Vote for the new shirt

22 February 2002

I'm not a great fan of polls on web sites, it has to be said. Most of the ones I see tend to be totally pointless, as they'll have no impact on anything at all - for instance, "Who do you think Alex Ferguson will sign next?" How should I know? Why would I even care? If I was asked who I thought he should sign next, I might be able offer an opinion, but as the Knight himself is unlikely to take any notice whatsoever, it seems a rather futile exercise. Of course, it's all a way of getting people to come back to sites over and over again and be bombarded with more adverts and bring in the revenue - and BOING would never descend to such obvious techniques to woo those browsers...

But it's nice to be able to remind readers of two web polls that actually do matter, and which will have some real impact on the world of West Bromwich Albion. First is the one regarding the Jeff Astle Tribute Plans where you can agree or disagree with the proposed plans for a set of memorial gates. And secondly is the one on the official site where you can have your say about the New Albion Home Shirts Don't waste your chance to have a say in what our team will be running out in front of you next season. As an aside, our local neighbours the Dingles have a similar feature on their web site, and one of the designs is a disgusting gold and black striped affair that makes them look like Hull City. Not that I'm suggesting you should go and vote for making them look daft, of course...

Gurjit's alternative shirt suggestions

What's missing from the official web site poll, of course, is an option D - "I don't like any of them, why can't we stick to the current design?". But it's a start. So it was interesting to receive a copy of a letter to the Club from Gurjit Dulai, which went as follows:

"Hello Albion,

I (along with the majority of Albion fans that I have spoke to), do not really like any of the Albion kits that are on offer on the website. In the Sports Argus on Saturday, Michael Appleton, who modelled the strips, commented that the players did not like any of these either. Before the match on Saturday, I decided to get the old pencil case out and have a go myself, and came up with the following three designs.

I have shown these versions to my fellow fans who all agree that they are nicer than the official ones. The general consensus at the moment is that my version A is the best...

I would be grateful if you have a look at these designs and consider them instead of the others.

A few words on the designs...

A) Based on the Milan strip from a season back or so (my favorite out of the three)

B) Based on all these "skintight" Kappa kits around at the mo (although not so sure that this would complement a striped kit)

C) Based on the River Plate kit (well, the collars and shape is anyways...)"

Gurjit would love to hear opinions from other fans at gurjdulai@hotmail.com

Richard Ascroft was even more forthright with his views on the Club's proposed designs:

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW US TO BE EMBARASSED NEXT YEAR BY HAVING TO WEAR ONE OF THESE THREE APPALLING, CHEAP LOOKING, THIRD DIVISION RATE KITS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It really is as simple as that. Having gone to the home game on saturday, general consensus was that all the choices were truely awful and looked cheap. I for one would not buy it. Also, why is it that we do not have a decent kit manufacturer? Birmingham have le Coq Sportif, Wolves have Puma, and we have "baggies" - what is that? It is just so embarassing. In fact, its plain pathetic - it is skimping on money to the point that is ridiculous. The current kit is excellent, and there should be only a few minor changes to this, but not many, and certainly none like those in the three choices given.

To say that one of these kits looks like that worn by Juventus is an insult to Juventus! What are we doing! Sort it out and give West Brom a kit to be proud of, not one that makes me cringe with embarassment for the next two yrs! We are West Bromwich Albion, not Chesterfield or Brighton. It is the sort of kit that Burton Albion would probably turn out in."

Thomas Billings simply told us:

"The new shirts are awful....."

Stephen Watkins agreed:

"I do not like any of the shirts - they all look terrible."

John Wood told us:

"On the official baggies website I voted for 'B' as personally I am in favour of the broad Navy Blue stripes, but I must confess these designs from Gurjit are better. Probably because they have a supporters input. In this case I still regard choice 'B' as the best. But on a more interesting note what is the reverse to look like? Can we not go back to having red numbers on a white square? I refer to many radio commentaries from uneducated journalists who lambast the Baggies for having shirts whose numbers are difficult to read from a distance.

Going back to Gurjits design and my choice of 'B', Navy Blue collar please?"

