The Ugly Inside Verdict On Southampton’s 2025/26 Shirt
As many will know I am a traditionalist and when something is not red & white stripes I usually don’t approve, but on the face of it at first glance I liked the look of this retro kit, but at second glance I am not so sure.
I first saw the original version of this kit at Wembley in 1976, when Saints lost to Liverpool in the Charity Shield, the game ending 1-0 to the League title winners from Merseyside.
Hard to believe it is 49 years ago, if we go back from 1976 the same time period then it would be 1926, the First World War only ending 8 years earlier, no replica kit back then.
In truth in 1976 it was a kit that split opinions amongst Southampton supporters, even the younger generation like myself were not that enamoured with it, it was described back then as looking like a deckchair.
But we played in this kit for 4 seasons, back then no changing kit every season, it saw some great games, a run to the European Cup Winners Cup quarter finals & promotion in 1978 saw some thrilling moments in the shirt.
So I have to say it grew on me.
At first glance both leaked versions on the internet & finally on the club website I thought that it looked ok, yes it looks like the wearer has been run over by a car that has just driven through red paint, but it is stripes as such.
But my feelings changed when I saw that the rear was plain white, i wasn’t surprised, but I was disappointed, from the back we are Leeds United not Southampton, the effect is just too much white in the shirt., if it was plain red then it would have looked much better.
Why do kit designers have plain backs on a shirt ? there are teams with striped shirts that don’t have plain backs, perhaps they have marketing directors who like me think it makes it look like a players is wearing a short apron over a plain t shirt not a football shirt.
Anyway it just ruins the look for me.
So the verdict is a little split for me, I am not complaining about the design from a traditional red & white stripes perspective, I am complaining about the plain white back.
So front of shirt gets an 8/10, the right balance between a retro kit and stripes, but the back gets 0/10.
I hope that the away kit has taken into account that we aren’t going to be able to use this kit at any team that plays in red or in white, even clubs like Blackburn with blue and white or Sheffield Wednesday, will see a change needed.
Still I still have my original version of the shirt and 4 weeks left to stay off the beer, pound the streets and starve myself to death to be able to get into it and wear it to the match.
What to read next:
U's Vs Accrington Match Preview As the round of matches over the festive period draws to a close, we have the visit of Accrington Stanley on that most rare of events in our football history, a Sunday afternoon kick-off. If you filter out play-off and cup games, in the league this accounts for just 25 games since we were formed, seven won, six drawn and 12 lost. As you would imagine, Sunday games are generally focussed around Christmas and the New Year, or more recently, Sky-mandated final games of the season. It’s been a pretty positive holiday schedule for the U’s too, eight points from four games, and with other results often going our way, we’re now just two places and three points outside the play-offs.
U's Vs MK Dons Match Preview Happy New Year U’s fans! After two hard fought 1-1 draws away from home across the festive period we kick off the New Year with a home match against Milton Keynes. Tickets look to be selling well, although not in the West Stand it seems, so should be a decent crowd providing MK bring more than their normal coach load. I know it doesn’t count for anything but the calendar year League Two table has us in fifth with 72 points from 46 matches played so 2025 hasn’t been a bad year to be a U’s fan.
Gillingham Vs U's Match Preview First and foremost, I hope you are all having a pleasant Christmas break relaxing with family and friends, and wishing you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. This will be our final match of 2025, with a trip to Priestfield to face old adversary Gillingham, our second game against them this month and our third this season. This will be our 112th game in all competitions against the Gills, a relationship that started with a Ted Davis U’s side winning 2-0 at Layer Road on 27th August 1938. At the final whistle tomorrow we will also be at the halfway point of the season, so considering at the end of September we were 20th, plenty of optimism for the second half of the season.
Crawley Vs U's Match Preview Merry Christmas U’s fans! Boxing Day in proper football leagues means football matches and the U’s face one of their shortest trips of the season as they venture across the Thames to face creepy Crawley. Crawley’s “stadium” is one of the few grounds I’ve gone away with the U’s (the 3-1 League Cup win back in 2019) and it felt like a ground that should be in the National League South but Crawley have been established in the football league since 2011 with two promotions to League One during that time which is impressive given the relative size of the club. We don’t have a huge history against Crawley Town, with just 24 meetings to date of which Crawley have won 11. In fact since that memorable League Cup win we hadn’t managed to beat Crawley until the, not as memorable but probably more important, 3-2 away win towards the end of the 2023/24 season that went a long way to helping us stay in this division.
U's Vs Newport Match Preview And so, Danny and Nicky enter their second century of games managing the U’s, at home to struggling Newport – let’s hope it starts a bit better than the first century finished. There won’t be many games we score three and lose, trouble is there’ll be even fewer where we concede four and win. That being said, I couldn’t fault the first hour of the Salford game, with the U’s in control of a game against good opposition, and on a typically heavy pitch. Then we kind of fell apart, certainly defensively, helped in no small part by a masterclass from ex-U’s Luke Garbutt (how is he only in League 2?). Credit must also go to 250+ of the faithful, a long trip starting at stupid o’clock – they deserved more than that for their support.