The stars and stripes

I went to my first Saints game on March 16th 1967, when on my 8th birthday my Dad (not really a football fan) took me to watch that days home game against West Ham.  I have been a fan ever since and will be for the rest of my life. One of the things that any neutral fan would say if you asked them to identify the Saints would be "red and white stripes" There have been variations on a theme, particularly in the 1980's, but red and white shirts, black shorts and red/white/black socks has been by and large the Saints kit since 1900.

For our 125th anniversary the club, as a mark of respect to our heritage, did a "one off' home kit of a white shirt with a red sash, which reflected the very earliest kits that the club wore. Fans understood that and largely it was welcomed and looked very good. The next year though they went back to a red and white striped shirt and all was well.

Last season the club broke with tradition and changed the home kit to an all red one, with an all white kit away kit to keep the tradition of red and white but that season it was strips not stripes. In the same way as the 125th anniversary kit was accepted, fans accepted looking like Liverpool as it was "only for one season"

Today this years kit was revealed and we discovered that an all red kit was not just for last season as this years is again all red, albeit the sleeves have white on them so that we look like Arsenal as well as Liverpool. You can see it here. The design is OK ( but Bristol City have gone for exactly the same shirt design) but there are no stripes, no black shorts and the socks are red and white hoops and look horrible! It appears that red and white stripes, the hallmark of the Saints image are gone for the foreseeable future and that saddens me in a way that took me by surprise. It doesn't feel like I'm watching the Saints when they're not in red and white stripes. it feels like they're...well anybody!

It appears that I'm not alone in this thought as most comments that I have read on both Facebook and the Echo website seem to agree (by  about 8 out every 10 being against it), many saying they'll wear old striped shirts to make a point.

I'll get used to it I guess, but it would be good to see them when they win the Premier league in red and white stripes not look like Arsenapool!

The main thing is, as Richard that I work with said  (and he was, rightly, fed up with me going on about the lack of stripes - sorry)  "it's how they play this season that really matters, not what they wear".