Historical Football Kits

29 June: 2008-09 additions - Manchester City (H&A), Walsall (shirt sponsorship confirmed), Chesterfield (H), Greenock Morton (H&A). I have updated the Wycombe Wanderers gallery (1946-47, 1986-87 added: various details amended and graphics upgraded).

More on the elusive Everton shirt (below): John Lovett wonders if the shirt might have been a one-off for a game at Wimbledon between 1986 and 1988. At the time the Dons wore blue and yellow shirts and John speculates that Everton's yellow change shirts might have been deemed too similar so an alternative was knocked out. The design of the sponsor's logo and badge certainly place it around that time. David King agrees that the style places the shirt around 1987-1989.

26 June: The mystery Everton shirt, featured here on 1 June, has attracted some interesting responses. Evan Ardon writes, "I seem to remember a picture in Shoot magazine in 1992 or 1993 when Kenny Sansom first signed for Everton. It was of him wearing that shirt in a game (or very very similar!). This was 3-4 years after that shirt would have been in existance and I remember
being confused about it at the time.

"The only difference was that the Everton Badge was the same as the 1992 kit, with a blue background, rather than the one in the pic. But, it was obviously a much older shirt as it had the pre 1992 lower case umbro badge (when in that season the strips had the uppercase umbro). I am sure that it is the same shirt (except for the change in Everton badge) as the one in your pic."

Steve Flanagan, an expert on Everton's history, adds, "I can't find any record of Everton wearing such a kit at any point.  They did have a white third kit (which was worn at least once away to Aston Villa) in the 1991-92 season, but it is not the same as the kit in your photo (i.e. no blue outlined diamonds whilst the cuffs and collar where different). It does look to be around the mid to late 80's as the NEC logo is the small one as opposed to the larger version and then the updated rounded version in the 90's."

Four missing Cardiff City kits have been added - identical except for different shirt sponsors (1983-84, 1984-85).

2008-09 additions: Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

24 June: At the risk of seeming sentimental, I must confess that the history and kits of those clubs that were lost a long time ago are of greater interest to me than what the overpaid galacticos will be wearing (and their employers will be pressing us to shell out forty quid for) come August , so I make no apology for devoting more time to Merthyr Town. Philip Sweet's excellent history of the club charts the rise, decline and fall of the Green & Reds in the context of the economic conditions that existed in the mining and steel industries that collapsed after the First World War. Aberdare Athletic and Ashington are clubs from similar communities that perished as the industries that supported them fell into decline in the same period. Today's photograph, which is borrowed from the Old Merthyr Tydfil site and also appears in Philip's book shows the team of 1925-26. The club had just been re-elected to the Football League and, to mark a new start, had adopted striped shirts. In 1930 they applied for re-election for the third time and failed. Four years later the club was wound up.

23 June: My grateful thanks to everyone who has contributed research to the away kits project. The material has now been sent to the publishers and this particular project is now closed.

Our priority is now with new additions to the 2008-09 galleries and contributions continue to flow in. Latest additions: Manchester United (A), Liverpool (A), Newcastle United (A), Sheffield Wednesday (A), Northampton Town (H), Southampton (A), Huddersfield Town (A) and Ipswich Town (H&A).

Alternate kits worn by Poland, Italy and the Netherlands have been added to the Euro 2008 gallery.

16 June: The Manchester City and Merthyr Town galleries have been upgraded. In the course of reviewing material for the long extinct Welsh club, I stumbled across the rather fine Old Merthyr Tydfil site which has a small section on Pennydarren Park, the ground where Merthyr Town played and home to the modern Merthyr Tydfil FC, and a nice collection of photographs of both teams. Today's picture, borrowed from the site, is of the Merthyr Town team immediately after the First World War. Although it is hard to make out, the players wore red shirts with a green V at this time.

15 June: 2008-09 additions: Preston North End (A), Dundee United (H&A). The Macclesfield Town gallery has been upgraded (2005-06 corrected).

13 June: In order to comply with UEFA regulations, a number of variations on registered kits are appearing at Euro 2008. We are posting these in our Euro 2008 gallery.

Latest additions to the 2008-09 galleries: Chelsea (A), Aberdeen (H&A), Oldham Athletic (H&A), Northampton Town (A), Yeovil Town (A), Bradford City (A), Dunfermline Athletic (H&A), Motherwell (H&A) and Peterborough United (H,A&3rd).

