Historical Football Kits

Npower League Two 2012 - 2013

League Two clubs have operated the Salary Cost Management Protocol (SCMP) since 2004 and are restricted to spending no more than 55% of turnover on wages. In the absence of significant television revenues, solidarity payments from the Premier League are an important revenue stream for clubs at this level although this does make members hostages to the whims of their far wealthier peers in tier one.

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(Contributors are credited in brackets. Opinions expressed on this page are those of HFK and not contributors.)

Accrington Stanley

Designer: Samurai Sportswear

Sponsor: Clever Boxes.com (Home, Away), Storefirst.com (Third)

Stanley have retained their strips but are now wearing red shorts with the home kit. The startling new third strip appeared at Plymouth at the end of January.

(Arthur Cowburn, David Rafelle)

Aldershot Town

Designer: Errea

Sponsor: EBB Paper

Aldershot's home and away strips are unchanged but a new, limited edition third kit is introduced to celebrate 20 years since the club's formation. The crest on this outfit has a laurel wreath surround.

(Martin Gooday)

Barnet

Designer: Surridge

Sponsor:

There really is rather a lot going on with Barnet's new home shirt but it is original and distinctive so full marks for that. The pale violet (the colours of the original Barnet FC) introduced on last year's away kit is even more prominent on the new version. The sloping band across the top of the shirt is styled by the ever eager marketeers an "Underhill pitch-type slope."

A special commemorative strip was worn in April to mark the team's last game at Underhill. A aerial view of the ground was printed into the back of the shirt while the legend 106 Seasons - Underhill 1907 was added to the crest.

(Martin Walker, Sytse Korts, Chris Shiels)

Bradford City

Designer: Nike

Sponsor: Map Group UK

Marketed under the tag "The Spirit of 1903," City's new home strip has been chosen to evoke the kit inherited from Manningham RFC and worn for a few months until their new vertically striped tops were ready. The new away kit in "gold" and black is unfortunately in what I consider to be the ugliest of Nike's recent attempts to reinvent stripes.

A remarkable run took City to the League Cup final at Wembley. At one stage the club proposed wearing a plain claret "commemorative" kit that could be sold as replicas as the bespoke hooped tops had sold out and could not be reordered from Nike but under pressure from supporters it was decided to wear the very popular claret and amber hoops.

(Joe Scargill, Rob Padgett, Colin Russell)

Bristol Rovers

Designer: Errea

Sponsor: Opus Recruitment Solutions (Home), CR Windows (Away)

Errea have produced another fine retro home shirt but once again, traditionalists would prefer to see them in white rather than blue shorts. All-black has become a popular choice for change strips and Rovers' version is trimmed in gold.

As usual, the shirt sponsors were chosen by lottery.

(George Willis, Bertie Wright)

Burton Albion

Designer: Tag

Sponsor: Mr Cropper

Burton's new away strip is one of the most colourful of this season's releases. The home strip is unchanged.

A special strip was introduced in the last match of the regular season and was worn in the play-offs.

(Dan Bower)

Cheltenham Town

Designer: Errea

Sponsor: Mira Showers

The ruby colour adopted last season seems to have proved a hit with supporters and is retained in the new striped shirts. Pale blue shirts were worn at Gillingham.

(Terry Morley, David Higgins, Ben Gershaw)

Chesterfield

Designer: Puma

Sponsor: Kick Energy Drink

It's a little disappointing to see Chesterfield going with Puma after the creative efforts made by their independent kit suppliers over the past few seasons. At least the away shirt is an interesting colour

(Robert Mansell, Chris Connolly)

Dagenham & Redbridge

Designer: Vandanel

Sponsor: West & Coe Funeral Directors

The Daggers' home strip is retained and a new away kit in light and dark blue is introduced.

(Jack Connor)

Exeter City

Designer: Joma

Sponsor: Flybe

Exeter have slightly updated their crest this season, adding a halved shield reminiscent of the original version from 1972, which makes the familiar coat of arms stand out rather better.

(Terry Morley, Ramazan Karsak, George Chilvers)

Fleetwood Town

Designer: Nike

Sponsor: BES Commercial Gas (H), Commercial Power (A)

The League's latest debutants are retaining the home strip worn in their Conference championship season. The away kit is in yellow and black, a nod to the earliest colours of the first incarnation of the club.

(Phil Brown, Vice Chairman, FTFC)

Gillingham

Designer: Vandanel

Sponsor: MEMS Power Generation

The Gills celebrate 100 years since they changed their name from New Brompton with a reproduction of their original strip from 1913, even down to the Gillingham coat of arms. (The club's modern badge now appears on the right sleeve.) The change kit simply reverses the colours so last season's black change kit is needed for some away games. Red shorts were worn with the home strip at Wimbledon.

