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…

The Return of Stoke City

They say what goes around comes around, and in football that's often the case - especially if you're a Stoke City supporter. As such, you probably won't need me to tell you that The Potters secured promotion back to the top flight in England just a few days ago, thus ending an absence of 23 years. It's an incredible achievement for which SPAOTP sends its heartiest congratulations (apart from Duffman, perhaps, who no doubt wanted his Crystal Palace side to go up instead.)

Anyway, if you're of the same generation as me (i.e. you were born near the start of the 1970's), you may still be clinging onto the fading memory of Stoke City the last time they were in the top flight. Numerous names spring to mind that were in the side back then: Paul Bracewell, Adrian Heath, George Berry, Lee Chapman, Garth Crooks… ah, the heady days of the early 80's.

Except the early years of the 1980's were not the best for Stoke. In the six seasons they spent in Division One, five of them were spent languishing in the bottom half of the table before their final ignominious crash with just 17 points in 1985. It was the lowest points total for any First Division team until the record was broken in 2003 by Sunderland. With only three wins from a possible 42 matches, it was a sign that the club were standing on the verge of a huge precipice.

The thing is, if you're a little bit older than me, you'll have much happier memories of Stoke City. In the early 70's, they were a team on the up and up. Having been given a much needed boost by a soon-to-be-retiring Stanley Matthews a decade earlier, manager Tom Waddington consolidated his club's position by investing in some high profile personnel.

Gordon Banks came from Leicester on the back of his World Cup-winning heroics, swiftly followed by England team-mate Geoff Hurst, talented Chelsea midfielder Alan Hudson and Gordon Banks' successor, Peter Shilton. Together with a well-established and resolute defence, Stoke City were able to push for greater success, and it wasn't long before silverware arrived at the Victoria Ground.

The Football League Cup duly arrived in 1972 and was seen as a well-deserved triumph, especially after a semi-final against West Ham that needed four matches to decide the victors. Stoke prevailed and faced Chelsea in the Final which The Potters won 2-1.

It seemed as though the First Division championship trophy would also end up back at Stoke in 1974/75, but though they were top of the table from November all the way until three games from the end, it was ultimately to elude them. At the end of the season, they lost to Sheffield United and drew against Newcastle and Burnley, allowing Derby County to win the title while Stoke ended the campaign four points behind in fifth place.

Strangely, Stoke couldn't maintain their fine form and just two years later they were relegated to Division Two. The club continued to tread water for a few more years before they returned to Division One in 1980, but it would ultimately prove to be a false dawn.

If you're younger than me (and nowadays that seems to account for most people, the older I get), you'll look upon Stoke as perennial strugglers that have achieved very little of note. The second half of the 1980's saw a continuous spell of mid-table mediocrity prevail, mainly under the player-managership of Mick Mills, but things got even worse when the 1990's arrived.

Despite the best efforts of new manager Alan Ball, Stoke City dropped into the Third Division but their stay was to be relatively brief. In Lou Macari, an old hand at steering faltering clubs back to calmer waters was brought in and by 1993 he'd won them promotion back to the second tier.

Since then, Stoke have failed to keep a firm footing from one season to the next. In 1996, they flirted with promotion to the Premier League but were beaten by Leicester in the play-off semi-finals. By 1998, Lou Macari had left, come back again and left again as Stoke were relegated to the third tier along with Reading and Manchester City (whatever happened to them?)

1998 was also the season that Stoke moved to a new ground, the Britannia Stadium, just prior to a takeover by an Icelandic consortium that ensured The Potters had a strong following over in that particular part of Scandinavia (well somebody had to, let’s face it…)

In 2002, Stoke once again gained promotion to the second tier, this time via a win in the play-off Final, and following an initial struggle, they've ensured a continual presence in what's now known as The Championship. Their manager since June 2006 has been Welshman Tony Pulis and under his guidance, Stoke City have forged a path back to football's promised land - The Premier League.

It's fair to say that few people would have predicted such a turnaround in the club's fortunes at this precise moment in time, but whichever generation you're from, you'll surely agree it's great to see Stoke back in the big time again.

Whether they can match the recent exploits of Reading and Wigan is probably irrelevant, all in all. That's because Stoke are a club that fell a long way - not once, but twice in the last 25 years - and lived to tell the tale. We look forward to seeing them in the top flight again next season.