by BernardB » 11 Nov 2011, 17:40
I remember the change from black and white to gold and blue very well. As the excellent kit website says, the new synthetic material resembled silk and looked extremely gaudy. It did not go down at all well with supporters. At its first home outing the crowd (we used to get 7,500 - 8,000 in those days) greeted it with somewhat stunned silence, then there was a buzz around the ground as everyone discussed it with each other. Part of the trouble was that although it looked acceptable on beefier players who filled it out (eg Ted Calland), on the more diminutive forms of people like Graham Bond the shirt billowed out like a blouse. Obviously the club could only afford a limited range of sizes! Many people felt it looked "un-English" and resented the change. (Bear in mind that the England colours in those days were black and white.) I recall chatting to the then goalkeeper, Eric Gill, about it some time later and he said he was very glad to be a goalie! In those days, of course, all goalkeepers wore green.
I remember the change from black and white to gold and blue very well. As the excellent kit website says, the new synthetic material resembled silk and looked extremely gaudy. It did not go down at all well with supporters. At its first home outing the crowd (we used to get 7,500 - 8,000 in those days) greeted it with somewhat stunned silence, then there was a buzz around the ground as everyone discussed it with each other. Part of the trouble was that although it looked acceptable on beefier players who filled it out (eg Ted Calland), on the more diminutive forms of people like Graham Bond the shirt billowed out like a blouse. Obviously the club could only afford a limited range of sizes! Many people felt it looked "un-English" and resented the change. (Bear in mind that the England colours in those days were black and white.) I recall chatting to the then goalkeeper, Eric Gill, about it some time later and he said he was very glad to be a goalie! In those days, of course, [b]all[/b] goalkeepers wore green.