Season 1953/54
original illustrations of the kits worn during the season

Home Kit
unitedkits_kit_0625
unitedkits_number_0625
Change Kit
unitedkits_kit_0631
unitedkits_number_0631
Home Kit
unitedkits_gk_kit_0625
unitedkits_gk_number_0625
Change Kit
unitedkits_gk_kit_0631
unitedkits_gk_number_0631
 
The Season in brief

Busby continued rebuilding the side. Johnny Carey retired during the summer, and was succeeded as club captain initially by Stan Pearson and later Allenby Chilton.

United failed to win any of their opening eight games of the season, managing just five points. Busby introduced Jackie Blanchflower and Dennis Viollet into the side for a friendly at Kilmarnock, bringing on Duncan Edwards for the injured Henry Cockburn during the game. United won 3-0 and all three kept their place for the League game at at Huddersfield a week later. The 'Busby Babes' had arrived.

The new look side recorded memorable wins (6-1 at Cardiff in November, 5-1 against Liverpool a month later) but also suffered terrible defeats (5-3 at Burnley in the F.A. Cup third round in January and 5-1 to Bolton at Old Trafford in the same month).

Such occasional brilliance combined with heavy defeats became the hallmark of Busby's sides for the next fifteen years.

In spite of their poor start United finished the season in 4th place, but nine points behind Wolves.

Jimmy Murphy's youth side won the Youth Cup for a second successive season, and again beat Wolves in the Final, this time 5-4 on aggregate.

United's home and change kits were unchanged.

Heavy woollen green jerseys had been adopted almost universally by League clubs as the standard goalkeeper's kit. The only differences were to the material (coarser or finer, largely depending upon a club's financial state), and the depth of the polo neck.

We believe the change shirt, which was seldom used, would have been royal blue although the limitations of black and white photography make it impossible to accurately confirm the shirt's colour.