Southampton don’t tend to ‘do’ change shorts with their home kit all that much.
They did occasionally don white shorts at Tottenham in the late 80s, while the interchangeable nature of their kits in 2001-02 and 2002-03 meant that it was done then too, most notably in the FA Cup semi-final against Watford.
As far as we can ascertain, this year’s Europa League clash away to Inter Milan was the first time since 2003 that they wore stripes with anything other than black shorts, as their away would have clashed with the Italian side too.
Primarily red shirts in 2012-13 and 2013-14 were paired with red shorts as first-choice, but it was not a completely new look for the club.
Southampton spent seven years with Patrick from 1980, and the French firm seemed keen to deviate away from the famous stripes. Their first shirt for the Saints, which lasted five years, was technically stripes, but just one white one between two red.
In 1985, they continued the move away, with just white and black shoulder panels taking from red’s dominance, while the only stripes were shadow ones in the fabric.
The classic black shorts and white socks remained, meaning a change was needed when Southampton travelled to face white-socked Everton in the penultimate game of the season.
Everton were still chasing a second successive title, but were two points behind rivals Liverpool and, perhaps seeking to spook them, Southampton opted for red shorts as well as the change socks.
If it was mind-games, it was not a successful ploy – Everton won 6-1, and would also beat West Ham the following week, but Liverpool’s final-day win at Chelsea ensured they regained the title and they would also beat Everton in the FA Cup final.
Phenomenal website – and a great feature about the club I’ve supported all my life.
I loved – as in, I’ve written published articles about how much I love it – Saints’ previous Patrick kit, but it’s only recently that the above has created anything but head-shaking ire out of me. Good to know my “where the hell are the stripes” grudge of nearly 30 years is finally over.
Anyway, the reason for mailing is the comment about only wearing black shorts with the red and white stripes from the 2003 FA Cup semi-final until this year’s game against Inter Milan. For a couple of seasons, we wore red shorts when playing at Wolves.
The first example was at the end of the 2006/07 season, when Wolves absolutely battered us. They attacked from start to finish and were applauded off by their own fans at half time and full time. Somehow, and no one knows how, we won 6-0 despite being absolutely outclassed. This isn’t a puny attempt at sarcastic humour – they were by far the better team. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCek5EZo8hA
They got their own back two season’s later, with a 3-0 win at Moulineux. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmV9xF5jJFw and http://www3.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Wolverhampton+Wanderers+v+Southampton+1ZKyHjlfbaCx.jpg
At other times against Wolves we’ve worn black shorts, so no idea why the above two situations occurred – but then, when was football ever logical? Hope the above doesn’t come across as me being a pedantic nit-picker – it just seems you like clarity and accuracy in your articles so thought I would share the above.
Anyway – great website, I really look forward to new articles coming up. Please keep up the great effort, people like me really appreciate it.