- The information housed at United Kits is invaluable in terms of research
1989-90
The kits were the same as 1988-89 but the shorts were tweaked in that the ‘MUFC’ and adidas logos swapped sides.
In pre-season, United played in a triangular tournament in Japan against Japan national team and Everton – while there was Sharp branding present in the stadium, it did not appear on the kits.
For the drawn FA Cup final against Crystal Palace and the replay, different shorts to normal were used. They had black logos rather than red while the adidas striping was that which was usually used on the black shorts – red stripes trimmed in white with black in between.
A new style of adidas numbers was used for these games too, while on the outfield shirts the commemorative text appeared around the trefoil for the first game and the club crest for the second.
FA Cup final numbers (click to open)
Paul Ince joined Manchester United from West Ham United early in the season. He had often worn 11 for the Hammers but at Old Trafford he settled into the number 8 shirt vacated by Neil Webb when he got injured.
Webb returned to the side in the spring and wore 11 in the drawn FA Cup semi-final against Oldham Athletic. For the replay, left winger Danny Wallace came back into the side as left-back Colin Gibson missed out – Lee Martin switched from right-back and swapped number 2 for 3 but, rather than giving 2 to Wallace, Alex Ferguson moved Webb to 8 and Ince to 2. Mike Phelan dropped from right-midfield to right-back, retaining 5.
Ince was back in 8 as Webb missed the game against Wimbledon on April 30. Viv Anderson played at right-back and wore 2 that day but Ince was back in 2 for the last league game against Charlton Athletic and the FA Cup final and replay against Crystal Palace.
2023-24
For the third time in four seasons, there are sock shenanigans – see here for more.
Not for the first time, there are three sets of white shorts and white socks available, with two sets of black shorts.
The third kit is shown as having white shorts in the launch publicity and United club shop but the Premier League handbook and Uefa literature show red shorts as default. If and when the red sets appear, it will be the first time since the 1950s for United to wear red shorts.
Squad numbers (click to open)
