Opportunities for FKFs that provide a home kit for a team, using the design that they had in real life, are naturally rare – perhaps it’s hardly surprising that Bayern Munich have been the team used for such explorations.
In British football, clubs going in a completely new direction with regard to colours has been very rare since the 1960s but there is one stand-out entry in the hall of shame. For Cardiff City, insult was added to injury as their switch to red and black, demanded by owner Vincent Tan, coincided with them reaching the Premier League for the first time. Understandably, Rich Lewis wished that the Bluebirds had actually been blue a decade ago and asked us to right the historical wrong.
When Cardiff switched in 2012-13, there was a sop – or an added kick in the teeth – to supporters with the fact that the change kit was blue and white. The first entry today is essentially a retread of that but we dispensed with the yellow trim while restoring the old crest – which already had a red dragon on it, Vincent – and replacing Malaysia (nothing against the people) as sponsors with local newspaper the South Wales Echo, who adorned the shirts in the mid-1990s.
Mr Tan could claim, no doubt with some justification, that the move to red and black was legitimised by the fact that Cardiff won promotion to the top flight for the first time since 1962. When the new kit for 2013-14 was launched, it was shown with red shirts and shorts in a darker shade of red but, after a backlash from fans, these were changed to black. Quite why this protest worked and the previous one didn’t is another question.
Again, there was a blue kit in the kit-room but this time trimmed in red and in a different design to the home. A more Cardiffesque kit, in the style of the red and black strip, would have looked like this. While Cardiff were relegated at the end of 2013-14, there was at least some consolation midway through the following season as blue was reinstated as first choice.
As always, feedback is welcome, along with requests for future FKFs. Comment below or tweet @museumofjerseys.
