FanPost

The Year Ahead and the Year Behind in Kits: The one with Newcastle in it. (Part 2 of 3)

Michael Regan

Round two, here we go.

Leicester City:

This Year's Provider: Puma
Best Kit: Home Kit
Worst Kit: Away Kit

Last Year's Provider: Puma
Best Kit: Home Kit
Worst Kit: Goaltender Kit

Improvement?: Yes.

Welcome back to the top flight, Leicester! Hope you can stay longer than a year or two! And if you get relegated, I hope it's just a year long absence rather than a decade. Let's go into the kits.

Old vs New Home Kit: Puma kept it...shockingly simple this time around. In that, they changed relatively little if anything at all from the new kits to the old. The old is, by all accounts, not doing something that another Puma Kit hasn't already done, in fact... it kind of resembles the goal kit, Whoops. The New one thankfully does relatively little of that, having a much more classic collar and no real blemishes or significant changes. The side striping and sleeve markings of old gold still are there, but they're allowed to be the only real decoration to an otherwise simple kit. Advantage New.

Old vs. New Away Kit: I'm torn in this one. On one hand, the kind of grey they used on the old kit is the kind they should be using in a matte finish on cars and guitars and nothing else. On the other hand...the current kit is almost entirely old gold. I don't mean to offend anyone who happens to like this color but oh my god does it look Awful. It's just kind of...bleh. It does VERY VERY little for me, and it just doesn't look...pleasant, as a main color, y'know? Advantage Old.

Old vs. New Third Kit: They had no third kit last year, and them using a red kit since...well..they were last in the premiere league, is a nice nod to fans who may or may not have entered a deep hurting because of the relegation.

Advantage New.

Old vs. New Goaltender Kit: I really feel like Puma forgot how to make another template for their clientele, since apparently about 40 clubs got their hands on the same damn thing. The new black kit isn't anything to write home about either...but at least it's something. Advantage New.

Liverpool:

This Year's Provider: Warrior
Best Kit: Away Kit
Worst Kit: Third Kit

Last Year's Provider: Warrior
Best Kit: Home Kit
Away Kit: Simultaneous Away AND Third.

Improvement?: Sweet Jesus yes.

...I get the feeling just looking at these kits that Warrior's fairly new to the whole "Football Kits are not hockey/lacrosse equipment" thing, don't you?

Old vs. New Home Kit: It's difficult to judge a kit that's got a lot of the same elements and yet some of the ones taken out make the new one really dull for me. Those subtle stripes add a bit of character or perhaps...tradition? I'm not quite sure. But they do help keep a very very red kit from being completely overrun with fruitless details like the new one, which almost looks like repurposed athletic gear. The kind you'd get when your top undergarment gets torn. Advantage Old.

Old vs New Away Kit: ...Warrior, I know you were REALLY excited to get that deal with Liverpool and it's pretty cool for an organization that previously didn't have a whole lot to do with football...but you not only dropped the ball, you dropped the ball filled with oil and gasoline into a burning skyscraper. Any idea this might have started as was immediately made shit by the baffling pattern on the previous kit. Or maybe we're the assholes and this is just "You'll never walk alone" in some insane barcode language I don't understand. Regardless, the change to a bright yellow with red accents was a welcomed response to what could only be described as "poisonous vitiriol". Advantage New in the same way Germany had the advantage over Brazil in the World Cup Knockouts.

Old vs New Third Kit: Both of these are weird, experimental kits where the Warrior designers that usually sit in the dark corners of the designer's mansions. And predictably, both are pretty bad. But the new one escapes COMPLETE awfulness by at least being classical in it's approach at experimental, combining two ideas that are common for kits, namely hoops and a sash, and tries to make them mesh. The previous third...tries to combine a very tacky looking fabric design with a hilariously unpopular kit idea, and adds three colors vying for space all over it. It's amazing you can even see the Liverbird in all this. Advantage New (age)

Manchester City:

This Year's Provider: Nike
Best Kit: Home Kit
Worst Kit: Third Kit

Last Year's Provider: Nike
Best Kit: Third Kit
Worst Kit: Away Kit

Improvement?: Sideways Progress.