12 June: The Lincoln City gallery has been upgraded. Today's photograph, taken from the official Lincoln City website's history section, showes the team in 1885 wearing red and white striped shirts. Several distinctly different patterns are apparent, something that was not unusual in an era when equipment was bought from local gents' outfitters and individual items often varied from one delivery to the next.. The gent in the bowler is not, by the way, a disgruntled supporter leaving early.

Tranmere Hatman reports back on a recent visit to the Rovers' club shop: Tranmere are retaining their home kit along with the gold away kit from 2007-08 (but) the black away kit is being replaced. As yet they're not releasing details (the girl in the shop knows what colour it is but isn't telling - the little minx). Other 2008-09 additions: Huddersfield Town's centenary kit, Middlesbrough (H), West Ham United (A), Barnsley (H), Hull City (H), Hibernian (H).

11 June: Additions to the 2008-09 galleries: Wigan Athletic (H), Southampton (H), Scunthorpe United, Coventry City (H), Grimsby Town, Sunderland (A), Hartlepool United (3rd), Fulham (H), Macclesfield Town, Watford, Walsall, Partick Thistle (H), Hibernian (A). Several Scunthorpe United kits have had detailing modified (1983-85, 1987-89,1989-90, 1992-94).

8 June: The Leyton Orient gallery has been upgraded. More 2008-09 kits have been posted: Plymouth Argyle, Doncaster Rovers, Burnley (away), Brentford (away kit corrected), Charlton Athletic, Clyde and Queen of the South.

3 June: I'm grateful to Simon Monks who, in his latest contribution, pointed me towards the rather good ozwhitelufc site devoted to the history of Leeds United. There is a comprehensive collection of old team photographs available, which has allowed me to add a number of variations to the kits worn between 1920 and 1960 but do be warned that the photos are very slow to load. Today's photo shows the first Leeds United team from 1920-21 wearing their original blue and white stripes. The burly gentleman in the suit is J Hilton-Crowther who, as chairman of Huddersfield Town, had earlier made an unsuccessful attempt to merge Huddersfield with the new Leeds club.

I have upgraded the Loughborough gallery.

Latest additions for 2008-09: Rochdale, Fulham, Hearts (away) and Celtic (away).

1 June: Some time ago Jon Jones sent me this intriguing image of an Everton change shirt from around 1987. The problem is that there is no record of these shirts ever being worn although Jon recalls that a mate owned one. If you can shed any light on this, please get in touch.

The decision by the Scottish Football League to force Gretna to play in the Third Division next season should a buyer be found has proved to be the final nail in the coffin of the stricken club. Scotland on Sunday today reports that the rescue bid by football agent Scott Hume, has been dropped and it is expected that Gretna's adminstrators, whose bill for overseeing this sad process is reported to be over £250,000, will liquidate the club next week. Four clubs, Spartans, Annan Athletic, Preston Athletic and Cove Rangers are believed to be preparing to apply for the vacancy.

Updates today include: Gretna (1999-2000 added): Clydebank (1983-84 added): Halifax Town (1994-95 added and dates for various late 1990s kits adjusted), Exeter City (1982-86 manufacturer's details added): Charlton Athletic (1945-46 added): Huddersfield Town (1930 FA Cup Final kit corrected): Sheffield Wednesday (1935 FA Cup Final kit corrected): Portsmouth (1934 FA Cup Final corrected).

My grateful thanks to everyone who has submitted information about new kits for the 2008-09 season. Keep them coming!

27 May: With the remaining promotion and relegation issues in England settled over the weekend, HFK today launches the new season galleries for 2008-09. Following last seasons popular format, we present teams' home kits arranged by divisions as well as separate galleries with home, away and third kits for the Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two. At present these are mostly empty and that's where you come in. Over the summer we would like our visitors to let us know when new kits are released and send us the details (a link or photo) so we can post the kits on the site.

Until the future of Gretna FC is decided we will delay posting the new Scottish season galleries as their fate will determine who will play in which division next season.

25 May: Despite a remarkable come back, Queen of the South were narrowly beaten in yesterday's SFA Cup final by Rangers. The Doonhamers wore a special commemorative kit for the occasion, now added to the Scottish 2007-08 gallery. Picture courtesy of BBC Sport.

