Barclays Premier League 2010 - 2011
The amount of debt incurred by clubs in pursuit of success in the Premier League was brought into sharp focus last season when Portsmouth became the first Premiership club to enter administration. According to a UEFA report, Premier League clubs owe £3.1bn, more than all the other clubs in Europe put together and this figure excludes Portsmouth and West Ham. Over £1bn of this debt was loaded onto Manchester United and Liverpool as a result of leveraged buyouts while Roman Abramovich has converted half of the £711m he has pumped into Chelsea into shares and written off the rest. In other words, just three clubs are responsible for half of this immense debt.
Twelve kit manufacturers are represented among the twenty Premier League clubs: the big global brands supply twelve clubs and smaller companies supply the remainder. JD Sports' Carbrini brand, which has made serious inroads into the lower divisions in recent seasons, makes its debut in tier one through Blackpool as does the Chinese manufacturer, Xtep, who supply Birmingham.
Home
Away
Third
Designer: Nike
Sponsor: Emirates Airways
The Gunners qualified for the Champions League group stages after finishing in third place last season.
The new home shirt recreates one of the most iconic designs from their past, worn in the 1960s and 1970s and won high praise from supporters on its release.
White socks are worn at home while red ones are used in away games (regardless of whether there is a clash).
The new away strip combines the popular yellow with the modern redcurrant shade that first appeared in 2005-06. The result is a very attractive combination indeed.
Yellow shorts are also available. The navy change strip is retained as their third kit.
(Andrew Mihaleff, Anthony Jeffers, Stein Jacobsen)
Home
Away
Third
Designer: Nike
Sponsor: FxPro Financial Services
Villa qualified for the Europa League, having finished sixth in May. Nike's latest offerings feature a chequered pattern on the sides of the body, shorts and across the socks, a motif that HFK is not at all sure about.
(Chris Hookway, Richard Gallon, Fadi Sabbagh)
Home
Away
Third
Designer: Xtep
Sponsor: F&C Investments
Birmingham's deal with the Chinese sportswear manufacturer, Xtep, is reported to be worth £7.8m to the club over five seasons. No doubt executives back in Fujian also have an eye on breaking into the lucrative UK and European markets.
The new home strip was the most eye-catching of four designs that supporters were invited to vote for and bears a passing resemblance to the shirts worn between 1913 and 1927, when a chevron also appeared.
(Rob Rob, Harry Meadows)
Home
Away
Third
Designer: Umbro
Sponsor: Crown Paints
The new Rovers home strip is bound to be popular, representing a return to simplicity and tradition. The team return to their popular red and black theme for the new away strip. Both are part of the "Tailored by Umbro in England" range.
(Rob Rob, Fadi Sabbagh)
Home
Away
Third
Designer: Carbrini
Sponsor: Wonga.com
Having finished sixth in the Championship, Blackpool came from behind twice in the play-off final to beat Cardiff City, taking their place in the top level after an absence of 39 years.
The new third kit, launched in early May, revives the colours worn by the team in the Thirties, albeit with the addition of rather too much detailing.
(Rob Rob, Peter Gillatt, Fadi Sabbagh, Tony George)
Home
Away
Third
Designer: Reebok
Sponsor: 188 Bet
After the unpopular kit worn last season, the new Bolton home outfit is at least an improvement although it is disfigured by the oversize Reebok logos on the shoulders and sides of the shorts. This trend for cluttering up kits with excessive logos is unwelcome.
The away kit is "blueprint" with "thermal orange" piping. the third strip is last season's change shirt worn with navy shorts. We can assume white shorts are available for both home and third outfits.
(Stephen Robinson)
Home
Away
Third
Designer: Adidas
Sponsor: Samsung
Chelsea won their first ever double in May after strong performances in both the league and cup.
The new home strip follows tradition but adds red as an accent colour. The away and third strips demonstrates the fact that the global manufacturers like Adidas will create bespoke kits for big clubs who can command enormous replica kit sales world-wide. The third kit is described as "macaw and dark navy."
(Ade Kellers, Jon Jones)
Home
Away
Third
Designer: Le Coq Sportif
Sponsor: Chang Beer
Le Coq Sportif's design for the Toffeeman's new home shirt is deceptively simple, but it does incorporate a horizontal chest panel in a very slightly different shade. The decision to drop the usual contrasting collar is a reminder that until 1956, Everton always wore self coloured collars.
Everton's new away shirt is a dramatic "lightning pink" with the chest panel rendered in contrasting navy blue. Pink featured prominently in Everton's earliest colours but not, perhaps, as striking as this shade. The third shirt is officially "vanilla" and was launched in September.
(Andrew Mihaleff, Martinos Perdikis)
Home
Away
Third
Designer: Kappa
Sponsor: FxPro
Fulham may have had a modest season in the Premiership but supporters and neutrals will remember their epic Europa League campaign that took them all the way to the final, where they were narrowly beaten by Atletico Madrid. A new kit partner and shirt sponsor feature for this season. The home strip is straightforward and complemented by striking away and third kits.
(Andrew McEwan)
Home
Away
Third
Designer: Adidas
Sponsor: Standard Chartered
Liverpool qualified for the Europa League after finishing seventh last season.
