Historical Football Kits

Npower Championship 2010 - 2011

The energy supplier, Npower, have taken over from Coca Cola as the Football League's official sponsor in a deal reported to be worth £21m over three years. Solidarity payments (the cash that the Premier League pays to the Football League to be distributed to clubs that are not receiving parachute payments) are increased to £2.3m per season in the Championship.

The big four sportswear companies, Nike/Umbro, Adidas and Puma have contracts with 14 of the 24 clubs in the division and several attractive, retro-inspired designs have been introduced.

Barnsley

Designer: Lotto

Sponsor: Barnsley Building Society

There are no surprises with Barnsley's new home strip, which is, as usual, just slightly updated by Lotto. The club crest has been revised and is now placed on a smart red and white shield. The white and violet away strip is quite a departure for a club that is normally very conservative in choosing change kits.

(Graham Siddons)

Bristol City

Designer: Adidas

Sponsor: DAS Insurance

After four seasons with Puma, Bristol City have switched to their rivals, Adidas. The result is a straightforward strip in City's traditional red and white, reversed for the away kit so all elements can swapped when necessary. The third kit is a straightforward all-black version of the same template. The special kit was worn to mark the last game that Steve Lansdown was in charge as club chairman, the shirts being auctioned off afterwards.

(Chris Bailey, Dan Studley, Ian Mills, Mark Leech)

Burnley

Designer: Puma

Sponsor: Fun88

Burnley were unable to sustain themselves in the Premier League and were relegated after just one season. It is disappointing to note that the club have dropped their relationship with Errea after five seasons and adopt one of Puma's standard templates. HFK has been told this is due to quality control problems with replica shirts supplied by the Italian company last year.

(Ralph Pomeroy)

Cardiff City

Designer: Puma

Sponsor: Sbobet.com

The Bluebirds squandered the lead twice in last season's play-off final but supporters were relieved when Peter Ridsdale stepped down as chairman after a new consortium, led by Malaysian businessman Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun took a 30% shareholding in the debt-ridden club last May.

The club have adopted one of Puma's new templates with just a touch of gold trim at the collar. The yellow and blue strip from last season was used early in the season before being replaced by a new black change kit, worn for the first time at Ipswich on 18 September.

(Jacob B-L, Andrew Dalton, Luke Richards)

Coventry City

Designer: Puma

Sponsor: City Link

It is hard to believe that this is the first time Coventry have worn white shorts with their familiar sky blue shirts since Jimmy Hill's "Sky Blue Revolution" of the early 60s. In fact, the last time a similar combination was worn was in 1915.

The away kit revives a favourite from the Seventies.

Crystal Palace

Designer: Nike

Sponsor: GAC Logistics

Palace retained their place in the Championship after being docked ten points for going into administration and narrowly avoiding liquidation in the close season.

The home strip is a straightforward Nike design, now matched with red shorts and socks once again. The ever popular white strip with red/blue sash is revived as second choice, with GAC's sponsorship tastefully reduced.

(Daniel Knight, Nathan Rose)

Derby County

Designer: Adidas

Sponsor: buymobiles.net

Derby's new home strip is simply updated to one of Adidas' latest templates in traditional black and white. The yellow and blue away kit is a slightly different template.

(Football Shirt Culture.com, Richard Kilpatrick)

Doncaster Rovers

Designer: Nike

Sponsor: One Call Insurance

Doncaster have dropped their contract with Vandanel in favour of Nike. Their traditional hooped tops now appear in one of Nike's standard templates, somewhat simplified from recent designs.

(Craig Morris, Christopher Worrall)

Hull City

Designer: Adidas

Sponsor: Totesport.com

Hull's Premier League adventure came to an end last May with the club £35m in debt. Unless players on unaffordable contracts are unloaded this summer, the club faces a real threat of administration. Their new away strip is a standard Adidas template in white with amber trim. Stripes return for the new home strip, which is made in a satisfyingly deep shade of amber (sorry, "sonic gold" according to Adidas). The downside is an intricate pattern of dashes bordering each stripe.

(Luke Lofts, Football Shirt Culture.com)

Ipswich Town

Designer: Mitre

Sponsor: Marcus Evans

Ipswich generally change their home strip every two seasons so only a new away strip, in black with silver-grey trim, is introduced this season. The red strip from last season was used in a Carling Cup fixture at Millwall.

(Ted Aram, Ben)

Leeds United

Designer: Macron

Sponsor: Net Flights.com

Leeds return to the second tier after an absence of three seasons spent in League One. Their new home strip marks a return to the classic plain white of the club's Seventies heyday, albeit with the usual modern clutter of sponsorship and trademarks. The only other trim is a yellow and blue ring on the sock turnover.

A smart all blue away kit is introduced and last season's yellow and blue away kit is retained so all three outfits reflect the club's colours.

