Return to Adidas 2 Aug 2015 02:18

By Philip Meese, Editor-in-Chief

As the Premier League era began in 1992, Manchester United’s 12 year association with Adidas ended, but now they are back. So we thought we’d have a rant about all things Nike and Umbro in the 23 years that have passed since United last wore the traditional Three Stripes.

It’s fair to say that a lot of United fans I know were actually glad to see the back of Nike. For so many years, they have been seen as the number one sports company, but the designs they churned out in recent years seemed to lack any kind of imagination, or passion, for our beloved club.

When Manchester United ended their first association with Adidas in 1992, Umbro were seen as the number one sports company in the UK. Nike were big in America, but over here they were more famous for making trainers. By contrast, a lot of clubs in England (such as Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, Everton, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Tottenham) were already using Umbro, who already made the kits for the England national team. It wasn’t until Arsenal in 1994-95 that a Premier League club used Nike as their kit manufacturer, and they were the only ones until Leeds United and Sunderland started using them in 2000, with Pony, Reebok and Asics being among the more popular kit makers in the 1990’s.

Manchester United started using Nike in 2002, however, despite making kits for clubs such as Aston Villa and Fulham, and more recently Manchester City, Nike have never made the kits of more than five Premier League clubs in a single season – a fact I wasn’t aware of before writing this. They have, however, made kits for a number of lower league clubs, such as Barnsley, Peterborough and Southend United.

Umbro

If you ask any fan what their favourite United shirt is, it’s a fair bet that the one they name will have been made by Umbro. Certainly, my favourite home kit is the European one worn by the club during that golden period when we won the Treble. It’s not because of what we achieved in it, it was my favourite when it first came out in 1997, because everything about the kit is class, right down to the Champions League logo etched into the fabric.

In many ways, that kit was typical of the designs Umbro churned out for United, because while most of the clubs they serviced were given standard designs, used by many clubs in England and across Europe, they always added a bit of a personal touch to ours. Obvious examples are the 1994 – 95 home shirt, with the picture of Old Trafford woven into it, and the third kit with the blue and white stripes, featuring the name of every player that had worn the United shirt up until that point. Even our first away shirt made by Umbro, the all blue one with black markings had the United badge in the background, and was followed up by the green and gold strip, a tribute to the early days when United were known as Newton Heath. The first black kit United ever wore has gone down in folklore as one of the most iconic ever.

It seems that United were their favourite team, because a lot of the designs were not worn by any other club, it seemed that these designs were especially for us. Maybe this is to do with the fact that, of the clubs they serviced, United sold more than any (including England), so we were obviously valuable to them from a commercial point of view. Another example would be the 1996 home strip worn in Eric Cantona’s last season – I remember thinking how awesome it looked when it first came out, and how dated it looked when the new one came out two years later. Another iconic kit was the white one which Giggsy stripped out of after that awesome goal against Arsenal at Villa Park. Yet again, it was a design that you didn’t see any other club wearing.

As the time went on, however, it seems that Umbro were running out of ideas. They had begun with a lace up collar, had one shirt with a zip up collar but by the end of the nineties, Nike were starting to become big in Europe and were already making kits for Barcelona and Inter Milan, and more would soon follow suit.

The final kits under Umbro were a rather dull, collarless, home shirt and the reversible away kit, which was gold and black on one side, but turn it inside one and it featured a white and black alternative. The version of this worn by the players was not reversible, but the fact that Umbro sold it that way was almost a symbol that they knew they couldn’t compete with the financial muscle of Nike. It was inevitable that United would switch to them sooner rather than later.

Nike

When the first kits by Nike were revealed in the summer of 2002, it’s fair to say that most United fans I know were impressed. By now, Vodafone had replaced Sharp as the club’s main sponsor, but even now, looking back, there still seems to be something fresh about those particular ones. The home kit was nice, and there was a plain but tasteful white strip, but in particular the all blue one with silver trim still has a spectacular feel about it. If this was the shape of things to come, we all eagerly anticipated the next one. It wasn’t.

