United Kits 24/25

swooshboy

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Some people on here are not very clued up on uniteds history I’m afraid
In my mind, it's not that we have never not worn red socks, but rather black socks have become synonymous with us.

Posting pics from over 50 years ago doesn't change the fact IMO that black should be a component of our kit.
 

padzilla

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Didn't the black socks only become a thing in the early 70s? We won the European Cup in 68 with red socks being part of the home kit, for example.

One gripe I would have about that new supposed home kit is that it looks a generic template Sunday League kit, the least you should expect is Adidas at least make us a bespoke kit beyond slapping our badge and sponsor on the same kit as everyone else - but in red.
 
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CallyRed

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In my mind, it's not that we have never not worn red socks, but rather black socks have become synonymous with us.

Posting pics from over 50 years ago doesn't change the fact IMO that black should be a component of our kit.
This
 

Frank Grimes

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In my mind, it's not that we have never not worn red socks, but rather black socks have become synonymous with us.

Posting pics from over 50 years ago doesn't change the fact IMO that black should be a component of our kit.
Exactly. We have all seen pics of us wearing red socks in historical pictures but that doesn't mean I consider our colours anything other than red white and black.
 

decorativeed

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In my mind, it's not that we have never not worn red socks, but rather black socks have become synonymous with us.

Posting pics from over 50 years ago doesn't change the fact IMO that black should be a component of our kit.
No - I agree with you in general and my preference is always going to be that out home kit consists of red shirt, white shorts and black socks.

It's just that it's obvious given we spent almost a decade - one of the most celebrated and successful periods in our history - in red socks and with the trend for paying tribute to/reviving kits of the past, we were going to bring them back at some point in the future.
 

decorativeed

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Didn't the black socks only become a thing in the early 70s? We won the European Cup in 68 with red socks being part of the home kit, for example.

One gripe I would have about that new supposed home kit is that it looks a generic template Sunday League kit, the least you should expect is Adidas at least make us a bespoke kit beyond slapping our badge and sponsor on the same kit as everyone else - but in red.
United have worn black socks for most of our existance, but ditched them and chopped and changed with white and red in the late 50s and all of the 1960s.
 

Grande

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Yeah, here's a photo of Sir Bobby in his Nottingham Forest days. Most people don't even know he played for them.



Turns out Denis Law, David Herd and George Best played for them too.

I am fully aware of the red sock usage in the sixties, amongst other things due to yourself and to this lovely web site:

https://www.unitedkits.com/kits/seasons/1878.php

Notwithstanding that, and the fact that United wore red socks for one season after first world war as well, 20-21 I think, and some bastard socks a few seasons back, United had worn black sox since the phoenix first rose in 1902 up until 1960, and from 1971 up until 2024. That’s about a hundred and ten years (!). You of course know all this, but it may be less known to others.

The ‘experiment’ in the sixties with first white and then interchangeably red socks, has been explained both as a tactical device to facilitate vision in the growing number of floodlights at the time, and as a ploy to bring newness and optimism to the club to avoid black after the WWI and the München air crash. Which is true, or both, I don’t know, but I think it’s fair to say change of sock colours was a smaller issue back then, as players could sometime be seen wearing different versions of socks in the same game.

The identity of particular football colours strengthened and locked heavily from the late sixties and upwards, probably fuelled by the spread of colour use in print, TV, and the development of merchandize markets. For most people, all red IS Liverpool, like a National Team uniform or an official flag, even if they didn’t use that combination before in the mid sixties (possibly inspired by a Man Utd EC game on TV?). Red shirt, white shorts, red socks became Nottingham Forest to me and many in the eighties, to others it has been Swindon Town, Benfica, Demark or a host of other teams. Man Uniteds red, white and black is a fairly unusual combination, with over 110 years tradition. To me it’s effect is like a national flag, and not something to be tampered with to sell one million extra socks or because some people just like newness in any shape or form. I love newness and variation, but I think some traditions are important as well. So red socks, begone! For me, we might as well put a point on it and throw in the red shorts we used in the EC semis in 1957 or 58 then, and look falsely perturbed when most people say ‘why are you wearing a Liverpool kit?’

Again, you know all this, I just used your post as a point departure for a rant :)
 

decorativeed

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I agree, like I've said elsewhere, that a United kit should be as you described - red, white and black - but having three new kits every season means it's inevitable they'll need to feck with the formula, so to speak. And, as I've also said previously, I don't agree with that as a thing and think football as a whole needs to move back to the older model where kits lasted at least two seasons.
 

lex talionis

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I demand black socks. But if the tradeoff were red socks in exchange for football at least one level above Forest, I’ll take the deal.
 

swooshboy

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I agree, like I've said elsewhere, that a United kit should be as you described - red, white and black - but having three new kits every season means it's inevitable they'll need to feck with the formula, so to speak. And, as I've also said previously, I don't agree with that as a thing and think football as a whole needs to move back to the older model where kits lasted at least two seasons.
I actually like having a new kit every season – if you've had a good season then that kit becomes interwoven with the successes. If you've had bad, or a United season, then a new kit hopefully helps wipes the slate clean and gives you a fresh start...
 

swooshboy

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Yeah, here's a photo of Sir Bobby in his Nottingham Forest days. Most people don't even know he played for them.



Turns out Denis Law, David Herd and George Best played for them too.

One other thing – the black was still represented because they were all wearing black boots :)
 

matherto

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Reminds me of the away from the Treble year.

But could equally be a Besiktas 4th shirt.
 

SouthMancRed

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Really smart. It also highlights why the 3 stripes should only be on the shoulders and not extend fully down the arm. Could get away with them down to the sponsor on the short sleeve tops but not for me on the long sleeve.
 

MyBloodIsRed

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Wow! The third is actually the better shirt option... Hopefully the home kit from the PES leak is wrong too. We need some black in the white trim for the home kit to make that look mint!
 

pacifictheme

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I like that third kit a lot.

Looks like the home kit has changed from earlier leaks. Looked a bit like a 2005ish kit before but now its a bit faded towards the bottom. Think I preferred the earlier leak
 

JB7

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Would look great if the grey bits were black. Not really sure why they have added grey into a kit that already had three contrasting colours.