Andy Thompson wrote:

"I, like the majority of my fellow albion fans have been blackmailed into buying substandard replica merchandise for years now. In fact the last decent one that we were proud of was the classic Umbro one in the King Cyrille era... Since then, and I almost cry when I think of them lying in mum`s loft, we`ve had to endure Influence/Pelada/Albion Collection merchandise, which we all know we`re powerless not to buy. I think the clue to the current situation is that the club will make more money out of an `own brand`, like the Dingles up the road have done, but I was interested to see on soccer am that next year they`ve moved to Admiral, so they can`t have been making that much! There was a rumour last year that Adidas were interested but nothing came of that, but someone within the club should realise that if the replicas are good, then more will buy and in the case of a dodgy new kit, vice versa!!"

[ To be fair, you can choose not to buy a shirt... and if the price is the same, but the Club make more money out of an "own brand", then fair play to them - it generates more money that can be used for things like players wages. It's probably a fair comment that the vast majority will buy the shirt regardless of design and quality - but this is not the case for everyone. Do you take more pride from wearing a well designed shirt, or the shirt of a team that's doing well? ]

Shagger wrote:

"Feel I must write to agree with the general consensus that all the shirt options are shite!"

"This year's home and away kits with broad stripes are without doubt the most popular shirts in aeons. The return to kits similar in style to those when we had a great team can only be good, which cretin is responsible for trying to foist this years offerings on us? Sack the twat whoever it is!"

"Also the colour of this year's strip is bang on! Why have next year's options reverted to that horrible purple looking thing we had a few years ago?"

"Keep up the fight and get us what we want. All of Gurjit's designs are in my opinion better than the clubs!"

S Wakeley wrote:

"The new kits r awful. I like kit A on the alternatives - looks classy with the long sleeves all blue"

Tony and Nicholas Clarke wrote:

"Please... don't make the team and us supporters have to wear any of the shirt designs on the official WBA web site for even one match, let alone two seasons. They are AWFUL. Who would want to wear them, certainly no self respecting Baggies supporter."

"All three of Gurjit's designs are far, far better and the Baggies website must let the club know the strength of feeling amongst the supporters."

Robbie Jackson simply told us:

"Go back to the drawing board - they look third division"

John P wrote:

"I'm so pleased to read that I am not alone in hating all of the options shown on the official web site. I agree with comments made by others and would be happy with any of the designs illustrated by Gurjit."

"The Club is on the up, our crowds are up and people will spend more on merchandise if it is of the right quality. I have been very unimpressed with the range on offer for some time but at the very least let's get a home strip that the fans will buy."

"Come on Albion, listen to the fans and think again."

Mike from Halesowen wrote:

"Go in the club shop and what do you see...??!!...NOBODY!!!!... Just a sea of old kits, baby-grows and endless tops, tee-shirts and tracksuits that nobody wants!!!! WHY??? SIMPLE!!!!! Kids don't want Patrick... like it or not but kids are very label aware these days!!! WHEN will the dinosaur board wake up and realise that if our sponsor was Adidas or Kappa that we would have queues out the door with people buying training tops, coats... whatever... anything that matched WEST BROMWICH ALBION with a DESIRABLE sports brand!!!!!!!!!!"

"A no make kit is as low as it gets. Yet again we are being penny wise, POUND POOR!!!!! WAKE UP ALBION... IT'S 2002!!!!!!"

I'd be curious to hear the actual figures from the Club, but it seems that a huge number of people are wearing the new yellow and green away top. Would it have made a difference if it had a "big" brand name on it? Are people more keen to wear the shirt of a desirable Club or one made by a desirable shirt maker? And why, of course, can't they do both? As I ponder this, I find myself wondering who makes Man United's kit, and realise that I haven't got the faintest idea - so does it really matter?

To which Mike added:

"You miss my point... people in general would by a team shirt that had ANY brand on it as long as it said WBA FC on the chest. I am talking about the bigger picture, tracksuits, coats, tops, t-shirts etc etc... these make massive money... how many fans have one of these items with Adidas, Nike or Kappa as the label... 95% maybe!!!!! How many have the same with Patrick on... 5% maybe... and if the club cannot see that MASSIVE gap to capitalise on then we have no hope. Connect WBA with a quality brand and the selling of team shirts will make up just a fraction of the shops profits!!!!!!! And is there seriously anybody that doesn't know that the world's biggest club wear Umbro!!!!"

