The build up had been going on for weeks, with the first teasers of the new kit advertised on the hoardings surrounding the pitch during Spurs’ final home League game against Manchester City. “Glory Comes In Three Colours” read the tagline, and Spurs fans collectively shrugged at the thought of having another 3 kits for the fourth season in a row. Since the Puma deal started in the 2005-2006 season, Spurs have had 13 new outfield player kits and 8 goalkeeper kits, plus 2 Carling Cup Final limited editions.
Being a Spurs fan is not cheap, even in these heady times of the Premiership. Whilst theirs plenty of money floating around, it still isn’t driving down the cost of supporting Tottenham in particular. Yet, being a fan, you kind of get used to the expense over the years. You don’t fully accept it, but you can’t help supporting the team you love can you? When it’s an emotional attachment, all common sense goes out of the window.
Yet, I couldn’t help but feel really disappointed with the new kits, especially the home shirt in the leaked images that were floating around the internet. It just didn’t look right and I was hoping it would be the same as the awful mock up’s of the England kit that were flying about only to be disproved when the real thing was released. Some fans had certainly been vocal in their hostility to it, whilst others refused to believe the images were real.
So with a large fanfare, and microsite publicising the release of the new kits, Tottenham could relax in the knowledge that the fans would be fine with whatever they were served up. They were wrong though. Within minutes of the kits finally being revealed to the fans, text messages, facebook profiles and twitter accounts began to show the real feelings of the fans. In general, they hated the new home kit.
A petition was quickly set up, yidsagainstyellow and as of today, it’s reached almost 2,700 signatures. So I rang the club to ask them what they feel about this response. Suffice to say, they’ve ignored it and tried to sell the kit to me! I advised them that unless they’d give it away, I wasn’t interested but they still wanted £45.00 so I passed. Ah well.
I must admit I’m a little bit staggered by the response, if I’m honest. Whilst I hate it, due to the yellow stripes and dabs on it, I didn’t expect anyone else to dislike as much. In fact, I’m quite shocked just how many people do hate it but I think it shows just how much fan interaction has come on through the internet. From the formation of F.C. United, to the purchase of Ebbsfleet by members of myfootballclub.com to the Spirit of Shankly group, fans can now interact without having to meet face to face.
If anything, I really dislike the fact that football clubs decide on new kits without consulting the fans. Whether football clubs like it or not, it is an important barometer of the clubs status to see shirts being worn other than on a match day. If you have the audacity of Tottenham in regards to kit releases, 13 in 4 season of the Puma deal and an incredible 35 different home, away, third and limited edition shirts in 12 seasons, the club HAS to take the fans opinions in account. Why aren’t they asked what they like? After all, they’re the ones who will be wearing it!
Will the club listen? It does seem as if a ground swell of support is building, which includes boycotting all three of the kits unless the home strip is changed, though hopefully we’ll not see a repeat of the Athletico Madrid fans, who firebombed the club shop because Nike changed the stripes to halves. I suppose it’s all down to money, but it would be nice if Tottenham’s chairman, Daniel Levy, actually came out, admit they’ve got this very wrong and try and rectify it. Just change the yellow trim to blue and hey presto! Nice kit.
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People need to get over it, it’s only a kit. If you don’t want to buy it, then don’t. Yellow is a traditional colour for Tottenham and at least they’ve tried something different; if they’d churned out another lillywhite-navy blue number people would moan about it being identical to last season.
With a reported fanbase of near 2 million, 2 thousand odd people won’t make a difference and neither should they.
agreed 100% with changing the yellow to blue, as i’ve been saying that to my friends over and over again. i don’t think they are playing in it until the barca game so they have time t change it and ship it for the official release.
Get real every one hates the new kit when its first launched, then as the season goes on you think, actually i quite like that now and before much longer there you are in the Spurs shop parting with your £49.95.
Give it a chance, it will grow on you, i’m starting to like it already.
More worried about who we will sign this year!!!!
If you hate it your not a real tottenham fan, plus people hated the old kit and now they love it, it will grow on you, just stop complaining.
That has got to be the most stupid response I’ve read in all the debate about this kit. So I’m not a real fan if I don’t agree with decision the mob that run our club these days make am I Eddie?
So many mug, ‘just buy it and shut up’ Sky generation supporters out there – no wonder the feckless footballers and scumbags in suits are laughing at us all through their obscene wads. The game just keeps getting more rotten.
