Season 1925/26
original illustrations of the kits worn during the season

Home Kit
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Variant
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Change Kit
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Home Kit
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Change Kit
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The Season in brief

Despite a profit of almost £10,000, Bill Inglis was the only major summer acquisition, signed from The Wednesday for 'a very small cheque' according to the Athletic News.

The offside rule was redrafted during the summer to encourage more goals and, in the short term, it succeeded. Teams struggled to adapt to the change and results in the early weeks of the season were bizarre. By the end of November, and unbeaten in eight games, United were third. The Board refused to provide money to allow John Chapman to buy Hughie Gallacher from his old club, Airdrieonians, and Gallacher was sold to Newcastle for £6,500. He scored 133 goals in 160 appearances on Tyneside.

United were soon found out and by the end of the season had slipped to 9th, still a creditable performance had it not been for the results of two games against City in 1926. Humiliated 6-1 at Old Trafford, they were beaten 3-0 in the F.A. Cup semi final by their neighbours, a game in which Barson left City's Cowan unconscious.

There were no changes to United's home kit for 1925/26 but the change kit was replaced. Retaining a solid red shirt, the new design had a red trimmed collar and two buttons. Our evidence comes from press photographs of both kits from the spring of 1926.

We have also discovered photographs of several United players wearing the home kit with black shorts. It is possible that these photographs were taken during training sessions and that black shorts were not worn in a competitive game.

We have been able to determine that United's goalkeepers wore a heavy woolen green jersey. Although we have been unable to discover any evidence from this season of United's goalkeeper change shirt, we believe, from earlier and later photographic evidence and given the limited colour options available under League regulations, it was probably royal blue.