If SAFC one day ditched the red and white stripes? Happened to a few in the past, now Cardiff are doing it. .................................................................. After 103 years in blue, Cardiff City â via some âsignificant brandingâ on their Malaysian boardâs part â bumped their bluebird and went red in exchange for £100 millionâs worth of the clubâs soul. Not that itâs really the end of the world or anywhere even close; itâs happened before and, as the money continues to rarefy, itâll doubtless happen again. And again. And again. Hereâs a few examples of past footballing livery changes that, while may have caused a bit of a stir at the time, didnât see the sky become a lake of fire, etc, etc⦠1. Manchester United: After a few years of chopping and changing between their now-famous red home strip and a white, chevroned affair, United decided to register their home colours as âmaroon/cherry (depending who you ask) and white hoopsâ for the 1933/34 season after the players began believing their hooped change strip from the previous season was lucky. It lasted three months before results went tits up and fans demanded normal service be resumed. The red kit was reinstated immediately. 2. Leeds United: Since their inception in 1920, Leeds played in royal blue and white stripes until the mid-30s, after which they played in a few subtle variations of the âyellow and blue halvesâ design. That was until Don Revie took over in 1961. Revie wanted to install a new ethos at the club and, fancying that the club should look like Real Madrid on the pitch, changed their strip to all-white. They certainly looked like Madrid, though whether they played anything like Puskas, Di Stefano and co. is very much open to debate. Revie also went on to add an owl to the clubâs crest in 1964, for the simple reason that he happened to think birds were lucky. 3. Arsenal: The Gunners ditched their old âVictoria Concordia Crescitâ badge for a more streamlined design back in 2002 â removing all the heraldry guff and keeping nowt but the cannon and the club name after failing in a bid to copyright the former crest. âUproarâ would be stretching it, but the move was seen as a cynical marketing exercise by a fair old wodge of Arsenal fans at the time. Fast forward a decade and precisely no-one gives two hoots. 4. Bournemouth: Similar to Don Revieâs fervour for Leeds to look like Real Madrid, Bournemouth (seen here with a young Harry Redknapp in the front row) added black horizontal stripes to their previously red shirts in 1970/71 as a homage to AC Milan. Sadly, dominant European success was not forthcoming, though the Cherries were promoted from Division Four as runners-up that season. 5. Chelsea: The Blues have been precisely that for going on 90 years, playing in their now familiar Royal Blue since 1920 . However, in the years before that Chelsea played in rather fetching minty pastel-turquoise shirts nabbed from the Old Etonians after the First World War â though itâs also mooted that the shirt was rendered in the racing colours of the then-president, the Earl of Cadogan. Take your pick. Though the opposition was fairly minimal, the Royal Blue strip was said to be an unpopular choice at first, as many supporters backed plans to wear red as a nod to the clubâs association with the Chelsea Pensioners â a member of which was depicted on their club crest at the time (and remained until the Lion came into use in 1952). 6. Coventry City: After playing in predominantly white with blue trim for the best part of 40 years (and a brief stint spent in gruesome red and green halves between 1922 and â24), Coventry drew from a past kit and made the big switch to sky blue in 1962. Itâs served them well and they havenât looked back since â well, not âkit-wiseâ at least. Seen above is a chilly Tony Hateley (Markâs old man, they share a face) modelling Cityâs 1968 strip. 7. Crystal Palace: The ever-debonair Malcolm Allison came in and completely altered Palaceâs colours in 1973 in a bid to shed their somewhat conservative homely image, binning their (really rather nice) cream, claret and blue kit in favour of the red and blue stripes they still wear to this day. The numbers on the arms are a nice touch. Being the fedora-favouring renegade style svengali that he was, Big Mal also completely redesigned the clubâs badge â adding a eagle and changing Palaceâs nickname from âThe Glaziersâ to âThe Eaglesâ in one fell swoop. * * * * * Granted, these kit changes may not have happened under identical circumstances, but Cardiffâs predicament is just a fresher shoot on the same old tree. For better or worse, weâre currently at a point in time where âthe brandâ is more important than âthe traditionâ in keeping football chugging on until it finally eats itself â thatâs just about the long and short of it. As we said up top; when all is said and done, itâs not really the end of the world, is it?
Like most sensible Cardiff fans said, if it is bringing in significant investment you have to live with it. If it did happen what strip/colours would you lke?
You forget the Craas who used to play in red? Lol In short, I wouldn't accept it in any way at all. The home short is sacrosanct. The away shirt you can do what you want with and is purely a commercial adventure.
Would hate it if we moved away from Red as our primary colour. So if we ditches red and white stripes id stump for red top with white shorts and red white or black socks.
I personally loved the white strip with red pin stripes. Id love a change one season for some anniversary or what not
Are the colours that important? Surely its about who they play for, not the colours. Out on a limb here, but I would want the lads to win even if it was in black and white stripes. My doctor says they will let me use a pencil and not crayons from next week. x
You can add the numerous changing of our badge to that list. It would be a travesty if we ditched the red & white stripes. P.s. I hate our badge, Murray's big mistake, his tacky taste.
Must admit I would always prefer our red & white stripes but if investment meant moving up a few notches towards the big teams I would accept most things except black & white stripes.
we moved from roker park we lost roker for stadium of light we lost players we could identify with to over paid visitors we lost sat at 3 for whenever sky said Tradition is now the photos on the wall, money is the new god, I have simply accepted it
I love our badge too. Might be biased but its of the best around. There are some shockers around QPR springs to mind.
i'd be devastated to say the least, for a start i'd have to repaint the back yard but more importantly it would destroy our history, ****ing foreigners thinking they what can do what they like with our clubs, it's a disgrace, i sometimes wish i could travel through time and stand in the fulwell end with my RED AND WHITE scarf round my wrist, paying 70p to get in
