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 postermag 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 is in black & white. Unlike later versions the single red hoop on the sleeve is above the three black hoops (as modelled by Lou Macari, right).
Version 2 (Four stripes) - introduced in autumn 1975. The Admiral logo is now in the more familiar red & white. The red hoop on the sleeve is below the three black hoops. The first game that we can find evidence of United wearing this shirt is at Liverpool on November 8th 1975.
Version 2 Variant - as above but with a black & white Admiral logo (heat applied transfer). Dates from autumn 1975.
Version 3 (Three stripes) - introduced in winter 1976 and we believe first worn on February 21st 1976 at Villa Park. The Admiral logo is 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 4 (Three stripes) - worn in the 1977 Charity Shield and in at least four League games through 19977/78. The Admiral logo and club badge were reversed and the Charity Shield match details embroidered on the shirt.
Version 5 (Three stripes) - introduced for the 1978/79 season and featuring the centenary club badge.
Photographic Evidence
We have pictures of United in both the three and four stripe shirts. The team photograph from the 1975 postermag (three stripes) was sent to us by Marvin Nash and John Bailey. Incidentally John owned the kit so we know it was released as a replica. The same page features a picture of Stevie Coppell at Anfield in the four stripes version.