(Ben Gershaw, Max Harlow, Matthew Warmby)

Leicester City

Designer: Burrda

Sponsor: King Power

City have signed a three-year contract with Burrda and become the third English club to be involved with the Swiss manufacturer. The home and away strips are fundamentally the same as worn last year and a yellow third kit makes its debut.

(Ian Raffel, Brett Brown, Joshua Bayliss, Ivan Barsby, Dominic Brewin)

Middlesbrough

Designer: Adidas

Sponsor: see notes

The return of the iconic chest band to Boro's home strip is a welcome development but, and this might be just me, it is rather too deep. The club have failed to secure a shirt sponsor for 2010-11 so they will follow the example of West Brom last season by offering short term sponsorship deals instead. Replicas sold to supporters will be sponsor-free but logos can be added on request. Middlesbrough impersonate Slovakia when forced to change, with a subtle watermark print on the body.

(Samuel Shannon, Daniel Bailey, Richard Kilpatrick, Simon Ståål)

Millwall

Designer: Macron

Sponsor: CYC Courier Services

After defeat in the play-offs four seasons in succession, a 39th minute goal in last season's Wembley final at last brought Millwall into the Championship. As 2010 marks the club's 125th anniversary, they are playing in a strip similar to their original outfit. A special commemorative version, printed with the names of those who have played for the club was worn against Burnley on 2 October.

(Danny Harding, Nicky Rowe)

Norwich City

Designer: Xara

Sponsor: Aviva

The new Norwich home shirt is a rather brighter yellow than that seen in recent seasons. Norwich rotate their strips every two years so last season's white change kit is kept for 2010-11.

(Andrew Dalton)

Nottingham Forest

Designer: Umbro

Sponsor: Victor Chandler

Forest have joined the trend for simple, retro style. The home shirts have a subtle shadow stripe and two stars now decorate the club crest in celebration of the team's two European Cup wins.

(Richard Williams, Ben)

Portsmouth

Designer: Kappa

Sponsor: Jobsite

With debts in the region of £140m, relegated Portsmouth managed to conclude a Company Voluntary Agreement before the new season started to avoid a further points penalty this season.

The new home strip is virtually identical to the version worn in last season's FA Cup semi-final and marks a welcome return to their traditional colour scheme. The strip worn in the FA Cup final now serves as their away kit.

(Alexander Perkin, Ben Gershaw)

Preston North End

Designer: Puma

Sponsor: Tennent's Brewery

It is no surprise that Canterbury, who fell into financial difficulties last season, are no longer supplying Preston, who have instead entered the warm embrace of Puma. The new home strip is solidly traditional while red (never a popular choice among the Deepdale faithful) is dropped in favour of yellow and blue as second choice.

For the first time in many years, Preston's crest appears on a shield.

(Football Shirt Culture.com)

Queen's Park Rangers

Designer: Lotto

Sponsor: Gulfair.com

Lotto's latest interpretation of Rangers' famous broad hoops adds red as an accent colour. The halved shirts of the red and black away shirts are "inspired" by the team's away kit from the Seventies. These were, of course red and white but as the current tradition is for red and black alternative strips, this seems a reasonable choice. The green and white third strip revives the colours QPR wore in the early part of the 20th century.

(Simon Ståål)

Reading

Designer: Puma

Sponsor: Waitrose

Reading's new home outfit is a variation on Puma's African range with stippled paint effects on the shirt, a design that has displeased at least one of HFK's regular contributors. The shirts are plain blue on the back. The away strip is a severe all black, relieved with red socks and trim on the shirt. The white and green third strip was last season's change kit.

(Ian Raffel, Clyde1998)

Scunthorpe United

Designer: Nike

Sponsor: Rainham Steel

Scunthorpe return to a very traditional look with their new Nike home strip. This style first appeared as far back as 1904 and makes a welcome return, even if it is based on a standard Nike template. Nike's "Hoop Li" design in "volt" and black appears as the team's change strip. This proved a popular choice among Celtic supporters last season.

(Rob Rob, Richard Young)

Sheffield United

Designer: Macron

Sponsor: Visit Malta.com

The Blades new set of kits feature interchangeable shorts and socks. The special edition strip in dark grey with lilac trim, has been produced to celebrate the club's 120th anniversary and has the names of every player to have represented the team printed into the shirt. The third strip was launched in November.

(Matt Brownhill, Alexander Perkin, Ben)

Swansea City

Designer: Umbro

Sponsor: 32 Red.com

Swansea's supporters voted overwhelmingly in favour of a return to all-white for the new season and should be pleased with Umbro's pristine design. The away kit is equally smart in all-black with shadow stripes on the shirt and white hoops on the socks.

(Ian Raffel)

Watford

Designer: Burrda

Sponsor: Burrda

Swiss manufacturer, Burrda have arrived in the UK with some interesting strips. Watford's new home kit retains the black shorts worn in recent seasons and adds an effective red and black stripe down the left side of the shirt.

(Sam Gardner)