up with yet another new colour to add to the many they've worn in the past, and it's purple. (Sorry if it doesn't show up too well in the picture.)

It's pretty standard fare from Adidas - a plain front with those three legendary stripes running down the sleeves - and it looks nice and slick… but that colour… will people want to buy and wear it in their droves? I've a feeling purple could polarise opinions amongst the fans, but for the likes of us that aren't, we don't mind it too much at all.

To continue the slightly controversial tone, Adidas have also produced a silver third strip for the Toons. (Note - that's silver, not grey.) Again, rather nice and a lot better looking than the other silver/grey shirt Adidas have produced for 2008/09 (see Part 2 - Liverpool), but dare we suggest that white band across the middle looks somewhat Middlesbrough-esque? Don't complain to us, Newcastle fans - it was just an observation…

Next up it's Portsmouth and they have a new home shirt that pares down the old design to feature just blue and gold. All the white trim has gone and what's left is a simple but effective shirt which should please more than it offends.

The away shirt, however, may divide your opinions. Some have called it a rugby shirt, others a cricket shirt, but either way it's… well… different. As you can see, the shirt is white with blue sleeves, a big chunky flyaway collar and a blue panel around the bottom.

For our money, this is exactly the sort of well-executed inventiveness we want to see more of in football shirt design, and as a result, we love it. Admittedly there's a practicality issue around that big collar flapping up in your face while you're running, but apart from that it looks modern, looks distinctive and for all that has our unequivocally wholehearted support. Top marks to Canterbury for showing the way forward.

Finally today, we turn our attention to one of the Premier League's new boys, Stoke City. Renowned for their red and white stripes, Stoke's new home shirt doesn't disappoint and this new version sees Le Coq Sportif widening the middle stripe to give us something a little bit different. It looks great with its simple but very pleasant styling and if it isn't snapped up by the truckload, we'll be very surprised.

The Potters' away shirt is yellow, a colour they haven’t used for quite some time. With blue trim around the collar and under the sleeves, it provides a strong contrast to the home kit and takes us back to a time in the mid-70's when seemingly everyone's away kit was yellow and blue (think Derby, Chelsea, Man United, Arsenal, etc…)

While not the most exciting of offerings, it certainly ticks all the important boxes so we've no real reason to grumble. A good effort on both counts from Le Coq Sportif and one that Stoke fans should be rather happy with.

That just about wraps it up for Part 3 of our new shirt perusal for the upcoming Premier League season. In the fourth and final part coming soon, we'll be finding out what the good folk at Sunderland, Tottenham, West Brom, West Ham and Wigan will be wearing, so stay with us for that…

How not to gain the respect of your wife...

So there I was with Mrs. O the other night, watching Sky Sports News, when up popped a caption on the screen. It showed a list of potential future candidates for the Newcastle United manager's job and the best odds you could get from bookmakers on each one getting it.

"Who would you bet on out of those, then?" said Mrs. O.

"Well let's see" I said.

(At this point I adopted the posture of a man who knew what he was talking about, and was only too keen to pass judgement for his wife who, being a New Zealander, was more akin to the oval ball game.)

"Top of the list, we have Mark Hughes, the favourite. Yes, it's a possibility that he might take the job. He's gone a bit stale at Blackburn after all. There's also Harry Redknapp, but he's ruled himself out anyway so that's not going to happen. Terry Venables? No, a bit long in the tooth now. Alan Shearer? Maybe, but he seems quite happy doing his punditry on Match of the Day. Martin Jol? Interesting... worth a long shot. Jose Mourinho? I doubt it. I mean where would you rather live - Portugal or Newcastle? Exactly. And finally, Kevin Keegan. Er, no."

"Why not?" she said.

"Because they tried him once before and he won nothing" I replied.

"Oh" she said.

You can imagine my surprise, and indeed hers, when the same channel broke the news that Kevin Keegan had been named Newcastle boss last night. She walked in through the door having arrived home from work, gawped open-mouthed at the TV and said "Didn't you say...?"

"Yes, I know" I interrupted, "I know. Just don't ask..."

Newcastle United's sponsor - on the rocks?

Yet more news from the business world following last week's story about QPR being taken over by two Formula 1 bosses. This week it's something altogether more sinister as UK bank Northern Rock loses more than half its value on the Stock Exchange.

It's prompted many of its customers to queue up outside high street branches of the bank in the hope of withdrawing much of their money. The Bank of England has been called in to help out but many people see the news as a portent of a wider economic downturn to come.

Northern Rock, as many of you will know, are the shirt sponsors of Newcastle United and the club has been forced to review its spending strategy in the light of their recent financial devaluation.

To that end, Some People Are On The Pitch can exclusively report that the first change to be made by the Newcastle club is to reduce its investment in the supply and manufacture of its kit. As a result, we can now reveal Newcastle United's new kit for the remainder of the season, as modelled here by Michael Owen, and we think you'll agree it's not bad considering the budget they now have available…

The Friday List of Little or No Consequence #25

Chopra and Other Traitors
13 Players That Have Played For Newcastle United and Sunderland

1. Paul Bracewell
2. Michael Chopra
3. Lee Clark
4. Robbie Elliott
5. Tommy Gibb
6. Shay Given
7. Mick Harford
8. David Kelly
9. Bob Moncur
10. Bryan 'Pop' Robson
11. Len Shackleton
12. Barry Venison
13. Chris Waddle

...and so ends our 300th post on Some People Are On The Pitch... 301 follows shortly...! :)

Shirts for 2007/08: Newcastle United (home)

Onto shirt number 4 in our series and this time it's Newcastle United who bring forth the garment you see below:



This is the shirt you'll probably see Michael Owen end his career in (if fate has anything to do with it), and lucky for you - it's available to buy via the Newcastle United website if that's what you choose to remember him by.

So what do we notice about it at first glance? Quite a bit more black than usual, if we're not mistaken. Some funny business with a curved white slash going upwards to the armpits, too, which might seem unecessary to some.

Have Adidas scored a winner here or are they out of Toon with you, the discerning member of the public? Leave us your comments if you so wish, or perhaps register your vote as so many of you have done with our previous offerings (for which we give our gracious thanks)...

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VOTING HAS NOW CLOSED FOR THIS SHIRT
The final results were as follows:

Excellent: 63 (38%)
Good: 36 (21%)
OK: 29 (17%)
Poor: 13 (8%)
Terrible: 27 (16%)

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