Please go easy on us, Man City...We bruise easily.

Old vs New Home Kit: Nike knows what sells. And since Man City's game is Sky Blue (and turning the Etihad into a jagged slaughtermachine made from meat cleavers and hooks), they stuck to their guns here. The only real difference between them is the collar and sleeve endings, which barely impact the Sky Blue. I don't feel strongly one way or the other about either, but suffice to know both are strong looks. Advantage New.

Old vs New Away Kit: Black vs. Blackish blue...going to blue. Not a very super creative identity going on here, but the new one is at least trying to do something different. The two tone grey/black...does less. Advantage New...but not much.

Old vs New Third Kit: I fell in love with this kit. I have a weakness for sashes and especially two toned ones. The new one doesn't really do anything for me, especially because purple and green are...well...kind of toylike. The two tones they chose are the correct combination for an advertisement that ends in a reminder that these in fact, come with Kung-fu grip. Well, if that's the case, why is it on the third kit and not on the goaltender kit? Advantage Old.

Old vs New Goaltender Kit: It appears Nike had a similar conversation with City Football Group that Adidas had with Abrohimovich. Advantage Old.

Manchester United:

This Year's Provider: Nike
Best Kit: Home...but not by much
Worst Kit: Any one the Chevrolet logo stains.

Last Year's Provider: Nike
Best Kit: Home Kit
Worst Kit: Goaltender Kit

Improvement?: No.

Ugh...these new kits make me sick. I know I haven't commented on the new kit sponsors at all, but what the FUCK, Chevy. The "Fill in Color" option MIGHT JUST MAKE THIS LOOK PRETTY DAMN GOOD. But oh no. You were scared people may not have seen your precious little creation...SO YOU JUST HAD TO HAVE THAT DAMN THING IN ALL IT'S DISTRACTING, OBNOXIOUS GLORY. God, these are hard to ignore because of that...

Old vs. New Home Kit: In a way, these kits have alot in common. Very simple, not very decorated, and have a classic collar. Which means personal preference, which means I HATE CHEVROLET. Advantage Old.

Old vs. New Away Kit: This one is interesting because both are very very different from each other. One is very simplistic with it's white with black collar, the other is a strange table cloth that uses a monochromatic badge. Both are very admirable in what they're planning on doing, but boy howdy hey nike....the tablecloth only works if you can disguise it properly. This...is not a well disguised tablecloth. I don't particularly hate it, but it does seem kind of...ridiculous. Not in a bad way per se, but a club like Man U could stand to try and keep their brand as simple as humanly possible. Advantage New.

Old vs. New Third Kit: I was never able to successfully discern whether or not Man U had a third kit, as I'd seen a coffee-ish creamish color but was never able to pinpoint it's actual use. Or if it had ever been used. As such, I've kept it as is. There isn't much to compare it to if that's the case, This bright blue with red is okay but...ugh, that chevrolet logo... Advantage New.

Old vs New Goaltender Kit: See, this is what happens when a good design idea goes horribly wrong. A checkered design? Sure, I'm all for that. Keeping it all one color and insinuating it with some lines? Not for that at all. Granted, the weird chevron look that Nike brought out for them isn't particularly well implemented either. It'd actually make that glaring obnoxiousness sit better if the chevron were inside of it, but instead it's under, so it looks a bit strange. Advantage Old.

Newcastle United:

This Year's Provider: Puma
Best Kit: Home Kit
Worst Kit: Goaltender Kit

Last Year's provider: Puma
Best Kit: Goaltender kit
Worst Kit: Home kit

Improvement?: Yes.

This is it, the one you've been waiting for. Our beloved black and white...and occaisonally some other fecking useless color that doesn't need to be there. This is my justification for doing this so I promise you, this will be a very astute criticism.

