The football teams that changed their kits and won and lost their identities
Crystal Palace
For the first seven decades of their existence, Palace played in claret and blue. (The original team had been given a set of strips by Aston Villa.) Then, in the 1970s everything changed. First, they adopted a short design that looked suspiciously like that of Ajax, the reigning European champions.
This didn’t work, and the team were relegated to the second division. Before the start of the season, manager Malcolm Alison changed the club colours to red and blue stripes, changed the club badge to an eagle, and changed the club nickname from ‘The Glaziers’ to ‘The Eagles’. He also gave the players nicknames, which were emblazoned on their tracksuit tops. Even the stadium was repainted in the new colours.
The team were promptly relegated for a second successive season, but had the consolation of wearing the snazziest kit in the third division. Since then, fortunes have improved, and the past 40 years have been the most successful in the club’s history, notwithstanding relegations, three financial implosions and two periods in administration.
VERDICT: Qualified success.
So there you have it. If you change your kit, change it early, seems to be the message. But rules, as the uncompromising Leeds team of the 1960s knew only too well, are there to be broken…
Posted: 10th, June 2012 | In: Key Posts, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