Ralph Pomeroy continues to offer up some delicious items on our menu of the Football League's more recent members. Today we offer Wycombe Wanderers (1989-90 added), Boston United (1977-78 added, 1982-83 corrected), Dagenham & Redbridge (1996-97 added), Scarborough (1974-75 added), Yeovil Town (1996-97 detailing added: the extraordinary 1997-98 kit has been updated thanks to Fabrizio Taddei). Aldershot Town (1993-94, 1996-97, 1999-2000 added).

Ralph's recipe for the New Shots 1999-2000 kit is as follows:

Copy Scunthorpe 96-7 shirt    Royal Blue for the claret Red for the sky

Add Scunthorpe  2001-3 collar in white with red infill bit 

Stir for a while

Add Charters white italic, PEUGOT in smaller type but straight capitals

Round club badge beneath collar   

Bring to the boil add white shorts and Red socks picture is hard to make out but I think a matching thin blue stripe runs down the centre of the sleeves from the seam

Wish my scanner worked really

Ralph

24 May: We have a flurry of FA Cup related material today. Simon Monks has been rifling his collection again and sent in corrections for the Blackburn Olympic v Old Etonians final (1883), West Bromwich Albion (1886 - see picture left for the West Brom team in their cardinal red and light blue change kit of the time), Sheffield Wednesday (1890), Aston Villa (1892) and Luton Town (1959). Meanwhile another stalwart supporter of HFK, Chris Worrall has sent in details of Huddersfield's kit worn in the 1928 final.

Ralph Pomeroy has also been busy on our behalf, working through his extensive programme collection for details of kits worn by the Football League's newer members before they joined. Cheltenham Town (1985-86 added), Boston United (1983-85 added), Maidstone United (1983-84 corrected), Kidderminster Harriers (1983-84, 1989-90 added), Yeovil Town (1994-95 added), Macclesfield Town (1993-94 added, 1987-89 corrected). More of Ralphs research follows shortly.

22 May : According to the Daily Mail Chelsea players were reluctant to wear their new kit in last night's dramatic UEFA Champions League final having failed to win in it against Bolton in their last Premier League game. The kits worn by Chelsea and Manchester United have been added to the 2007-08 Premier League gallery.

The Doncaster Rovers gallery has had a thorough overhaul, thanks to Donny expert, Chris Worrall. Owing to the large amount of new material available, I have upgraded the Morecambe and Scunthorpe United galleries out of sequence.

Missing kits have been added for Charlton Athletic (1962-63, 1963-64), Hartlepool United (1981-82), Darlington (1982-83), Clapton Orient (1933-34), Huddersfield Town (1946-47) and Northampton Town (1907-08).

Brighton's one off kit, worn in their final league game against Swansea to mark the end of the club's long running sponsorship deal with Skint records has been added. A slight modification to Blackpool's change kit is now recorded.

17 May : A closely contested match today saw Portsmouth narrowly beat Cardiff City at Wembley to win the FA Cup for the first time since 1939. The kits worn for the occasion are now on display in the FA Cup gallery. (Picture courtesy of the BBC)

I was very pleased to hear from Fabrizio Taddei, Export Manager for Errea, the Italian sportswear company that, in my opinion, provides some of the most interesting and original designs available. Fabrizio confirms that the company prefers to design individual kits in consultation with clubs rather than work to standard templates as the big companies do. Fabrizio has sent in sketches that have enabled me to add detailing to Aldershot Town's kits and accurately depict the extraordinary Scarborough kit from 1997-98.

A number of graphic files seem to been corrupted due to problems with our old computer and/or the process of copying these over to our new one. We are currently tracking down these damaged files and replacing them from back up versions so there is no need to write in.

16 May : There has been something of a hiatus since the coal-fired PC we were using to update the site expired last week. We've now taken delivery of a spangly new computer replete with gigabytes, terabytes and, for all I know, trilobytes.

Sadly, we must record the passing of Halifax Town FC. The Shaymen were formed in 1911 and were founder members of the old Third Division (North). In recent years they have been playing in the National Conference and, despite incurring a ten-point penalty for entering administration in March, they managed to avoid relegation. The revelation that they owed the Inland Revenue over £800,000 in unpaid tax scuppered all hopes of a buy out by the consortiium that had been meeting the club's running costs. My thanks to Matthew Pearson for letting me have some missing details of the Shaymen's kits between 1984 and 2006.

Phil Martin has resolved my question about the Preston NE kit dating from 1869, several years before the club was formed. It turns out that the source I used has incorrectly captioned the photograph, which is in fact of the Harrow School team. Preston's 1974-75 kit has been corrected.

