UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations came into effect this season and, surprise surprise, the deep pockets of Manchester City's backers attracted the attention of the regulators, who sanctioned the club with a fine and squad restrictions.
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After a 20-year relationship with Nike, Arsenal have signed a contract with Puma worth a record £150m over five years. The new first choice is a very smart interpretation of the traditional shirt while the yellow and navy alternative, which revives an ever-popular theme, is attractively set off with red trim. The third kit is going to take some getting used to.
(Joe Scargill,
Connor Lenehan, Nathan Patrick)
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The new Macron design for Villa's first choice strip combines tradition with some neat modern flourishes, including pinstripes on the body and a neat collar. The change strip revives a very popular theme from the past.
(George Hartley)
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Burnley have made it back into the Premier League and are wearing a traditionally styled shirt in a standard Puma template. Regrettably they are once again supported by an online casino. The alternative is in black with metallic silver trim, reversed on the third strip.
(Graham Cowking, Connor Lenehan)
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Third place ensures that Chelsea once again take a place in the Champions League. The first choice strip is only marginally changed from last year and features more sensible socks. The yellow change kit returns to a popular combination that first appeared in 1965. The third shirt is decorated with a soundwave pattern in light blue.
(David Niblock, Connor Lenehan)
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Palace have switched to Macron this season who have delivered one of their smart, workmanlike designs that reintroduces proper stripes. My brother continues to dislike the yellow trim, however, and insists this feature convinces no-one they are watching Barcelona. The pastel shades of the new change strip are, well, let's agree on "unusual."
(Andrew Mihaleff, Alec Hitchman, Martinos Perdikis)
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Umbro make a welcome return to top flight football as an independent company after Nike's blatant asset stripping. Their design for Everton is inspired by the team's 1924 strip (Umbro was founded that year): modern touches include dark blue horizontal ribbing and trim on the shirt. 9/10. The all black change strip is smart enough but marketing claims that it is based on the original "Black Watch" strip from 1881 is spurious nonsense. The third kit is white and "blackberry" with yellow trim.
(Andrew Mihaleff, Gary Roe, Alexander Leiberich, Nathan Patrick)
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Hull not only retained their place in the Premier League but also reached their first FA Cup final and now play in Europe for the first time in their history. Their new Umbro first kit is a smart interpretation of their traditional look (including a return to a deep shade of amber).
The attempt by the owner to change to club name has been
blocked by the FA and in an apparent riposte, he has introduced a new crest that has no text on it at all.
(Connor Lenehan,
Stephen Toogood, George Pannell)
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Leicester are back in the Premier League having won the Championship title last season. There is nothing remarkable about their latest first choice strip, which retains the metallic gold trim from last season. Gold is the main colour for the second strip while an all-red third choice is available.
(Brett Brown, Antonio Raimo)
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After leading the table as the season drew to its climax, Liverpool stumbled allowing Manchester City to overtake them on the final day. The new set from Warrior is a considerable improvement on the controversial designs offered last time out. Yellow and red has always been a popular combination as a change strip and the flowing trim looks rather distinguished. The first all-black kit appeared in 2009 and is now enhanced with some original detailing.
(Sebastian Vega, Andrew Mihaleff, Cameron Fletcher)
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City may have won the double of Premier League and League Cup but their profligate spending has fallen foul of UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations. As a result they have been fined and their UCL squad restricted to 21 players. They have reverted to an all sky blue strip this season trimmed in navy. Not all fans favour the all-blue look and a petition has been launched to restore their traditional white shorts. The change strip is in dark blue with horizontal bands on the shirt that grade into a lighter shade: the yellow detailing is a reference to the famously bright yellow and navy kit worn at Wembley in 1999, a play-off match that started City's climb back to the top from the third tier. The third kit is in the same template as that of Manchester United and is a darker shade of purple on the reverse.
(Alec Hitchman, Connor Lenehan)
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Seventh place last season means that for the first time since 1990, United have not qualified for European competition. David Moyes was sacked as a result and the Dutch national team coach, Louis van Gaal takes over. The new first choice shirt is a pleasing minimalist design with a neat collar. The shirts are sponsored by Chevrolet which is a puzzling choice given that General Motors have announced that they will withdraw the brand from the European market completely in 2016. The back of the blue third shirts and shorts are in a darker shade.
