The definitive illustrated guide to all the Newton Heath and Manchester United kits since 1878

The choice of green and gold quartered shirts as the club's first colours is generally accepted by almost all of the club's histories, although few offer any supporting evidence. Our own research uncovered the following on the club's web site (retrieved in September 2005): "Attock also organised a collection from workers within the Wagon and Carriage Works to purchase club shirts, and with help from the Dining Room Committee, a set of green and gold cashmere jerseys was purchased for the 1879/80 season."

Although we know that the club changed to red and white quartered shirts, we do not know exactly when. A match report from the game at Bolton Wanderers on September 7th 1889 (contained in "The Definitive Newton Heath F.C." by Alan Shury & Brian Landamore published by SoccerData) included a description of Newton Heath playing in "their familiar red and white costumes" which suggests the change had occurred at least twelve months before, and could have been as early as 1883. Brian Landamore discovered in the rule book for the Manchester and District Football Association for 1887-1888 that Newton Heath were playing in red and white - the first contemporary evidence of the change*.

We believe the club returned to their original colours for the 1893/94 season, albeit green and gold striped shirts. The Association of Football Statisticians 1894-95 Annual (published in March 1983) lists Newton Heath's colours as green & gold, which we know from team photographs were a sold green shirt with gold trim. From the 1896/97 season Newton Heath played in plain white shirts, probably as a consequence of their worsening financial plight. White remained the club colours until the club's reformation as Manchester United in 1902, when red shirts and white shorts were chosen as the club colours. They have remained so, with two notable exceptions, ever since.

Clubs were first required to register their colours with the Football League from the start of the 1891/92 season. At that time it was the home clubs that changed kits whenever a colour clash occurred and the League instructed them to have a set of white shirts available for this purpose. The modern convention of away sides changing their colours was introduced in 1921. Until the start of the 1909/10 season goalkeepers had worn the same coloured shirts as other players, and it was not until 1912/13 that the iconic green goalkeeper's jerseys appeared. Unlike the shirts worn by other players, goalkeepers generally appeared with rolled top necks. There is a a more comprehensive history of football kits in general at Historical Football Kits.

Shirt numbers were not required by the Football League until the start of the 1939/40 season, although it is believed they had been used as early as 1928. Players were numbered 1-11 based upon the old 2-3-5 formation (which teams had almost entirely abandoned by 1939). The system remained unchanged, although it had been revised following the advent of substitutes in the 'Sixties, until the adoption of a squad numbering system in the Premier League for the 1993/94 season, and the inclusion of player's names on the shirts. England Football Online has a more detailed history of shirt numbering.

* This is contradicted by a document held at United's museum which lists the 1887/88 Manchester Cup entrants and records Newton Heath as playing in green & yellow shirts, and included in "Manchester - A Football History" by Gary James (published by James Ward in 2008).

Players, and later clubs, generally bought their playing kit from local sports outfitters. The kits were often locally made by the outfitters or small garment manufacturers. Bukta, founded in 1879, were the first mass manufacturer of football kits, and remained so until Humphrey Brothers Clothing were formed in 1920 in Wilmslow, Cheshire. In 1924 they became Umbro. Although these two Companies came to dominate the market they relied upon distributors and the local sports outfitters rather than supplying clubs direct. There are several pre-war shirts in the United museum, supplied by Alec Watson sports outfitters and Billy Meredith's sports shops, although we cannot be sure of the manufacturer. Certainly when League football resumed after the Second World War it is probable United's kits were manufactured by Umbro, although supplied through a distributor.

1945-1975 Umbro

Clothes rationing continued in Britain until March 15th 1949, and although United had few problems obtaining their playing kits, they had to resort to a public appeal to fans to donate ration coupons for their training kit. The 'Fifties were a decade of experimentation and innovation in football and Umbro, who had formed a close relationship with United's manager Matt Busby, introduced more lightweight shirts, as well as a special 'reflective' kit for floodlit games. By the end of the 'Sixties they had produced a special ventilated shirt from aertex.

1975 - 1980 Admiral

Admiral were the first manufacturer to recognise and exploit the market potential for replica kits. The Company had close ties with Leeds United, and in 1973/74 launched the UK's first replica strip. The Leeds kit carried an embroidered Admiral logo on the shirt and the shorts, as well as being made not of cotton - as had been traditional - but a lighter nylon material . The kit will probably be best remembered for the numbered tags on the socks.

United were the second League club to sign up Admiral, and their replica kit appeared from the start of the 1975/76 season. Under the arrangement United were guaranteed a minimum £15,000 annual income for each of the three years of the contract plus 5% royalties and bonuses, e.g. Admiral would pay United £10,000 for reaching the FA Cup Final, and a further £6,000 if the team won the Cup. Meanwhile the replica shirts went on sale to United supporters at £15 each (almost three times the cost of a generic red shirt with white trim). United signed a further 2 year contract with Admiral in 1978 and had agreed a further four years to commence in 1980/81. This latter contract was never fulfilled as Admiral were declared bankrupt in 1980.