Old vs. New Home Kit: Ah, the Wonga speech bubble. Boy do we have an issue with you....you and your borderline racist, definitely fraudulent connotations bring a lot to be desired. That said, the old kit was ALMOST a decent one. It ALMOST had an interesting take, using blue (which is in fact not only on the kit, but has usually been an accent color for Newcastle in some form or another) to outline the black and white stripes we love so dear. It ALMOST allowed blue to become a positive part of the home kit....Unfortunately, this did not happen. See, in order to border the white and black? You kind of sort of need to not be in the stripes. It looks VERY distracting and wasteful. To say nothing of the "bordering" piping, which cut the stripes up unnecessarily. The new kit does away with all that, and in fact adds an element I actually quite enjoy. A Chevron-y block on the upper chest that allows the crest and manufacturer to shine, and the striping is uninterrupted. All in all, this look is much fuller and does the toon army something to be proud of...now if only the Wonga logo could be scrubbed off. Advantage New.

Old vs. New Away Kit: Both are simple kits, but again we play the game of Puma trying to improve on something they didn't even know was pretty darn boring. The Grey is pretty simple, shockingly so at first puff, but those subtle pinstripes really help keep this look looking pretty classic. It also helps that at some point in the near past (try...1983 or so.) this was very much the look the club was using. I've looked it up in the past and I gotta say, even with the super groovy NUFC logo with the magpie, it still holds up quite nicely. The old is...pretty boring in that regard. It's blue and not very ornamented except for the neckline. And of course...it highlights the Wonga bubble. Advantage New.

Old vs. New Third Kit: This one is currently heresay, but it's a toss up here. On one hand, a split color look wouldn't be...horrid, and technically the Toon have worn both colors, though rarely together. On the other hand, a known away color of yellow that has been fairly classic for Newcastle has been relegated to the third kit for some reason. Probably Wonga on this one... Advantage New...for the time being.

Old vs New Goaltender Kit: "YES. THIS KEY SHALL FOREVER BE IMMORTALIZED. PUMA WILL MAKE BILLIONS OFF OF THIS SINGLE KEYSTROKE OVER AND OVER AGAIN. MY GENIUS WILL HAVE ME CONSECRATED WITH THE GODS OF OLD." Advantage Old.

Queens Park Rangers:

This Year's Provider: Nike
Best Kit: Home Kit
Worst Kit: Goaltender Kit

Last Year's Provider: Lotto Italia
Best Kit: Home Kit
Worst Kit: ...Oh gosh I have to choose?

Improvement?: No.

QPR made a huge mistake changing their manufactuerer. Lotto only has one appearance here but it really shows how some creative thinking can make The Hoops look so much better...and more consistent with themselves. I love the kinds of looks that borrow elements from the home a bit.

New vs. Old Home kit: How much hoops can you take? Apparently at Nike, they decided it was a very hooptacular day when they made it, and went all out on making this as hoopy as you can get. Lotto let the hoops happen, but they made them bigger and gave them a border, which I feel like, in spite of red being more of their away color, it helps make the uniform fill out better. Advantage Old.

New vs. Old Away Kit: The same principle lives here, only Nike forgot that...y'know. QPR is "The Hoops". Not "The Stripes when we're away from Loftus Road"s. Advantage Old.

New vs. Old Third Kit: Here we have a weird conundrum. Both of these setups have been used in QPR's ancient history. So who do I give it to? Well...I gotta say that Lotto once again looked for a more interesting choice. Nike invokes their 50's design, whilst Lotto goes all the way to their first time they wore their famous hoops...back in the 1800's. Advantage Old.

New vs. Old Goaltender Kit: Welcome to Nike, where you have three templates....and we don't feel like supplying any more! It's just your goaltender after all! Advantage Old.

Next time we finish the list out, hopefully with less....awful designs in some cases.

This is a submission by one of our readers. Like what you see? Hit the "REC" button.