underboyleheating

That collar design was used by French club Lille, however, Roma probably had something similar from Nike. I do like a button collar on a shirt.

Another claret sash design from my archive.

Excuse the quick photoshop paint job, however, the Macron template for the new Millwall home shirt would make a nice clean, simple, Motherwell home top.

Good luck to the boy. On the plus side this will have provide us with some extra cash to spend on playing staff.

Agreed, however, both those clubs traditionally wear that design of shirt, consequently, If you presented Feyenoord with a hooped shirt the fans would probably not fully embrace the concept. We have had some decent home tops without the hoop, however, our jester kit was such a departure from the norm that it stood out like a sore thumb. For some reason fans think it is acceptable to revisit well loved designs like the claret sash kit, however, I can’t see Motherwell going down the jester home homage route anytime soon. Our time for design experimentation appeared to be in the 70s and out with that period the claret hoop has been utilised more often than not. All the recent speculation of the return of the claret sash may well be nonsense, however, if I was to bet on any home top making a reappearance it probably would be that one. On a personal and historic kit level I would stick with the hoop every time, although we will just need to wait and see what Macron come up with.

As a shirt traditionalist, these, sort of designs give me nightmares, however, at least at Motherwell we have never really embraced off the wall designs. The neon yellow away and the jester kit is the closest that we have come in recent years to being slightly more anarchic with our shirt design.

A grainy online image, however, I think we are on to a winner.

Another basic adidas team wear shirt (tiro drydye jersey) that I quickly mocked up in C&A a few months back. Teamwear gets slated at times, however, with the addition of a bold amber hoop (I prefer a bolder hoop on our shirts) and a classic sponsors logo you can produce a very nice claret away top. I like no nonsense simple kits, however, I find that some manufactures templates can be overly fussy for my taste. The reverse combination of this top would also make a very nice homage to our late 70s early 80s adidas shirt (if I get time I might mock one up). The fact that adidas still offer a relatively basic three stripe football shirt template shows that there must still be a demand for what is a classic shirt design template.

I was honoured to be presented with the task of designing the Anniversary badge for that top. Our iconic bespoke 1960s top has always been my favourite Well shirt. However, we are in the age where the design template is king, although we are fortunate that most manufactures will usually adapt them to suit our needs (this is where choosing the correct template is vital). The template format was popularised by Admiral in the 70s and prior to that manufactures would more or less supply you with any design that you requested. Sadly unless you are a big team, those bespoke days are long gone. Here are some other shots from that Leeds game. Unfortunately for the players the top was designed for leisure wear and not match wear, consequently, it would have become very heavy to wear in the rain.

A very quick mock up to show that last years Lazio Macron home template would be a suitable stand in for the Umbro 70s claret sash design. However, as with all sash tops there would be an issue with regard to the sponsors logo.

I haven’t got a clue, however, I would imagine that the end goal would be to still match a clubs corporate Pantone colours as near as possible. In my job I used to mix inks to match various colours and managed to get them pretty spot on most of the time. However, there, was always a slight plus or minus tolerance each time you mixed a new batch. I would imagine textile dyes will be mixed in a similar way, however, someone with more knowledge than me may be able to enlighten us.

Correct they are the official Pantone colours. Previous to that they were Pantone 216 and Pantone 123. I worked for the design company who handled the corporate design work for Motherwell at the time John Boyle took over. We were the official design agency for a few of John Boyle’s other companies, and part of the deal meant doing some design work for Motherwell. There is little to choose between the old and the recent amber, however, the recent claret leans a little more to the maroon side of the colour spectrum. I have sampled each colour below to demonstrate the subtle difference in tone.

Purely down to the manufacture. Motherwell will supply their registered pantone colours and it will be up to the different makers to match them. The amber shade on our early shirts (1913-28) was to the darker end of the spectrum. The shade used from the 30s to the early 60s was a much brighter amber. The chart below will give you a general idea of the range of different ambers to yellows we have used over the years. My preference is for either dark amber or amber. In my opinion the more yellow end of the spectrum should never be used. Our club colours are claret and amber not claret and yellow.

I always prefer our home top to have a claret hoop/band, however, I would accept a one off claret sash as long as we move back to the hoop the following season. I can’t remember who said it, however, an ex international player/manger once said, “good teams do not wear bad kits”. If the jester kit has taught us anything, kit design always looks better with a traditional, simple and classy approach.

Reporter for Nottingham Post... Laing joining up for another year?

It was the correct decision to restrict the allocation of tickets to Rangers, well done to everyone concerned with that decision.

You looked good in the first 25 min, however, losing the first goal seemed to knock you off your stride. It’s only HT, and I won’t be celebrating until we hopefully finish the job.

It’s only half time, however, tonight’s result gives us a great platform to go on and finish the job on Sunday.

I watched it in the Cooper and the atmosphere was superb. It’s just a pity that they got that late goal, however, I suppose it keeps it interesting. COYW!

With the correct attitude we can beat this mob both home and away. To be honest they are not that great, and just because they play in blue and have a Rangers badge on their shirt goes for nothing. The fans of all the other Scottish teams are behind us going into this game. COYW!

C’mon Motherwell, you can do this!

I am glad to see that the club have stood firm on this and restricted their ticket allocation for Sunday’s game. Well done to all concerned.

To be honest they are not that good, however, we have faced a lot of not so good sides over the season and got beat. We need to remember that they are no longer the force that they once were, however, the one thing they do still have in their favour is that large, very vocal fan base. That huge support can be intimidating for opposition teams and it will be important to silence them early on. In my opinion Hibernian had the right idea of restricting the number of tickets available to away fans, and I am saddened, although not surprised that we have not done likewise. I will be extremely disappointed if we are still not in the tie after Thursdays game, although as Hibernian proved you can not afford to gift them a two goal lead going into the second leg. This first game is all about mental strength and we need to keep reminding ourselves that they have no better players than us, or any other premiership side out with Celtic. We can do it, however, to achieve it we need to exorcise the demons of the previous Ibrox regimes. If we are still in the tie after Thursday, I am hopeful that we will narrowly beat them at Fir Park to retain our premiership status. #COYW