1980 - 1992 adidas

The German sports and leisure clothing manufacturer were one of the first foreign companies to enter the UK replica market. In 1977 they reached agreements with Birmingham, Ipswich and Middlesbrough. They agreed a four year deal with United to start in the 1980/81 season following Admiral's demise. Despite competition from Hummel, who had originally offered United a better deal, adidas renewed the contract in 1983 (despite the initial contract still having a year to run), agreeing to pay United £1.6m over the four years of the contract. A third contract between the two was signed in 1987, and was worth a guaranteed £1.75 million over five years, with an extra 10% royalty bonus in each year that sales exceed £750,000 .

1992 - 2002 Umbro

Umbro quickly reacted to the changing market by negotiating agreements with the major English clubs in the late 1970's (including Arsenal, Everton Liverpool, and Manchester City). Umbro agreed an initial four year deal with United, which was extended in 1996 for a further 6 years, and was reported to be worth £60 million over that period. In August 2003 the Office of Fair Trading imposed fines on United (£1.6 million) and Umbro (£6.4 million), as well as several UK retailers, after an investigation between spring 2001 and autumn 2002 into price fixing .

Since 2002 Nike

United announced a world record sponsorship deal with the American sports equipment manufacturer Nike on September 27th 2000 worth £302.9 million over the thirteen year term. The agreement started on 1 August 2002 and as part of the agreement United granted Nike exclusive rights to sponsor its gear, manufacture and sell its merchandise and operate the existing retail operations. As a consequence Nike, who had an option to cancel the agreement in 2008, formed a wholly-owned subsidiary to control Manchester United's global licensing and retail operations.

Derek Dougan, who after a successful playing career with Wolves and Northern Ireland had become the Chief Executive of Southern League Kettering Town, is credited with negotiating the first shirt sponsorship contract, a four figure deal with a local company, Kettering Tyres. The company name appeared on Kettering's shirts for the League match against Bath City on January 24th 1976 but the club were ordered to remove it by the F.A. just four days later. Instead 'Kettering T', which Dougan argued stood for Town, appeared on the club shirts until April 1976 when the F.A.'s patience finally ran out and they threatened the club with a £1,000 fine if the words were not removed. Together with Derby County and Bolton Wanderers, Kettering successfully proposed a change in the F.A. regulations to allow shirt advertising from 1977/78, although they were unable to find a sponsor for the new season.

In the 1978 close season Derby County were the first League club to negotiate a shirt sponsorship deal, reaching an agreement with Swedish manufacturers Saab, although the sponsored shirts only appeared in the pre-season photo shoot as pressure from the television companies had persuaded the FA and Football League to continue to bar shirt sponsorship. A year later Liverpool announced a three year shirt sponsorship contract with Hitachi - and the flood gates opened. Clubs were compelled to wear plain shirts for televised games until 1983, when the TV companies finally gave way and allowed sponsors names on shirts to be broadcast. Football League regulations restricted the size of logos to a maximum of 81 square centimetres (32 square inches) but for televised games they had to be half this size. Both the FA and UEFA introduced regulations governing shirt sponsorship in their own competitions.

There have been frequent changes to the rules regarding kit sponsors by the governing bodies in the subsequent years, but they have been unable to agree upon a common set of regulations, hence the smaller sponsors' logos for European competition in comparison to those allowed by the Premier League.

1982 - 2000 Sharp Electronics (UK)

United announced the club's first shirt sponsorship deal on April 27th 1982. The deal, with the Japanese consumer electronics giant Sharp, was initially for a two year period and commenced at the start of the 1982/83 season. The commercial partnership with Sharp, who had their UK head office and distribution centre in the Newton Heath district of Manchester, lasted eighteen seasons. The initial two year deal was worth £500,000. In March 1984 Sharp agreed to pay £700,000 for a further two seasons as the club's sponsor.

2000 - 2006 Vodafone

On February 11th 2000, the club announced a £30 million four year sponsorship package with the world's largest telecoms company. The agreement, which initially ran from the start of the 2000/01 season, was extended for a further four years in December 2003 at a cost of £36 million. However on November 23rd 2005, in only the second season of the extension, a joint statement from United and Vodafone announced the deal would be terminated with effect from the end of that season. Vodafone had recently signed an agreement with UEFA, due to start in summer 2006, making the company an official partner of the UEFA Champions League and also the official mobile network of the competition. It is believed Vodafone had an opt out clause in their contract with United.