Other updates: Aberdeen (1975-96 added: 1997-98 detailing corrected). Rangers (1987-90 corrected: the kit worn in this week's UEFA Cup Final has been added to this season's gallery.) East Stirlingshire (1992-95 detailing added). Sunderland (2008-09 added), Leeds United (1983-84 corrected), Carlisle United (2000-02 correct manufacturer applied), Sheffield United (1936 FA Cup final kit, 1966-67, 1967-68, 1968-73 corrected), Sunderland (1937-38 corrected), Blackpool (more accurate badges applied 1948-1968), Bolton Wanderers (1953 FA Cup final badge details corrected), Manchester City (1955 FA Cup final badge corrected), Spurs (1967 FA Cup final badge corrected). Aston Villa ("Champions of Europe" added to the 1982-83 kit, embroidered above the badge.)

6 May: We welcome Aldershot Town to the Football League and to HFK - it is one of the challenges of running this site to research old kits of newly promoted clubs. A gallery for the new Shots has been added but kits between 1992 and 2003 are missing - contact me if you can fill in some gaps. Come to that there are large gaps in our records for many newly promoted clubs - see Current Research Projects for details.

My sincere thanks to all our contributors who have provided details of Rangers change kits. The change kits project is now almost complete although some gaps remain. See Current Research Projects for details.

East Stirlingshire (1990-91 added - detailing needed): Albion Rovers (1985-87 corrected).

2 May : Speaking of things we're getting on with here's a list of recent updates and corrections submitted by visitors.

Partick Thistle (1987-88 corrected). Motherwell, Falkirk (2008-09 added), Celtic (detailing corrected 1980-82, 1987-89). Ipswich (2007-08 third kit corrected): Bristol City (2007-08 third kit added), Southampton (1976 FA Cup Final kit corrected), Plymouth Argyle, (manufacturer's details added 1982-87), Yeovil Town (1976-77 added), Rochdale (the 1907 shirt is now available from Toffs), Sheffield United (badge details corrected 1981-87 and 1995-96), Barnet (1986-88, 1988-90, 1990-91, 1995-96,1998-99, 2002-03 corrected), Tranmere Rovers (1980-81 corrected), Wimbledon (1988-89 added).

Congratulations to Rangers on their achievement in reaching the UEFA Cup final last night. Their gallery has now been upgraded and today's photograph shows the team as it was 130 years ago in 1877-78.

Current Research Projects.

28 April : We're not short of things to be getting on with at HFK at the moment, what with the various European domestic leagues heading into the final stretch of another season and many clubs already releasing previews of next season's kits. In between all of that however there is the small matter of a major international football tournament taking place in Austria and Switzerland. So in preparation for that we've put together our first international kit gallery for Euro 2008.

24 April : I have upgraded the Celtic gallery with material submitted by Jon Alexander, Alexander Perkin and gleaned from the excellent Kerrydale Street Wiki, which has a superlative collection of photographs that include the first ever Celtic team in their green trimmed white shirts as well as a selection team pictures in the club's early vertically striped shirts (see left). It was not until 1903 that the famous hooped tops appeared.

Until the late 1970s, Celtic rarely changed their kit, preferring to play in their hooped tops even when there was a colour clash. The demands of television broadcasters, UEFA regulations, and the lure of the replica kit market have long since changed the club's attitude. Most of the rare early change kits have now been recorded and will be published later this year. For details of remaining gaps please see Current Research Projects.

19 April: The Tottenham Hotspur gallery has been upgraded.

As usual, whenever I appeal for information, I am overwhelmed by the contributions that immediately flood in. My thanks to everyone who has responded to my request for details of pre-1980 change kits of Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle, Spurs, Celtic and Rangers. I still have some gaps so, if you think you can help, please check out my Current Research Projects.

18 April : Peter Moor has sent in a couple of photographs of Birmingham taken shortly before the First World War and featuring the bold "V" that adorned their tops until 1927. This suggests that they were adopted rather earlier than I had previously believed.

17 April : Newcastle United gallery upgraded. With Cardiff City reaching their first FA Cup Final since 1927, I thought it would be timely to clear up the matter of their early kits. Photographs from the period 1908-1930 suggest that the shade of blue worn was considerably paler than the familiar royal blue but are not conclusive. I contacted Ceri Stennet, Media Officer for the FA of Wales and collecter of Cardiff City memorabilia, including an original 1927 FA Cup final shirt. Ceri confirms that the Bluebirds did in fact wear royal blue in their early days. I have corrected the Cardiff gallery.

