Sky Bet Championship 2018 - 2019
Sky Bet have extended their sponsorship of the EFL until 2023-24 and as part of the deal they have agreed to fund responsible gambling sessions for first-team players and club staff at all EFL clubs starting this season. Follow-up counselling and ongoing support will be made available to players that request it. While this is in itself not an unworthy initiative, it smacks of tokenism given the massive profits being generated by online gambling businesses and their unhealthy relationship with professional football in the UK. This is illustrated by the fact that 17 out the 24 members of the Championship are sponsored by gambling businesses.
New sleeve patches, first seen in last season's play-off finals, have been introduced that carry the GambleAware message.
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Contributors are credited in brackets. Opinions expressed on this page are those of HFK and not contributors.
Premier League | Championship | League One | League Two
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Designer: Luke Sport
Sponsor: 32Red
Villa's new technical partner is a designer menswear company owned by lifelong supporter Luke Roper. The first strip looks like an homage to the Le Coq Sportif outfit from 1984-85 even down to the shadow stripes. The 12 lines at collar and cuffs signify the 12 original members of the Football League, the brainchild of Villa's chairman William McGregor whose statue stands outside Villa Park, and a tiny copy is embroidered into the back of the collar. This nonsense aside, these are fine designs and a refreshing change from all the standard templates on offer. The third kit in navy and "electric claret" is a bit more "street."
(Patrick Weaver, MMA, Detenator Ninety, David King)
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Designer: Adidas
Sponsor: 888 Sport
The latest Regista design is the basis of City's latest first kit. Yellow and blue brings back memories of the eighties when Adidas first kitted Birmingham out.
(Diamond One, Harry Meadows, MMA)
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Designer: Umbro
Sponsor: 10Bet
There is much to admire in Rovers' new halved kit. White and Cambridge Blue were worn through most of the team's Victorian heyday and the colours reappeared in the early Nineties and as recently as 2014-15. I particularly like the reversed raglan sleeves but the overall effect is ruined, to my mind, by the highly intrusive sponsor's logo.
(Roger Whiteside, Detenator Ninety, MMA)
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Designer: Macron
Sponsor: Betfred
Bolton narrowly avoided relegation last term. Macron again furnish their kit, which stays firmly with tradition for the first choice set. The stand up collar is a nice touch but I don't like the curious red insert in the hem of the shorts, a feature of this season's Macron collection. The all-black change strip is trimmed in red and has a novel pinstripe graphic on the front. White shorts may be worn with either set if necessary but just in case, we have an all-blue strip.
(Diamond One, Bryn Lunt, MMA)
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Designer: Adidas
Sponsor: Leo Vegas
Three cheers for Brentford's Jaffa Cake themed change kit. The first choice strip is in traditional colours arranged in the latest version of Adidas' stripes design, which is plain on the back.
(Nick Bruzon)
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Designer: Bristol Sport
Sponsor: Dunder
Once again City have designed their kits in-house and this season they are in matching templates. Purple and lime green are now firmly established as their go-to alternative colour scheme and features in their third kit. After sustained pressure from supporters, the robin and Clifton Suspension Bridge crest from the mid 70s has been reinstated but only on the black and white strip.
(Zachary Lewis,
Mark Leech)
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Designer: Umbro
Sponsor: 32Red
Derby have a perfectly good first choice kit with some neat black flashes at the collar and the latest Umbro trim on the sleeves. It's just a shame that they have fallen under the spell of an online casino as shirt sponsor. The alternative is in Evening Blue (quite nice we think) and acid lime (eeeurgh). The pale grey third kit is entirely spurious as it cannot be worn against teams who wear white.
(Diamond One, Detenator Ninety)
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Designer: Umbro
Sponsor: Sport Pesa
The latest first choice shirt is not so different from last season's candy stripes. The sleeves, however, are black while the stripes are arranged in a different order and in pairs. The all-black change strip will only realistically be needed at Norwich but the team will certainly have to have alternative shorts for quite a few away matches. To add to the merriment there is a third kit in white and bright yellow with a tiger print embossed into the chest.
(Diamond One, Detenator Ninety)
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Designer: Adidas
Sponsor: Magical Vegas
It's always good to see Ipswich wearing white sleeves, a reminder of the colours adopted when they turned professional almost 90 years ago and worn when they won the Football League title in 1962 . Personally I don't like to see red on their strips but our Ipswich correspondent is a fan. Orange was last used as an alternative colour in 2014 and proved very popular so here it is again, in the latest Condivo template.
(Kieran Bleasby)
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Designer: Kappa
Sponsor: 32Red
The furious reaction to Leeds' proposed centenary badge led almost immediately to the design being withdrawn and a new version will be unveiled in time for next season. The new severely minimalist first kit is iin stark contrast to the audacious change strip, which was deliberately held back until the last minute to attract maximum attention. Loooing more like something you would find in the Tate Modern than on a football pitch, this is the most adventurous design released this season. Yellow and blue is used for the third strip.
(Matthew Warmby, Martin Hart)
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Designer: Hummel
Sponsor: 32Red
After years of standard Adidas designs (often spuriously passed off as being inspired by something from the past) it is refreshing to see 'Boro signed up with Hummel and we can expect some more original outfits as a result. To kick off, the Danish company has recreated the strip they supplied to the club in the mid 80s and it seems to have gone down a storm on Teeside. The only downside is that the shirts are sponsored by an online gambling firm.
