The Manchester City fourth kit has dropped, inspired by the colour scheme of the cover art from Oasis album Definitely Maybe, which was released 30 years ago this year.
The new kit is co-designed by Noel Gallagher, who we hear is a Manchester City fan. Makes you wonder why nobody had ever mentioned that before.
Gallagher had already lent his famous penmanship to the City shirts this season, scribbling out the font that the names and numbers are rendered in for their non-Premier League outings this season.
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Puma's Manchester City fourth kit achieves exactly what it sets out to do: be distinctly Oasis and City at the same time
The shirt is said to have a 'light straw' base colour, matching the walls of the Definitely Maybe living room. That's a designer's way of avoiding saying it's beige; specifically, the same beige that desktop computers almost exclusively came in in the 1990s. Which is fitting, we suppose, even if that analogy would be a bit more apt for Radiohead than Oasis.
The extremely smart-looking collar, side panels and sleeves are all in City's traditional sky blue - matching the fireplace on the album cover - as is a pulse of concentric circles radiating out from around the badge.
The badge itself, shirt cuffs and some of the detailing are rendered in what looks to be a shiny rose gold but which Puma are calling 'poppy pink' - accurately capturing the effect of sunlight reflecting off the living room's hardwood floor.
The overall effect is superb, to be fair, and achieves exactly what it sets out to do: it's distinctly Oasis and yet distinctly City at the same time. Those prone to bouts of 90s nostalgia will no doubt love it, and it's easy to imagine there will be plenty of Oasis fans who just wish it didn't have a Manchester City badge on it.
Gallagher said in a Puma press release: “I loved City before anything, I was into City before I was into music, I was into City before I knew what music was. Definitely Maybe is what set us on our way, the record lasting as long, you can’t predict that kind of thing. It’s a great working class, Mancunian record – it’s real.
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“When Puma approached us at one of the games about designing a kit it took about five seconds to agree to it. It’s the same colour palette as the cover of Definitely Maybe: it’s unique but it’s definitely striking, and I think it looks great. When you see people representing your club, it’s important that they look good."
One downside...call us traditionalists, but we're not big fans of kit changes for their own sake. The colouring on this effort is in no way distinct enough from the sky blue City home kit there will ever be a circumstance in which they could wear this that they could not have just worn their home kit.
But that particular Rubicon was crossed a long time ago; the naked cash-in is here to stay, and that's far from a City-exclusive position. The press release indicates it will be worn 'exclusively in select European fixtures', starting with next week's visit from Inter.
They claim that will be followed by 'select European away fixtures', so it's a bit inconvenient for City that they've almost exclusively been drawn for away games against sides who play in either white stripes or sky blue in the league phase.
The shirt's retro aesthetic, nods to Oasis and solid look will no doubt make it a popular commercial success nonetheless.
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