Seeing things in black and white

It’s good to have your beliefs challenged and, even sometimes, to change your views – once, of course, doing so doesn’t break international law in a specific and limited way.

One article of faith we’d hold pretty closely is the opinion that Manchester United alternative kits are best when they are primarily white with black and red as the ancillary colours, to wit:

In that sense, adidas have ticked such a box with the new Red Devils third kit for the 2020-21 campaign. However, the layout of those colours is certainly one that will take getting used to.

According to the club’s official website, “adidas re-drew, hacked and re-imagined combined elements from various jerseys throughout the club’s long history to create a bold new pattern. Utilising United’s iconic club colours of red, white and black, the kit is an original story with a modern update.”

The narrative is that it’s 110 years since the club first used a striped shirt, a blue-and-white change top.

In addition, “most memorably, adidas brought disruptive jersey graphics into the world of football at the end of the 1980s, causing a visual revolution in shirt design. It is these graphics, and the spirit of bringing a new approach and innovation to the field, that inspired the design”.

Presumably, that last part refers to the ‘Madchester’ 1990-92 change kit, but, apart from the all-over graphic, the comparisons are weak.

But does that really matter? Does every single new kit have to be shoehorned into a reverential tribute to something from the past that it slightly resembles? There wouldn’t be anything wrong with the PR bumf simply saying that it was time for something new and adventurous and that the kids are going to love it.

Do we love it? Not right now, but we are at least pleased that the shorts and socks used by the players will be plain rather than those shown in the launch pictures and which, in what could be a first, are available to buy.

Maybe it’ll be a grower. We’d be interested to hear other views.