I couldent agree more but fans are just outside the wheelie bins when it comes to dealing with making money,for our beloved club .These three people if rumours and the kit launch are anything to go by will ruin our season again. Selling players that we drooled about last year because of the the worse year for energy abuse on record all kept quite by the Fa and UK sport .That whas the real reason behind our poor start and my campain on sites radio stations sorted a few people to start looking closer at teams form over them first important games .I wont go in to details but just trust me the same drug that wigan forward hock got caught taking is the same one two youth players also were caught taking in football along with ephedrine energy drugs where being used by teams to stay up and challenge for the title . So we should keep all our players till january and see if uk sprt have implemented the new stalled rules that fergie and co objected to ow is main man rona;do and that bundle of energy teves have left
What on Earth are you talking about?
Its word salad.
think ppl need to get over it. when i looked at the 360 angle on the spurs site the home kit looked quite good. at least they have tried something different. for 2 thousand ppl who hate another 2000 will love it. you cant please everyone and i am sure it will still sell well. would rather worry about who we are going to sign and sell.
Spurs don’t seem to ‘get’ that fans will ALWAYS buy THFC memorobillia, not just the kit… you can hop and change the ‘training wear/polo shirts and casual catalogueas much as you want… fashions chnge… but people will always grow… and introduce new, smaller people to their wonderful club… so here’s a thought, why not consult the fans, then come up with 3 DEFINITIVE kits, that everyone is happy with… and here’s the twist, why not STICK to them for, oooh, let’s say FIVE years, giving everyone who supports the club plenty of time to buy at least one of those kits during that period of time… who knows, maybe, over 5 years they’ll end up getting 2 or all 3… you never know. But what I do know, is that everyone who comes through the turnsties on a matchday does NOT have a replica kit… don’t get me wrong, many many do… but imagine the sight, 2 or 3 years down the line, when EVERYONE inside WHL is wearing one of the three kits… it would form a bonding in uniform (not in a bad way!) that could well put us in a class of our own… the Newcastle fans seem to all own a stripy shirt… what better way to ‘advertise’ the “Glory Comes in 3 Colours” slogan, by allowing us to do exactly that… rather than changing kits YET gain 12 months from now, and trying to persuade us, that in fct, Glory comes in 4 or 5 colours, cos they forgot to re-introduce the Sky Blue kit, as well as a brown one again… there are LOTS of colours out there people… we can’ have them ALL!!
I agree that the kit is a minor consideration. But everything contributes to the feel and mood. This chav ensemble seems to me a bit of an indication that whoever is responsible is not quite competent, they don’t know what they are doing as designers, or as communicators with the fans – its worrying is all.
If this kit has accomplished one good thing for us fans it has made us realise that while we were moaning about the kits being too similar to the ones that have come before it we should have been thankful that Puma didn’t have penis’ where their heads should be. Well now they’ve gone and traded in their heads for nice long dongs and and the result is this years home kit.
Change isn’t always good.
What would you lot do if the club used colours not associated with Spurs? It kind of amazes me the snowball effect this has had… because one person says it looks like piss stains, another 2000 say it. They are the same annoying people that continuously whinge about the Mansion logo. Some people need to get a life and get a grip. It’s really not that bad. And if you really don’t like it, then don’t buy it. Simple!
At least for those with the foresight and intelligence, the shirt wouldn’t quickly run out and there will be many more available to buy.
Whilst I agree that there are more pressing issues, you still have to say that it is yet another example of THFC treating us like customers, rather than like members of a great club.
I realise in this day and age we ARE customers, but for gods sake – they could at least pretend!
I’m sure I remember the results of a “Fan Survey” about 4 years ago where the fans allegedly wanted a new strip every season. I feel that it might be on the back of those results that the club are now “forcing” a new design every year.