13 April : HFK extends warmest congratulations to Queen of the South who yesterday beat SPL side Aberdeen 4-3 at Hampden in a match that the Guardian compares to Cleopatra's entry to Rome for spectacle. To mark the Dumfries' sides' first appearance in the SFA Scottish Cup semi-final for 58 years, Queen of the South produced a special commemorative shirt for the occasion, proudly shown off here by the club's chairman, David Rae. Now added to the 2007-08 Scottish First Division gallery.

Manchester United 1921-22 added.

9 April : The Liverpool gallery has been upgraded and in the process, a considerable number of missing kits from the period 1900-1960 have been added, sourced from the excellent LFC History site, Their superb collection of team photographs includes today's picture, which shows the players in 1892-93, the year of Liverpool's formation, wearing the light blue and white shirts that Everton had left behind when they quit Anfield at the end of the previous season. It was not until 1894 that Liverpool adopted their familiar red and white colours.

The question posed on 4 April about Birmingham's 1931 FA Cup final kit has been definitively answered by Alan Watton, who points out that an original shirt is on display at the Football Museum in Preston, and the indefatigable Simon Monks. Simon quotes the match report from the Daily Express, Monday April 27th 1931, "The crowd looked more like a boat race crowd than a mass of football enthusiasts because both sides wore blue and so all the favours worn were blue and white."

My thanks to everyone who has responded to my request for information about the pre-1980 change kits of certain clubs. Details are on the Current Research Projects page.

4 April: On 14 March we noted that Stockport County played in at least one home game wearing gold andblack in January 1958 and theorised that this was a "lucky" change kit, temporarily adopted for home games. Today we publish a photograph of County playing Luton in the FA Cup a fortnight earlier. As was customary when there was a colour clash in the FA Cup, both teams have changed. Stockport are in the gold and black and unexpectedly won by 3-0. A lucky kit indeed.

Barrow (1969-70 added). Barnsley (1946-47 added).

Derek Shelley has written to suggest that Birmingham wore red shirts in the 1931 FA Cup against West Bromwich Albion (see photo left). Do let me know if you can confirm this.

Luton Town (1932-34, 1934-35, 1946-47, 1947-48 added: 1920-32, 1948-53 corrected) - all from Simon Monks.

28 March: Spare a thought for Simon Monks, a serial contributor to HFK who knows more about Luton Town than is healthy. He writes, rather worryingly, that under "extreme pressure" to tidy his study over Easter he discovered a set of Soccer Bubble Gum Cards from 1956-57. The information has been forwarded to HFK and allows us to confirm new dates for previously published kits for Rotherham, Wolves, Chelsea, Fulham, Spurs, Liverpool, Stoke, Derby, Chesterfield and Hull City. New material includes Grimsby Town (1956-57 added) and Doncaster Rovers (1956-57 corrected). HFK does not condone the use of coercive methods for research.

Which brings us to today's photograph, a scruffy image from Simon's collection of the 1956-57 Doncaster Rovers team that features Charlie Williams. Older visitors will recognise Charlie as a fine stand-up comedian of the old school who sadly left us in September 2006.

In other news, Gerry Wolstenholme, Blackpool FC's historian, has provided information about the club's 1903 kit and clarified various dates. There is still a lot of work to be done on Blackpool's early kits and contributions are welcome.

Clapton Orient (1932-33 added). St Johnstone (text updated).

26 March: Alex Howells has sent me this photograph of Manchester United with the FA Cup in 1948. This shows the team wearing the royal blue and white kit they used for the final and is evidence that the stockings matched the shirts and were not black and white, as I previously believed.

Swansea City (2007-08 third kit added): Tranmere Rovers (2007-08 third kit corrected). Aston Villa (1947-48 added).

HFK has been commissioned to provide graphics for a series of books to be published later this year. As a result we are currently researching away (change) kits for a number of clubs and would appreciate some help from our regular visitors. Details are here in the Current Research Projects article.

21 March: We've moved the whole HFK site to a brand new host today. It's all gone (suspiciously) smoothly and it means we'll be putting some new features on the site in the coming months.