(Alexander Leiberich, Kevin Wos)
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Members' Kit
Grey change strips are associated with the captaincy of Kevin Keegan in the 1980s: on this occasion the pinstripes on the shirt are formed of the words Newcastle United Football Club. The first choice strip is now enhanced with a black yoke. We shall pass over the nasty third kit. Once again a spurious fourth kit is available: worn once in pre-season this is offered as a limited edition kit and is unlikely to be seen in the Premier League.
(Jonathan Auty, Andrew Mihaleff, Mark Craggs)
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Rangers have returned to the top tier via the play-offs and switched to Nike. There is only one hooped shirt template in Nike's current catalogue and while it is certainly smart enough, it is a shame the signature broad hoops have been dropped.
(Ian Harragan, George Pannell)
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Southampton fell out with Adidas and promised "exciting news" over the summer. To the delight of supporters (and HFK), the news was that striped shirts have been reinstated. There is some intriguing detailing: the stripes consist of two shades of red in diagonal bands and dark red hoops appear on the socks. The change strip is in subtle shades of navy with fluorescent yellow highlights. Yellow shirts were introduced when the Saints visited Newcastle.
The new kits are produced in house by the club and have no branding. The change shirts sponsorship represents a sub brand of Veho.
(Raphael Howard, Rich Wrigley, Connor Lenehan)
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It is refreshing to see Stoke wearing something other than a standard Adidas template so we must welcome their decision to sign up with Warrior Sports, even if we're not that keen on the new first choice shirt. The change strip is, on the other hand, a little stunner.
(Martinos Perdikis)
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Light blue has been used as an alternative by Sunderland going back as far as the early 1960s, when it was chosen for three FA Cup games with Manchester United so the new change strip should prove popular but for one detail. Did no one think that black and white trim might not be the thing on Wearside?
We stand corrected! It's been pointed out the trim is dark grey. Or dark navy. Anything rather than black.
The "home" strip is very similar to last season's version with
some minor tweaks while the white third strip was commissioned for the match at Crystal Palace in November. Special shirts carrying the Foundation of Light logo were worn at home against Arsenal.
(Graham Brack, Sean Paul, Raphael Howard, Graham Brack)
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The Swans have updated their first strip to a new, basic Adidas template while the alternative is a novel combination (for Swansea) of red and black.
(Scott Cleverly)
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The yellow trim on Spurs new kits represents a tribute to Bill Nicholson, who first introduced yellow to the club's pallette, on the tenth anniversary of his death. The eleven stripes on the change shirt signify the number of trophies Nicholson won with the club. As usual, all-white is worn in Europe competition but this season, the AIA logo appears on all the shirts.
AIA's youth football development in China trust was the benficiary of Spur's annual charity shirt.
(Shay Nizri, Martinos Perdikis, Sean Paul)
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Rumours that West Brom's traditional stripes would be dropped began to circulate in May leading to furious protests. The club have persisted in their decision despite this, an exercise in needlessly antagonising their fan base. It is significant that the official launch statement included a commitment to reintroduce stripes in 2015.
To mark the launch of The Jeff Astle Foundation, the club announced that the team would wear a replica of their 1968 FA Cup final strip. To complete the effect, the kit carried no logos or player names and were numbered 2-11. A fitting tribute to one of the Baggies' finest ever players.
(Connor Lenehan, Colin Russell, Michael Sen)
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Sashes have been growing in popularity in recent years and Adidas have now produced a rather smart design of their own, which is used for the Hammers' change strip. The first strip is inspired by the Adidas design of 1985-87 which was worn when the Hammers reached their highest ever league position, which is fair enough. The decision to wear blue shorts for the first time is, however, unforgiveable. The Hammers have always worn white shorts and in the 60s the players traditionally put them on immediately before going out onto the pitch so they would always look immaculate. Purple is a curious choice for the third shirt given its similarity to claret. It was worn in the FA Cup for the first time when the club described it as their "Cup kit."
In January West Ham's shirt sponsor declared insolvency and were replaced by Betway.
(Andrew Braybrook, Tony Sutton, Andrew Mihaleff, Simon Ståål)