On the subject of using different colours, if sales are anything to go by, the black strip went down really well as they are very difficult to come by from any source (much to my son’s disappointment)
How about a prurple revival from the eighties!!………not
For a start, it’s not “only a kit”. A kit represents the club around the world. It is a way of voicing your support & spreading the word. When you walk down the street in your new shirt you should be proud in the knowledge that every single person you pass can tell at a glance what team you support. The colours run in your blood & they are emitted out to the world that surrounds us via the shirt. The single most important point is that people are not going to look at this shirt and, without seeing the cockerel, believe it is a Tottenham Hotspur shirt. What with us losing our historic stadium and its famous title, the subject of our identity is more sensitive now than it has ever been before & we need to cling to it now more than ever. We need to be sure of who we are otherwise our move into this glorious new arena of ours will be bumpy at best. The funny thing is that the club fully believe that they are being true to what is ‘Tottenham’ & are coming out with a whole heap of well rehearsed arguments. Well rehearsed but not that well thought out. They claim that Yellow is one of our ‘core colours’. Not in our Home kit it is not. In fact, over the years, we have had more Red in our Home shirts, so I dread to think what they’ll give us next year. Anyway, it is not so much the fact that the kit has been poorly designed, although there is an element of fear from the fashion police. Far more important is what the shirt represents & the fact that it feels that it has been disrespected. When Hossam Ghaly threw his perfectly good Spurs shirt to the floor he was vilified by virtually every single supporter of Spurs & even 2 years later many had not forgiven him. Now the club themselves have urinated on our beloved shirt and they expect us to buy it? The sad thing is that if they had just used Blue instead of Yellow (& just got rid of those horrid bits under the arms altogether) it would have just been another shirt, a little bit wild & adventurous & I’ve no doubt there would still be plenty who did not like it but they would not be complaining and it would have just been ‘another kit’. This is not ‘just another kit’, it’s far worse I’m afraid.
Well said sir
im over it …..i wont be buying and i expect a lot of fans , will decline………all this could be avoided ….by as stated above ….
consult with fans,desigbers .alternatives etc and stop forcing the issue on the supporters,
although other club issues are important ….i feel .puma and spurs are in error this year and will not admit the mistake
Yes its a small thing – like metal fatigue in a Comet. I have been going to WHL since the mid 50′s (the Comet ref. is a giveaway) – I don’t remember yellow being a ‘core’ colour. Blue, white and yellow (and purple) look like the flag colours of an ex USSR province. I suppose the ‘busy’ quality of cats and cockerells, Logo’s, Chinese ideograms and not very super superhero ‘streaks’, may appeal to some but white is good too. Also I agree with the comment about cultish strips of the past – white, even God Help Us, brown.. ‘Keep it simple’ could be an important concept for the next season.
2 Points,
1, “If you dont like it dont buy it”, is a decent point but the nicer the kit is, the more people will buy it = More money for Spurs!
2, My mate is a Palace season ticket holder and they get to vote for their kits online from a choice of 3… they love that system and so would we I guess.
Home kit is sick tho… dont like it, wont be buying it.
Yes it’s pretty poor – don’t like the yellow bits up top and on the sides, but hey ho, could be worse
I’m not sure I like the home shirt or not, but I want the away shirt (not the 3rd strip thats just not Spurs). There was maoning about the Thompson/tui logo coz it was red, now the red mansion I’, surprised no one is moaning about the chinese on the shirt. Its a shirt, if you don’t like it then thats your perogative… me I think its innovative and deserves the thumbs up.
its not all bad really, the blue navy top is pretty savvy methinks. but the yellow is just nasty.
who cares?
spurs have had loads of yellow kits over the years slackmack. Where have u been?
The best thing that can be said is they’re not made of that horrible Kappa spandex stuff. You all remember how it gave you the “sausage casing” look that the ladies love so much
I am just glad Puma made this shirt and not Adidas, the new Chav shirt looks like a bra has been fitted to it.
How many of you would want to wear that?
well in the end its our choice, doesnt make us any less of a fan if we dont buy it…
Having received the club catalogue for the kits yesterday I have to say that the “on paper” photos look better than the “online” ones…..
The yellow on the home strip is stronger than it originally appeared.
I’m actually also quite in liking the all yellow kit too. Again, up close it has a very 80′s feel/look to it with the slightly metallic silvery stripes woven in.
If anything it’s the blue kit that looks poor.
something like the england kit would have been better,maybe next year…….
….yellow is part of out away colours not home ,the away kit could have been yellow/gold /navy top (right colour though),navy shorts etc
the black and gold could have been kept again…..im ..in graphics.. line and colour all have a balance….this design doesnt appeal…..as it reminds people of the wrong things…….the mansion logo is an example….and some like the new training t shirt better for its simplicity and dominant white space……spurs are as strong brand etc so the thinking is odd!
also check Man,C home very nice…..umbro seem on right track etc
i heard the campaign organisers got threatened with season ticket cancellation if they carried on.
nasty business!