14 March: Paul Barnes, who is something of an expert of Preston North End, has been in touch with new information about the club's kits between 1975 and 1993. This material, together with some new kits I have come across covering the Fifties and early Sixties, has now been added and the club's gallery upgraded. Todays photograph comes from the collection of the Association of Football Historians, and is particularly intriguing because it dates from 1869-70, which is nine years before the first known game of football played by the club and eleven years before the committee voted to adopt association rules. Furthermore, the players are wearing vertically striped shirts, which were exceedingly unusual at the time. Do contact me if you can shed any light on this curiosity.

Fulham (1966-67 added). York City (1982-83 added).

Two clubs have announced this week that they will enter financial administration. Gretna, who have struggled in the Scottish Premier League this season, face collapse after their chairman and benefactor, Brooks Mileson was forced to step down for health reasons. Meanwhile the consortium planning to take over Halifax Town has announced that they will enter administration rather than face a petition for a winding-up order brought by former chairman Raymond Moreland who is owed £9,450 by the club. HFK offers best wishes to the officials and supporters of both clubs and hopes that these serious steps will ensure their long-term survival.

This interesting snippet is from a Stockport County v Halifax Town programme dated 18 January 1958 for a Division Three (North) fixture. If you click on the thumbnail image and look closely, you will see that Stockport, playing at home, are turning out in gold and black. I rather suspect that this was the club's change kit at the time and may have been adopted temporarily as a "lucky" strip. Crystal Palace did something similar in 1963-64. Let me know if you have any information about this oddity please.

13 March: I have upgraded the Mansfield Town gallery and added some missing detail and a number of kits thanks to Paul Taylor & Martin Shaw's latest book in the Images of Sport series. Wigan Athletic (1972-73 added): Southampton (1989-90 stockings corrected). Derby County's 2007- third kit has been added.

11 March: Aston Villa's third kit has been added to the 2007-08 Premier League gallery. Today's picture features the Leeds City team from 1913-14 in one of their distinctive navy and old gold shirts. City are the only club ever to have been expelled from the Football League. The modern Leeds United were formed on the day that City's assets were sold off in October 1919.

The Kidderminster and Leeds City galleries have been upgraded.

10 March: Came across a great clip on YouTube showing footage from a 1920-21 Scottish Qualifying Cup match between Cowdenbeath and Dunfermline Athletic.

9 March: The Ipswich Town gallery has been upgraded and, thanks to the fine collecton of team photographs on Pride of Anglia, I have been able to reconstruct the club's kit history during their amateur period up to 1936 in some detail. Minor variations from the period 1936-1963 are now also recorded and a hitherto missing kit from 1964-65 added. My thanks to Ralph Morris, Pride of Anglia's webmaster for his assistance and for providing the team picture from 1902 shown here.

The Huddersfield and Hull City galleries have been upgraded: no endangered species were harmed in the course of recreating Hull's infamous tiger-print shirts (1992-1995).

The Blackburn Rovers 1995-96 kit has been added: this differs from the previous season's kit only inasmuch as "Premier League Winners 1994-95" was embroidered below the badge and you will need eagle eyes to spot the difference. nevertheless, no detail is too trivial when it comes to these matters. Peterborough United (2007-08 away kit corrected). Gillingham (2001-02, 2002-03 detailing added). Maidstone United (1984-85 added, 1986-87 stockings corrected).

My thanks to Mark Holland who has sent in details of missing kit suppliers for a number of clubs in the north-west of England.

5 March: The Hereford United gallery has been updated. Richard Webb has written to explain that between 1980 and 1982, the Bulls turned out in navy rather than the more familiar black shorts. He speculates that the club bought up several sets of Tottenham kits cheaply when the Admiral sportswear company went into liquidation. In 1982 Hereford returned to their traditional outfit.

24 April : I have upgraded the Celtic gallery with material submitted by Jon Alexander, Alexander Perkin and gleaned from the excellent Kerrydale Street Wiki, which has a superlative collection of photographs that include the first ever Celtic team in their green trimmed white shirts as well as a selection team pictures in the club's early vertically striped shirts (see left). It was not until 1903 that the famous hooped tops appeared.

Until the late 1970s, Celtic rarely changed their kit, preferring to play in their hooped tops even when there was a colour clash. The demands of television broadcasters, UEFA regulations, and the lure of the replica kit market have long since changed the club's attitude. Most of the rare early change kits have now been recorded and will be published later this year. For details of remaining gaps please see Current Research Projects.

