Some good points but lets not forget Revie wanted to change our kit for the good, to emulate Real Madrid, not for money grabbing corporate reasons
as if the cardiff fans had an opinion on this...... we were told due to the (inevitable) backlash, that it wouldnt go ahead.... then a few weeks later we're told it would.... i'm a cardiff fan, and i dont agree with the red dragon ****e, in fact i was sickened to see the ugly logo plastered on the outside of the stadium..... at the end of the day i'm one voice of 20,000 +, i have no say in how the club is run...... if i was running the club then this would never happen.....i'm not selling out by going to matches, i support the team on a saturday but will never ever wear a red shirt.... so dont tar us all with the same brush....
I dont think anyone is. I feel for cardiff fans on this subject (there isn't many subjects I do) and think its ****ing disgusting that a club would do that to its fans
Totally accept that Elland, although I'm sure at the time those Leeds fans would've probably understood the changing of the kit for a "bit of brass" as opposed to "psychological" reasons However lets turn the question around slightly then now, and have some hypothetical fun Bates remaining at the club for god knows how many more years, or someone else taking the club over on the provision the club colours are changed, here's a couple of totally over the top scenarios. Princess Haya of Jordan says she will buy the club, but she wants the team to wear her racing colours being green with black markings on the sleeve (I've used this as there is already a precedent for this type of offer, with the previous Duke of Westminster making a similar offer to Chester FC in the 50's/60's, which was turned down) A multi billionaire Japanese industrialists will buy the club, but wants the colours changed, as the Japanese associate white with death and mourning (a non corporate reason for changing) Neil Warnock wants us to emulate the Barcelona team of recent years and hence change to their colours (without any financial incentive) (Ok even I admit that this seems a bit far fetched, but is it any more far fetched that what The Don did ) I should also clarify that like most of us, I wouldnt want to change from white at all, especially not to some generic colour used by other clubs, but would consider a change to a unique identifiable colour/kit for the right reasons and probably a larger investment than £10 mil. The problem with my reasoning here, which I freely admit, is that clubs change ownership a lot more frequently than in the past, therefore in the Cardiff example there is nothing to say that in 5 years time, someone else doesnt buy the club, and then change the kit colour yet again, and that is when the issue of identity is diminished. Thus for any change to have a chance of being acceptable, you would need a 100% commitment from the "new owners" that they would be around for years to come, to ensure that we wouldn't go down the road of colours being changed every couple of years or so, like happens presently with kit design, and unfortunately that is unlikely to happen. As a total afterthought, can we return to goalies wearing the traditional green jersey as opposed to the array of colours worn today
I posted something similar to this on a not606 thread a while back.... Although I remember telling everyone that I was a Leeds supporter from a very young age (in the mid 70s) I don't actually have any memories of Leeds from that era and only started going to games after we were relegated in the 80s, so I have no first hand emotional attachment to the Don Revie era. However, I do have countless videos (VHS !), match programmes, shirts, books, Pannini sticker books etc from that era because of course I'm very familiar with the club's history (as I'm sure are many of the younger fans today). All of these show Leeds in a white strip. EVERYTHING that Leeds have achieved is in the all white kit. EVERY time you see any famous footage of Leeds on TV or in magazines or on the internet is of Leeds in white. Leeds winning the league, Leeds lifting the FA Cup, Fairs Cup, League Cup, Leeds getting through to the semi finals of the champions league in 2001. Leeds thrashing the Saints 7-0 on Match of the Day in the 70s or even knocking the scum out of the cup a few years ago. OK, we were sometimes wearing an away strip of some kind. But even now, EVERYONE worldwide, not just Leeds fans, associate Leeds with the all-white strip. No one, barring the oldest of Leeds fans, will remember Leeds in blue/gold or blue/white. Because there is no footage of Leeds in that strip, nothing on TV and nothing on the internet. You may see photos of Leeds players from that era in those strips. But can you think of any ? No, because they are not MEMORABLE images. My point (finally !) is this - when Revie changed the strip to all white there was no real reason not to (supporters wouldn't even have had replica shirts in those days). Now, there is every reason NOT to change our strip. To even suggest it is to suggest ripping the heart and soul out of Leeds United.
Its the same in Manchester, but now half of them want to wear Newton Heath's colours. It just a shirt at the end of the day. England won the World Cup in red not white, but the White shirt is still the home kit, we have had a Black Leeds kit??? If you had success in red, then play in red, if a multi-billionaire wanted Leeds to wear pink I would not careless if it brought us games at Elland Road (Or whatever it was renamed) against Barca and Real. PS. I would not want red as it is too common, half the teams play in it. Nothing to do with the wannabe Salford losers.
I don't agree that "it's just a shirt". It is a huge part of the club's identity. While I'm sure the change to all white might have pissed off some supporters, Leeds were unknown at the time. Leeds now (despite all the upheaval of the last few years) are famous worldwide for the white strip. In the modern era I can only think of Leicester who have tried to change their kit (to emulate Leeds in the 70s funnily enough). The fans were in uproar and it was changed back the following season I think ? And Palace in the Vanables era, but that was changed again a few years later. Drastic kit changes don't go down well in the modern era because they are too much a part of the clubs image due to all the merchandising kids these days have everything in the clubs colours. Now, away kits are a different matter and they allow clubs to keep raking in the money year after year with a whole miriad of different kits (some clubs more than others of course).
I think there's an important point been overlooked here. It's all about money these days, & selling replica shirts is a big part of that. Would they sell more red shirts than white shirts? I think not! End of argument - red shirts just won't happen. It would be financial suicide.
And I bet the Wallies were dead happy about that ! Although they have been predominantly blue shirts (and white shorts) they have some history of playing in all white in 1896/97, 1960-64, 1968-1975 and as recently as 1999-2001. They also played in red in 1888 and have also not been shy about changing their name, starting out as Millwall Rovers, then changing to Millwall Athletic in 1893 before becoming plain old Millwal in 1910. That's if the historicalkits.co.uk website can be relied upon to be accurate. Perhaps one of our Wallie friends can confirm their colourful history ?
But the OPs point was, would you do it in return for a large financial incentive ? This would presumably be more than the club would lose in shirt sales.
Never going to happen and any new owner who buys the club, will be buying it for a bunch of reasons, but one of them will be the white kit. That white kit was renowned all around Europe and even our southern based biased media always reported us as 'Super Whites' All of our past glories were in the whte shirt and european clubs will always know Leeds utd as being a team that plays in all white. Likewise they will know Liverpool, Man utd and Arsenal and even Forest because of their kits. teams like ours will never change strips, but teams like cardiff and all other small clubs can because they're unknown anyway out side their own village
I appreciate the OP's point, but simply saying that it would never, ever happen, for purely commercial reasons. They would lose the brand by doing this, and devalue their investment. No-one would ever contemplate this. Even those with more money than they know what do do with wouldn't do it to Leeds - they don't like losing money, and they don't like being unpopular. As for my own personal response - never! Money is temporary, history is not, and we, the Super Whites, have history!
The colours of the city of Leeds are yellow and blue. The colour of Yorkshire is white. Together, those are our colours. To play in any other is to sell out. If you don't understand the club's identity, there's no hope.