(Symon Chaplin, Lee Capeling)

Morecambe

Designer: Fila

Sponsor: Carbrini

The Shrimps have changed from Puma to Fila this season. The home strip is attractive in its simplicity, with just white piping down the side of the shirt and an old fashioned collar to provide contrast. A closer look reveals that it is in two shades of red, mirroring the club's crest. A very clever piece of design is that. The away strip has rather more bold trim on the sides of the shirt and under the sleeves.

(Terry Morley, Andy Duxbury)

Northampton Town

Designer: Errea

Sponsor: Jackson Grundy

Errea have produced an elegant, traditionally inspired home kit for the Cobblers but the club really should have selected something else from the catalogue for the away kit. Inexplicably, the lime green was worn at Torquay who switched to their navy strip for the second half.

(Bill Craven)

Oxford United

Designer: Nike

Sponsor: Bridle

The new Oxford home kit dispenses completely with the usual navy secondary colour.

(Graham Barr)

Plymouth Argyle

Designer: Puma

Sponsor: Bond Timber

Argyle survived their traumatic 2011-12 season and held onto their place in the Football League. To mark a fresh start the traditional Mayflower crest is restored as is dark "Argyle green." Alternate green shorts and socks are available.

(Craig Morris, Richard Brockington)

Port Vale

Designer: Vandanel/Sondico

Sponsor: Sondico/UK Window Systems (From 17 November home kit only)

Because of their financial problems, Vale were not able to sign a kit deal in time for the new season so started out in an "emergency kit," with their regular strip expected in October. The pink change strip was worn in their opening match against Burnley in the League Cup and a gold/black outfit was ordered to arrive in September. White or black shorts were worn with the home and away kits when necessary.

(Philip Copley, Martin Gooday)

Rochdale

Designer: Fila

Sponsor: The Co-operative Society

The blue and black shirts introduced in 2008 and which combine Dale's two traditional colour schemes have proved very popular with supporters. For my money the new home version is the best of the lot. The unusual purple and white colours used for the away kit have been retired in favour of a yellow and blue strip (also worn with yellow shorts). This should eliminate the need for additional kits.

Although the branding has changed, the kits are still supplied by JD Sports who own both Carbrini and Fila.

(Mark Wilbraham)

Rotherham United

Designer: Puma

Sponsor: Parkgate Shopping Centre (H), One Town One Community (A)

This summer, Rotherham moved back to their home town (thus avoiding expulsion from the Football League) and into the brand new New York Stadium. To celebrate, the Rotherham coat of arms has been added to their shirts for this season while the choice of amber and black for the away strip is a reference to the club's first colours.

(JL, Ben Whitehead)

Southend United

Designer: Nike

Sponsor: Insure & Go

After flirting with white shorts last season, Southend have reverted to all-navy relieved by white sleeves for their home kit and a yellow/black Victory kit away, both chosen from Nike's standard catalogue.

(Dave Hennell, Ryan Dalton)

Torquay United

Designer: Sondico

Sponsor: Sparkworld

The home strip is changed very little from last season (the badge is embroidered rather than printed and blue mesh appears on the inner sleeve). The club own the rights to this design and have switched supplier from Vandanel to Sondico, a brand that belongs to Sports Direct. The away kit is in dark navy and yellow.

Although the home socks are officially blue, the kit manager often lays out white sets, as he did last season.

(Terry Morley, Steven Badcott)

AFC Wimbledon

Designer: Tempest Sports

Sponsor: Football Manager (Home & Third), Sports interactive (Away)

Don's supporters have chosen the new home and away kits, which will be retained for two seasons. The third strip now promotes the mobile phone/tablet version of SI Games' footie management sim. So buy it, install the unlimited budget cheat and before you know it, the Dons will be wiping the floor with the billionaire-funded elite.

(Mark Randall, Ed Hewison)

Wycombe Wanderers

Designer: Kukri Sports

Sponsor: Dreams

Wycombe are yet another club celebrating a significant anniversary (their 125th). We understand that HFK's archive was instrumental in the club's choice of kit for the new season, which is based on their original halved shirts in varsity colours. A special crest has been introduced for this season only. While Kukri are a new name in English football they supply team wear for over 75 different sports including 11 minor rugby union national teams.

The celebratory theme is also picked up in the smart white away strip, which has deep gold trimmings. The electric lime third strip made its first appearance at Southend and was worn with the away shorts/socks because the matching sets had not arrived.

(Dave Peatey)

York City

Designer: Nike

Sponsor: Benenden Healthcare

After an absence of eight years, York returned to the Football League via the play-offs. For the past few seasons they have been wearing Nike strips with mid-blue replacing navy. The shirts were updated in January when their sponsor adopted a new logotype. Supporters were offered the chance to exchange their replica shirts for new versions and the returned items were donated to charity.

(Michael Knaggs, Christopher Houghton)