19 April: The Tottenham Hotspur gallery has been upgraded.

As usual, whenever I appeal for information, I am overwhelmed by the contributions that immediately flood in. My thanks to everyone who has responded to my request for details of pre-1980 change kits of Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle, Spurs, Celtic and Rangers. I still have some gaps so, if you think you can help, please check out my Current Research Projects.

18 April : Peter Moor has sent in a couple of photographs of Birmingham taken shortly before the First World War and featuring the bold "V" that adorned their tops until 1927. This suggests that they were adopted rather earlier than I had previously believed.

17 April : Newcastle United gallery upgraded. With Cardiff City reaching their first FA Cup Final since 1927, I thought it would be timely to clear up the matter of their early kits. Photographs from the period 1908-1930 suggest that the shade of blue worn was considerably paler than the familiar royal blue but are not conclusive. I contacted Ceri Stennet, Media Officer for the FA of Wales and collecter of Cardiff City memorabilia, including an original 1927 FA Cup final shirt. Ceri confirms that the Bluebirds did in fact wear royal blue in their early days. I have corrected the Cardiff gallery.

13 April : HFK extends warmest congratulations to Queen of the South who yesterday beat SPL side Aberdeen 4-3 at Hampden in a match that the Guardian compares to Cleopatra's entry to Rome for spectacle. To mark the Dumfries' sides' first appearance in the SFA Scottish Cup semi-final for 58 years, Queen of the South produced a special commemorative shirt for the occasion, proudly shown off here by the club's chairman, David Rae. Now added to the 2007-08 Scottish First Division gallery.

Manchester United 1921-22 added.

9 April : The Liverpool gallery has been upgraded and in the process, a considerable number of missing kits from the period 1900-1960 have been added, sourced from the excellent LFC History site, Their superb collection of team photographs includes today's picture, which shows the players in 1892-93, the year of Liverpool's formation, wearing the light blue and white shirts that Everton had left behind when they quit Anfield at the end of the previous season. It was not until 1894 that Liverpool adopted their familiar red and white colours.

The question posed on 4 April about Birmingham's 1931 FA Cup final kit has been definitively answered by Alan Watton, who points out that an original shirt is on display at the Football Museum in Preston, and the indefatigable Simon Monks. Simon quotes the match report from the Daily Express, Monday April 27th 1931, "The crowd looked more like a boat race crowd than a mass of football enthusiasts because both sides wore blue and so all the favours worn were blue and white."

My thanks to everyone who has responded to my request for information about the pre-1980 change kits of certain clubs. Details are on the Current Research Projects page.

4 April: On 14 March we noted that Stockport County played in at least one home game wearing gold andblack in January 1958 and theorised that this was a "lucky" change kit, temporarily adopted for home games. Today we publish a photograph of County playing Luton in the FA Cup a fortnight earlier. As was customary when there was a colour clash in the FA Cup, both teams have changed. Stockport are in the gold and black and unexpectedly won by 3-0. A lucky kit indeed.

Barrow (1969-70 added). Barnsley (1946-47 added).

Derek Shelley has written to suggest that Birmingham wore red shirts in the 1931 FA Cup against West Bromwich Albion (see photo left). Do let me know if you can confirm this.

Luton Town (1932-34, 1934-35, 1946-47, 1947-48 added: 1920-32, 1948-53 corrected) - all from Simon Monks.

28 March: Spare a thought for Simon Monks, a serial contributor to HFK who knows more about Luton Town than is healthy. He writes, rather worryingly, that under "extreme pressure" to tidy his study over Easter he discovered a set of Soccer Bubble Gum Cards from 1956-57. The information has been forwarded to HFK and allows us to confirm new dates for previously published kits for Rotherham, Wolves, Chelsea, Fulham, Spurs, Liverpool, Stoke, Derby, Chesterfield and Hull City. New material includes Grimsby Town (1956-57 added) and Doncaster Rovers (1956-57 corrected). HFK does not condone the use of coercive methods for research.

Which brings us to today's photograph, a scruffy image from Simon's collection of the 1956-57 Doncaster Rovers team that features Charlie Williams. Older visitors will recognise Charlie as a fine stand-up comedian of the old school who sadly left us in September 2006.

In other news, Gerry Wolstenholme, Blackpool FC's historian, has provided information about the club's 1903 kit and clarified various dates. There is still a lot of work to be done on Blackpool's early kits and contributions are welcome.

Clapton Orient (1932-33 added). St Johnstone (text updated).