United kept the home shirt, but the blue and white away shirts were ditched after one season. In their place came a black kit which looked a lot better in the photos than it did in real life. In addition to this, there was a white strip which earmarked the way it was going to be from now on. This particular strip had red and black pinstripes across the chest, which looked fine until Barcelona unveiled their new away strip – identical to United’s in every detail, barring the club badge and that the black pinstripe was replaced by a blue one. In fairness, Barcelona’s fans weren’t too thrilled about it either, although this was probably because of the similarity to arch rivals Real Madrid.

It was clear that what Nike were doing with the clubs they sponsored, was creating a common club design, worn the world over only by different clubs, using different colours. Exactly what Umbro seemed to do with every club, apart from United. By the 2005 – 06 season, both home and away kits featured the Total 90 brand, and with Chelsea’s new found money funding their domination of the Premier League, there was a whisper that Nike were going to end their contract with United if results didn’t improve on the pitch. Due to the fact that within three years, Manchester United were crowned Champions of England and Europe, we’ll never know if there was any substance behind that rumour.

The kit that United wore in Moscow when they won the Champions League in 2008 was the last home shirt to be used for two consecutive seasons, and was actually a really nice shirt. The red shirt with the black chevron marked the dawn of the era where the club would change its home shirt every year, and usually the away kit as well. People assume it’s the clubs decision to do this, but I am sure the manufacturer have as much say in the matter, as Manchester United is a cash cow waiting to be milked – and shirt sales are one of the biggest sources of income.

Since 2009, a new home kit has been launched every summer. It’s fair to say that I thought the last one, for the 2014 – 15 season, was quite a smart one, but as Nike’s contract with the club came to an end, Adidas blew them out of the water with a financial package that is unmatched by any cub in world football.

Full Circle

It must have stuck in throats of the top brass at Adidas that, within a year of their contract with Manchester United ending, the club would win their first league title in over two decades and go on to enjoy a period of success that is unmatched by any in the modern era.

Adidas began making United’s kits in 1980, and although it’s fair to say that there wasn’t a lot of difference between the home kits they churned out year after year, during the 1980’s this was true of most clubs. There was one rather memorable kit, with the club badge in the middle of the chest, which was worn during the 1985 FA Cup Final, and this also came in blue and white varieties. By this time, the sponsor on the front merely read “Sharp”, with the “Electronics” part having been dropped from the writing.

Between 1986 and 1992, the home kits all featured the three stripes on the sleeves, with the main difference being the designs that were woven into the shirt. But some of the away strips in the twelve years of United’s first association with Adidas were stunning. I have recently found a company called Retroshirt Haven who remake all types of football shirts from the past, and have purchased the home kit from 1986, and the beautiful blue away kit from 1982 (definitely my favourite away shirt of all time), and it’s safe to say that these remakes are perfect in every detail, and very reasonably priced. If you like old football shirts, this website is definitely worth a look, although now that United have returned to Adidas, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if the retro remakes come first hand from the manufacturer themselves.

The new home shirt is, in my opinion, quite magnificent. While it has a modern look to it, the overall design, with the three stripes on the sleeves, is reminiscent of United’s past associations with Adidas. With the kind of money they are investing in this ten year sponsorship deal with our beloved Reds, it’s probably safe to assume that the new “tradition” of replacing the home shirt every single year will continue, and it would be a surprise if United start the 2016 – 17 season sporting that kit.

While the away and third kits haven’t been officially unveiled by the club, it’s believed that there will be an all-white kit with red stripes on the sleeves, as well as a black kit with orange trim (a colour that hasn’t been used on any United shirt I can recall) but if you check the clubs’ official website, they aren’t listed on there yet, so these may still turn out to be false.

Either way, the association with Adidas seems to be a step in right direction. Let’s hope that the financial rewards from it are matched by similar successes on the pitch.