(John McAleer, Warren Laroche)
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Designer: Macron
Sponsor: TW Drainage, DCS Roofing Contractor
Millwall have switched back to Macron and their latest first kit is inspired by the pinstriped tops worn 25 years ago. The change strip is in two shades of grey and there is an orange third choice.
(Joe Finnan, MMA)
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Charity
30 Oct v Bournemouth
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Designer: Errea
Sponsor: Leo Vegas
Errea's latest creation for the Canaries is a tribute to their beloved "egg & cress" top which appeared in 1992. The change kit is an eye opener. Twin sashes would be dramatic enough but these bad boys are made up of graded blocks of colour. Quite why Norwich need a third strip is beyond me but they have one that is, and I'm choosing my words carefully here, horrible.
(Leo Howard, Zak Nelson)
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Designer: Macron
Sponsor: Betbright
Macron have taken over from Adidas and have provided an elegantly simple first strip with some understated detailing. There's a neat, button-down collar, for example and a subtle, embossed diagonal stripe design on the front of the shirt. On the back are two embossed stars to represent Forest's European Cup wins. The change strip simply reverses the colours while the third strip is a new take on the always popular yellow and blue alternative colours.
(Juraj Gudába, Detenator Ninety, MMA, Ben Gershaw)
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Designer: Nike
Sponsor: 32Red
There is barely any change to North End's first choice strip, just a new sponsor and collar design along with a subtle camo print on the shirt. Second choice is now a deeper shade of yellow while green is retained for the third strip but it looks as if this will be worn with the gold change shorts and socks. That'll save a bob or two.
(Dominic Saul, Gabriell R)
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Designer: Errea
Sponsor: Royal Panda
Ranger's latest first shirt has the customary broad hoops and red as an accent colour. The alternative is in the same design, pink and navy with white accents. The darker bands are made up of fine lines in two tones of pink.
(Diamond One)
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Designer: Puma
Sponsor: Carabao Energy Drink
Reading have returned to proper hoops with nice clean edges, the whole ensemble closely resembling those worn between 2015 and 2017. The grey change strip features the sort of complicated graphic that is de rigeur this season, in this case a fading honeycomb pattern
(Simon Wise)
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Designer: Puma
Sponsor: Hodge Clemco, Mears
Rotherham bounced straight back into the Championship via last season's play-offs. Their new first strip is as smart as they come, as is the alternative. Blue and black stripes last appeared in 2003-04. The third strip reflects a colour scheme from 1989-90 and has had a mixed reception according to our Millers' correspondent.
(Kyle Campbell, Joe L)
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Designer: Adidas
Sponsor: Ramsdens Currency
At first glance the Blades new first kit is rather good. The return to conventional stripes after all the variations of recent seasons is no bad thing and the V neck is a reminder of the classic 1960s look. Striped sleeves would have been nice and the green sponsor's logo is unpleasant. Turn the shirt round and, horror of horrors - it's plain white. According to Blades fans who took to Twitter this is a BAD THING.
Sheffield United wore the first modern fluorescent shirt back in 1989 which caused quite a stir at the time. Clubs should be permitted to wear this appalling colour just once so I have marked United down as a repeat offender.
(Matt Brownhill #nothappy)
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Designer: Elev8
Sponsor: Chansiri
Wednesday's last two strips did not go down at all well so a return to tradition is a wise move. Note that the white stripes on the first choice shirt are narrower than the blue ones, an interesting touch. The alternative is black and grey with a unique striped pattern on the front to give the grading effect.
It turns out that Elev8 is the name of two companies registered by Wednesday's chairman, Dejphon Chansiri, last August. One makes sports clothing and the other energy drinks but don't go looking for their products in your local supermarket. It seems to be a wheeze to get exposure for Chansiri.
(Mark Wild, Dan Knight, Ben Gershaw)
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Designer: Macron
Sponsor: Bet365
Stoke's supporters need cheering up after their team dropped out of the Premier League last season and these new strips should help. The first shirt is very traditonal down to the width of the stripes and having white in the centre. Blue applications provide a little extra interest. The purple alternative features a textured halved design.
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Designer: Joma
Sponsor: BetUK
Being relegated from the Premier League is bad enough but watching your arch-rivals take your place is doubly galling. I suppose it's because their first strip is rather austere (always white with some contrasting trim, usually in black) that the Swans favour garish change strips. The new one is deep orange and grey with a complicated interference pattern graphic on the front where the colours blend. Ach-a-fi. On the other hand I really like the wine red and black third strip.
(Diamond One, Ben Gershaw)
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Designer: Puma
Sponsor: Ideal Boilers
Albion were relegated in last place back in May. Switching to a new technical sponsor sort of signifies a fresh start and they have gone for a bespoke strip that recreates an old favourite that is bound to be popular and what could be better than to have its green and yellow counterpart as an alternative, two iconic strips from the Seventies. The black and cyan change strip I don't like but the contrast is neatly summed up by the marketing strapline, "Cherish History. Embrace Future". We'll overlook the lack of the definite article in the latter phrase because no-one wants to be called a pedant.
(Diamond One, Simon Nelson)
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Designer: Puma
Sponsor: DW Fitness
It's Thursday so Wigan are back in the Championship after winning the League One title again. Some teams just don't want to settle down. The Latics have gone all retro with two strips based on the ones worn in 1995-98 when Dave Whelan bought the club.
(George Chilvers)
