West Ham’s new kits have been leaked, but the club have announced them today. With a strong nod to former cup success and retro favourites, they’re sure to be a hit.
One of the common complaints about West Ham as a club recently has been the disconnect between the club’s past and where it is now. With two kits strongly inspired by retro favourites there are sure to be a lot of fans very happy with the club’s choice, either home or away.
The kits both hark back to the days of fan, and one of mine, favourite Trevor Brooking. The England midfielder embodied the West Ham way, with fair play, a focus of passing and technical flow to the game and of course was part of the 1980 FA Cup winning side, our last major trophy.
In fact the new away kit harks back to that day, which saw a Brooking header take us past a strong Arsenal side in the final. Missing the old fashioned collar its seems clean cut and on trend for the club and a nice blend of moving on up whilst looking back and remembering. Being a white kit, I hope we play on a terrible pitch in the English winter and see one of our defenders caked head to toe in mud, completely hiding the white. On that note, there will be parents of little Hammers’ fans everywhere hoping they prefer the home kit.
Introducing our new 2019/20 Home and Away kits ⚒
— West Ham United (@WestHam) May 30, 2019
Inspired by the Class of '80.#ThenNowForever pic.twitter.com/JupzTnW3YQ
The home kit is a look at the 76/77 strip, which is a retro favourite with many. I have that shirt at home, although the current re-invention has the classic modern upgrades such as the lack of big collar. The one downside for me is the short colour, the claret doesn’t seem to work with the claret socks and bottom of the top, maybe white shorts? But I know they wouldn’t have white shorts on both kits, that way they’d miss out on money!
All in all I like the new kits, and I’m deciding which one I’m going to go for this year. I haven’t got an away one in a while so I’m leaning towards that, even if I know it’s going to be covered in dirt stains before long. Although that home top really is a nice update of a classic favourite…