26 March: Alex Howells has sent me this photograph of Manchester United with the FA Cup in 1948. This shows the team wearing the royal blue and white kit they used for the final and is evidence that the stockings matched the shirts and were not black and white, as I previously believed.

Swansea City (2007-08 third kit added): Tranmere Rovers (2007-08 third kit corrected). Aston Villa (1947-48 added).

HFK has been commissioned to provide graphics for a series of books to be published later this year. As a result we are currently researching away (change) kits for a number of clubs and would appreciate some help from our regular visitors. Details are here in the Current Research Projects article.

21 March: We've moved the whole HFK site to a brand new host today. It's all gone (suspiciously) smoothly and it means we'll be putting some new features on the site in the coming months.

14 March: Paul Barnes, who is something of an expert of Preston North End, has been in touch with new information about the club's kits between 1975 and 1993. This material, together with some new kits I have come across covering the Fifties and early Sixties, has now been added and the club's gallery upgraded. Todays photograph comes from the collection of the Association of Football Historians, and is particularly intriguing because it dates from 1869-70, which is nine years before the first known game of football played by the club and eleven years before the committee voted to adopt association rules. Furthermore, the players are wearing vertically striped shirts, which were exceedingly unusual at the time. Do contact me if you can shed any light on this curiosity.

Fulham (1966-67 added). York City (1982-83 added).

Two clubs have announced this week that they will enter financial administration. Gretna, who have struggled in the Scottish Premier League this season, face collapse after their chairman and benefactor, Brooks Mileson was forced to step down for health reasons. Meanwhile the consortium planning to take over Halifax Town has announced that they will enter administration rather than face a petition for a winding-up order brought by former chairman Raymond Moreland who is owed £9,450 by the club. HFK offers best wishes to the officials and supporters of both clubs and hopes that these serious steps will ensure their long-term survival.

This interesting snippet is from a Stockport County v Halifax Town programme dated 18 January 1958 for a Division Three (North) fixture. If you click on the thumbnail image and look closely, you will see that Stockport, playing at home, are turning out in gold and black. I rather suspect that this was the club's change kit at the time and may have been adopted temporarily as a "lucky" strip. Crystal Palace did something similar in 1963-64. Let me know if you have any information about this oddity please.

13 March: I have upgraded the Mansfield Town gallery and added some missing detail and a number of kits thanks to Paul Taylor & Martin Shaw's latest book in the Images of Sport series. Wigan Athletic (1972-73 added): Southampton (1989-90 stockings corrected). Derby County's 2007- third kit has been added.

11 March: Aston Villa's third kit has been added to the 2007-08 Premier League gallery. Today's picture features the Leeds City team from 1913-14 in one of their distinctive navy and old gold shirts. City are the only club ever to have been expelled from the Football League. The modern Leeds United were formed on the day that City's assets were sold off in October 1919.

The Kidderminster and Leeds City galleries have been upgraded.

10 March: Came across a great clip on YouTube showing footage from a 1920-21 Scottish Qualifying Cup match between Cowdenbeath and Dunfermline Athletic.

9 March: The Ipswich Town gallery has been upgraded and, thanks to the fine collecton of team photographs on Pride of Anglia, I have been able to reconstruct the club's kit history during their amateur period up to 1936 in some detail. Minor variations from the period 1936-1963 are now also recorded and a hitherto missing kit from 1964-65 added. My thanks to Ralph Morris, Pride of Anglia's webmaster for his assistance and for providing the team picture from 1902 shown here.

The Huddersfield and Hull City galleries have been upgraded: no endangered species were harmed in the course of recreating Hull's infamous tiger-print shirts (1992-1995).

The Blackburn Rovers 1995-96 kit has been added: this differs from the previous season's kit only inasmuch as "Premier League Winners 1994-95" was embroidered below the badge and you will need eagle eyes to spot the difference. nevertheless, no detail is too trivial when it comes to these matters. Peterborough United (2007-08 away kit corrected). Gillingham (2001-02, 2002-03 detailing added). Maidstone United (1984-85 added, 1986-87 stockings corrected).

My thanks to Mark Holland who has sent in details of missing kit suppliers for a number of clubs in the north-west of England.

5 March: The Hereford United gallery has been updated. Richard Webb has written to explain that between 1980 and 1982, the Bulls turned out in navy rather than the more familiar black shorts. He speculates that the club bought up several sets of Tottenham kits cheaply when the Admiral sportswear company went into liquidation. In 1982 Hereford returned to their traditional outfit.