Yeah... me. :-) Amanda Hume writes:

"At last I have found sensible people who don't feel obliged to make a choice from 3 naff alternatives! I like the present home kit - apart from the difficulty of seeing the numbers on their backs - and therefore voted for Option B as it is the closest to what we have. Having read the views on your website, however, I should like to add my support to the alternatives. Please don't revert to narrow stripes - broad are so much more distunguished. I'm not bothered about colour of shorts or socks but let's keep the shirt we've got - or as close as we can."

Snomed/Wednesbury Baggie writes:

"All three on the official website are abysmal, whoever designed them must not have been told Albion are a first division club and if I was anything to do with kits and merchandise I would not have displayed them for all to see on the clubs own website. I agree with others who have left messages on this subject, all three of Gurjits designs deserve to be considered as the fans' choice and secondly we need a named kit not a Matalan lookalike strip. (Bet the dingles are having a good laugh on this subject)"

Actually, the Dingles designs are pretty crap too. Mike Hutchinson writes:

"As a loyal Baggies fan I am shocked by the poor quality of design in shirts. I can understand the cost cutting exercise of manufacturing the shirts themselves rather than using Patrick, but the appearance of the team will look non-league in these strips. I'd love to know who came up with these designs, were they having a laugh or what? Lets face it, the Albion are tight fisted and have probably got one of the Directors kids to design them. While I'm in the mood for a moan, has anybody ever got through to the ticket office? The new phone system is shocking. £2.5 million in the bank and can't spend it, what's goin on? If the club can't improve on these basics, we'll never be a Premiership club."

Andy Osborne wrote in with:

"I don't like the new shirts either, I much prefer design A of the alternatives. I voted for design B on the official website just because its the best of a bad lot!"

"Nick Di Baggio" told us:

"I must confess I did vote for option C but mainly because it reminded me of my first ever shirt in the 60's and I thought it would be a fitting tribute to the King. However I have to agree with the consensus that they do look tacky. Mind you I think the away kit looks fairly cheap although bizarrely I like it because it reminds me of the 70's away shirt which was hardly top quality material. Also what is with the badge almost perching on the shoulder? Surely a badge should be on or near the heart?"

"Contrary to many of the fans who have commented, my problem with the current shirt is that it is too blue-heavy with the blue socks and the blue shoulder panel and arms. I always think that predominantly white kits with plain white shorts and socks give an impression of speed and skill (a bastard to wash though) whereas heavier looking kits give a more dour defensive appearance (not that I am complaining about our defensive record this year)."

"Finally what's with all the red trimmings in recent years? If you must use other colours in combination with the navy and white I think it should be ones synonymous with Albion over the last few decades i.e. green and yellow. Which is why the Building Society logo looks quite effective in my opinion. I preferred Gurjit's designs B and C but to be honest have you met anyone who looks good in the Kappa Italy-styled shirts especially after a lifetime drinking Banks's?"

"My vote would be for a classic 60's style kit with a round collar, white arms but three broadish stripes, plain white shorts and white socks with two blue lines mid calf."

Don Allen wrote:

"I voted for no 2 on the official site, but only because it's the best of a bad bunch - get Adidas or Nike on board - it's embarrassing, I wear this season's shirt with pride in New Zealand but everyone tells me how cheapo it is."

Sean Butler told us:

"As a baggies fan in Ireland I voted for shirt B, but I agree with many supporters - the 3 new strips are awful. Could we not keep the present shirt as it's one of the best in the english league (Premiership included)."

Stewart from Milton Keynes reckoned:

"I think the new shirt options on the official site are all terrible. The options at baggies.com are much better. Keep the broad stripes, one down the middle, just like it was when we had the classic seventies team."

Trev wrote in with:

"Have to agree with most that the proposed shirts are terrible and C was the best of a bad lot. C however will not look right with short sleeves. I'd rather they copy the shirts from the late 70's than any of those on offer."

And Chrissy Stowell said:

"Yep, all designs crap. Crew necks are in - lets go back to '68 style."

[ What do you think of the Club's official new shirt designs? Does anyone actually like them? Come on, don't be scared! Let us know at webmaster@baggies.com ]

Previous Stories:

  18 February 2002:  Fulham game confirmed

  17 February 2002:  FA Cup QF: Fulham at home

  15 February 2002:  Astle Tribute Plans:Have Your Say!

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