2006-2010 AIG

United announced a record breaking $100 million (£72m) sponsorship deal with American insurance corporation, AIG on April 26th, 2006. The deal was for four years from the start of 2006/07, and eclipsed the previous record of £50 million over five years paid by Samsung to Chelsea. American Insurance Group (AIG), the largest insurance Company in the world, were quoted as the 6th largest company in the world in the 2007 Forbes Global 2000 list. In September 2008 AIG were one of the victims of the global financial crisis, and were saved from bankruptcy only by an injection of $85 billion (£47b) by the US Federal Reserve. Eventually the bailout totalled $152 billion (£100m). The continuing global recession prompted AIG to announce on January 21st 2009 that the contract with United would not be renewed after the initial deal expired in May 2010. United were reported to be already negotiating with potential sponsors, with Indian financial services company, Sahara, amongst the club's targets.

2010 - 2014 Aon

United announced a four year sponsorship deal with US financial giant Aon on June 3rd 2009; the deal started in June 2010. Although the club did not release details of the sponsorship, a figure of £88m over the four years was widely reported in the UK press.

We are grateful to Marvin Nash for this invaluable insight into the story behind the 'three stripes/four stripes' change shirt.

"A long-standing neighbour and close family friend was a Sales Representative for Admiral from the early seventies until an internal restructuring in 1979, after which he moved to Umbro where he stayed until his retirement in 2001. As the change shirt from 1975 is my all time favourite Manchester United shirt and was the first one I ever bought, I once asked him about the two versions produced by Admiral for United (the great 'three stripe / four stripe' mystery). The story he gave me (and this was around twenty years ago) was that when Admiral designed this shirt in 1975 it was always their intention to have three vertical stripes running down the left hand side of the shirt. United were photographed in the shirt, and it was featured in the United poster mag that summer (see Lou Macari, right).

"Once it was released adidas (unsurprisingly) got in touch with Admiral's hierarchy and requested to know what was going on (although the exact wording was a tad stronger!). They quite obviously believed the design was a clear case of 'Copyright Infringement' as they had cornered the market somewhat in the realms of Sportswear with three stripes decorating them. The Directors, Sales teams and Designers at Admiral took legal advice on the issue and were told that as the stripes on United's shirt were not a sleeve adornment they were well within their rights to use them. They were also advised that a straight line could not be registered as a 'Trademark' regardless of how many others you added to it. The advice formed the basis of Admiral's response to adidas. In an angered response, adidas launched a legal case in 1975 to halt the use of this shirt. It was agreed by all parties that until a resolution was found, as a compromise a further stripe would be added to the shirt. This four stripe shirt was worn by United at Anfield on November 8th 1975, and perhaps earlier. All told the shirt was seldom used, and I have never physically seen a 'Match Worn' version.

"Our family friend recalled that this legal case became very expensive for both sides and with no end in sight and after failure to find agreement in the first two rounds of deliberation over a lengthy period, a compromise was reached where Admiral would be able to revert back to the original 'three' stripes on the proviso that they paid Adidas a small retainer on an annual basis. The three striped shirt was re-introduced at the start of the 1976/77 season. He is also convinced (though this can't be proven) that a deal was put in place to allow Adidas to have first refusal on United's next 'kit supplier' contract the next time it was up for renewal.

"Solely due to this fall-out with Admiral, adidas decided to apply the tag line 'The Brand with Three Stripes' to all their Sportswear packaging from this period on, although they had already been using it in some small degree."

Kit History

Version 1- Three stripes. Introduced pre season 1975/76. The Admiral logo was in black & white. Unlike later versions the single red hoop on the sleeve is above the three black hoops (as modelled by Lou Macari).

Version 2- Three stripes. The Admiral logo is now in the more familiar red & white and the red hoop on the sleeve is below the three black hoops. The shirt was worn at Stoke on August 30th 1975 - before the dispute with adidas - and possibly at Aston Villa on October 8th.

Version 3- Introduced in autumn 1975 and with four stripes. The first game that we can find evidence of United wearing this shirt is at West Ham on October 25th 1975.

Version 3 Variant - as above but with a black & white Admiral logo (heat applied transfer). Dates from autumn 1975.

Version 4- Three stripes. Introduced in winter 1976 and we believe first worn on February 21st 1976 at Villa Park. The Admiral logo was now in the more familiar red & white. The red hoop on the sleeve is below the three black hoops. This was the standard change shirt for the 1976/77, 1977/78 and 1979/80 seasons.

Version 5- Three stripes. Worn in the 1977 Charity Shield and in at least four League games through 1977/78. The Admiral logo and club badge were reversed and the Charity Shield match details embroidered on the shirt.

Version 6- Three stripes. Introduced for the 1978/79 season and featuring the centenary club badge.