After a 17 year association with Carlsberg, Liverpool have signed a four-year shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered Bank, thought to be worth £80m.
The new away kit is inspired by an old favourite, first seen as far back as 1912. Of course the modern version has all sorts of design tweaks including fine pinstripes in red, white and black. The new black third strip is trimmed in bright yellow and has a similar jaquard print to the home shirt. The crest on this shirt is etched by laser - how exciting is that?
(Ian Raffel, Paul Weasel)
Home
Away
Third
Designer: Umbro
Sponsor: Etihad Airways
City's wealthy owners have to be satisfied with a Europa League place after City finished three points behind Spurs. Here at HFK we rather like the new navy away kit which has a small ribbon on the inside of the collar in the style of the scarves supporters wore in the late Sixties. Last season's popular white third shirt sash returns but is now worn with white shorts and socks. The home strip was revealed last and is modelled on the famous outfit worn in the late Sixties, bringing a tear to the eye of at least one of our contributors who started to support the team at that time.
(Matt Rossall, Ian Raffel, Steven Birkett, Steven Thomas)
Home
Away
Third
Designer: Nike
Sponsor: Aon
United ran Chelsea close for the title and finished as runners-up. Last season was marked by increasing anger among supporters at the immense debts the current owners have created and was expressed by fans wearing gold and green scarves, the colours of the original Newton Heath club.
The new home strip features the contrasting "tape" trim that was much in evidence at the World Cup.
(Tony George, Roger Fishbein)
Home
Away
Third
Designer: Puma
Sponsor: Northern Rock
The Toon bounced back after one season in the Championship. It remains to be seen if this will be enough for Mike Ashley to win over the supporters he alienated in 2009.
Puma take over from their arch rivals Adidas (whose association with the club goes back to 1995) and introduce light mid-blue and all-white change strips.
(Jonathon Auty)
Home
Away
Designer: Adidas
Sponsor: Britannia Building Society
Stoke have dropped Le Coq Sportif in favour of Adidas this season. The new home strip, which has Adidas' new "shoulder pads," ragged edging to the stripes and a solid red back, has not met with universal approval from supporters.
(Rob Rob, Tony George)
Home
Away
Designer: Umbro
Sponsor: Tombola Bingo
Sunderland's new away strip is a very smart Umbro design in off-white (officially "stone") and claret.
The home strip has a very traditional look, down to the 2" stripes and red socks with white turnovers, both features of Sunderlands' strips since the 1950s.
(Fadi Sabbagh, Andrew Mihaleff, Paul Robinson)
Home
Euro
Away
Third
Designer: Puma
Sponsor: Autonomy (EPL), Investec (Cup & Eur)
A fourth place finish last season earned Spurs a place in the Champions' League so an all-white European kit is introduced, a tradition going back to the days of Bill Nicholson. This strip, which is sponsored by Investec, part of the same group as Autonomy, will be worn in European and domestic cup competition. The diagonal navy shoulder flash (and corresponding trim on the shorts) is rather jarring at first glance but HFK suspects it will grow on us. The away kit is a familar pale blue while dark navy, with lime green trim, is used for the third strip. We can assume that Investec's logo will appear on these if they are used in cup competition.
(Andrew Mihaleff, Nick Hawkins, Martinos Perdikis, John Lovett)
Home
Away
Third
Designer: Umbro
Sponsor: Homeserve
Albion came straight back after one season in the Championship, finishing as runners-up. Umbro's latest striped template looks well in Albion's traditional navy and white and is complemented by a dramatic black second strip, relieved only by subtle shadow stripes on the shirt and the usual logos and club crest. For the first time in two seasons, Albion have secured a shirt sponsorship deal for the entire season.
(Ian Raffel)
Home
Away
Designer: Macron
Sponsor: Sbobet.com
Macron have taken some liberties in combining their "cutting edge continental ideas with the club's homegrown history" for the new away kit. The publicity photo shows a badly colourised image of Bobby Moore wearing a pale shirt with claret and sky blue bands but as all older fans will know, the iconic strip he is wearing was all sky-blue with claret bands. HFK thinks it is frankly rather shoddy to use such an inconic image in this way.
On the other hand, the new home kit is a fine example of how a traditional outfit can be updated to modern styling, down to the old fashioned collar. This is a considerable improvement on last season's Umbro strip.
(Steve Toogood, Ian Raffel)
Home
Away
Designer: Mi Fit
Sponsor: 188 Bet
The Latic's new home strip has been designed and supplied by Mi Fit, a new brand that forms part of Dave Whelan's DW Sport and Fitness empire. Whelan has been chairman of the club since 1995.
(George Chilvers, Bertie Wright)
Home
Away
Designer: Burrda
Sponsor: Sporting Bet
Wolves introduce a new kit partner to the Premier League, Swiss sportswear manufacturer, Burrda. The new home kit, worn in the last home game of the 2009-10 season, is a solidly traditional design with a novel collar. All black with old gold trim is likely to be a popular choice as the new away kit.
Old gold shorts will be needed for several away matches.
