| New home kit 17:17 - Jul 3 with 35023 views | 442Dale |
https://rochdaleafc.co.uk/26-2
As a football shirt, it's fine. It’s a really nice shade of blue for example.
As a Rochdale shirt it is incredibly disappointing. We've spent nearly two decades building up a recognisable and unique look. This isn’t that. Dale are blue and black with white as a third colour (either as trim or shorts/socks).
Some fans prefer black to be more prominent with stripes, others like a plainer shirt, but remaining consistent to the club's colours is vital to our identity and all important branding.
Have a look at the scarves when the new manager and Cian Hayes arrived - blue and black with a bit of white. The back of the Sandy- blue and black walls. The images of the new training ground - blue and black.
To make black such a token colour alongside red, which has no place on a Rochdale home shirt (sponsor’s own brand aside), has made our unique colour scheme no longer deserving of such recognition - we are the only club in the EFL who had blue, black and white as our home colours. A marketing opportunity that can be capitalised on constantly.
In a new era which is looking to cover all the bases to maximise our potential, this is a misstep.
When you've got such a unique brand, any dilution of that is a negative. Bit dramatic? Maybe.
But are we going to start putting bits of red on all the merchandise and club ties too?
Man Utd wear red/white/black. Would you see them add a random bit of blue to their home shirts?
I'm sure those involved were doing their best, but there should always be a fan vote on shirts so that details like this can be identified and addressed as part of the process.
Quite what the fascination is with the 93/94 chevrons is also hard to establish. Especially when we've already had an away kit utilising them and a retro shirt release. And if we had to use them, just make the chevrons blue and black. Our colours.
If there is interest in older kits, we could have looked at past shirts from other seasons for inspiration - 92/93 & 99/00 immediately leap out.
Unfortunately, because there isn't the knowledge or attention to detail required, what we've ended up with is something that could be mistaken for any team who wear blue and white (or it being a Glasgow Rangers shirt). There's little Rochdale about it apart from the badge and the local company sponsor.
Picky? Probably. That won't change the fact it's disappointing. And a situation that was very avoidable. [Post edited 3 Jul 17:33]
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| New home kit on 20:57 - Jul 3 with 4034 views | TVOS1907 |
| New home kit on 20:02 - Jul 3 by 49thseason |
From CAB minutes 9th March ...
"Kit Designs Season 2025/26
Samples were handed around the group of both the home and away kits for next season. Feeback was taken regarding the badges and colours of shorts etc.
A smaller sub-group formed from CAB members may meet again to review some other samples."... minutes from March CAB meeting
(The last CAB meeting was in early June, )
My recollection from March was that they were presented as material samples , colours and badges rather than final designs, The proposed May meeting was pushed into June because of Wembley so I guess they were finalised in-house around the start of June....personally I hate collars on football shirts...but I dont the recall the conversations getting that far back in March other than there could be a chequerboard design on the neck and arms. The biggest concern seemed to be regarding badges being encapsulated in plastic or not ( for lack of a better description), the colour of the second strip and shorts for both kits... I think the cancelled May CAB would have been a better opportunity to finalise the choices , but it didnt happen.... |
Thank you for the info. |  |
| Maestro? No.
Elite? No.
Heavyweight poster? No.
Able to be rational and not over-react to individual results? Yes. |
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| New home kit on 21:39 - Jul 3 with 3903 views | Porkydale64 |
That kit has just saved me a few quid ,lets hope the away kit bears some resemblence of a Dale kit ( cue pink, red or polka dot) |  | | |
| New home kit on 00:19 - Jul 4 with 3732 views | watford_dale |
Its not the clothes that make the man. For the second consecitive season. | | | |
| New home kit on 09:24 - Jul 4 with 3515 views | 442Dale |
Going off the online shop, the shorts and socks are plain blue. This new trim, if there was any thought put into sidelining black and making red its equal, obviously wasn’t important enough to continue into the rest of the kit.
It only reiterates the issues, an absence of knowledge and attention to detail.
For example, has anyone recognised we’ve now had plain blue socks for three seasons running? | |
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| New home kit on 09:27 - Jul 4 with 3506 views | Duckegg |
| New home kit on 18:48 - Jul 3 by blackdogblue |
Talking of new kits…
Ordered a Wembley top limited edition top for my lad.
Can anyone remember the delivery date they said please 🤷♂️ |
Deliveries from the 14th.. |  | | |
| New home kit on 09:29 - Jul 4 with 3500 views | Hampshire_Dale |
Website shop has published the kit. With some different angles and context, the kit looks a smidge better. It’s those red chevrons; I don’t get it. First thought was it to tie the trim/collar with Crown Oil’s red, but that seems an unnecessary extra production cost and it’s a different tone of red. Perhaps, the away will have a red and black theme so the two kits have some kind of nod to each other? Either way, I’d be surprised if it flies off the shelf... Each to their own I suppose, but doesn’t feel that unifying having slept on it…. On the plus side, it’s a fiver cheaper! Up the Dale. |  | | |
| New home kit on 09:38 - Jul 4 with 3473 views | 442Dale |
| New home kit on 09:29 - Jul 4 by Hampshire_Dale |
Website shop has published the kit. With some different angles and context, the kit looks a smidge better. It’s those red chevrons; I don’t get it. First thought was it to tie the trim/collar with Crown Oil’s red, but that seems an unnecessary extra production cost and it’s a different tone of red. Perhaps, the away will have a red and black theme so the two kits have some kind of nod to each other? Either way, I’d be surprised if it flies off the shelf... Each to their own I suppose, but doesn’t feel that unifying having slept on it…. On the plus side, it’s a fiver cheaper! Up the Dale. |
“doesn’t feel that unifying”
Cracking observation. As stated originally, maybe it is being a bit picky with responses to what is, hopefully, something that brings in money. It’s that there are obvious avoidable barriers to that which lead to understandable criticism.
Did nobody stop to think “well some fans will notice that we are moving away from our recognisable colours?”
If they didn’t, it’s that lack of awareness of what makes a Rochdale kit.
If they did and decided that wasn’t an issue, it’s an own goal of Chris Brass proportions. [Post edited 4 Jul 9:46]
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| New home kit on 19:12 - Jul 4 with 3100 views | rochedale |
Agree totally, doesn’t represent the identity that we had created with the blue and black. Let’s hope the away kit is as good as last years! |  |
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| New home kit on 13:17 - Jul 5 with 2773 views | Albert_Whitehurst |
This is the first home shirt in aeons I’ve actually liked! |  | | |
| New home kit on 14:29 - Jul 5 with 2710 views | 442Dale |
| New home kit on 13:17 - Jul 5 by Albert_Whitehurst |
This is the first home shirt in aeons I’ve actually liked! |
As said before, it’s a decent football shirt. It’s not exclusively a Rochdale shirt though.
By my reckoning, we are now one of two teams in England who feature blue/white/black/red in our shirts. The other is Whitby Town. At least they’ve stuck to those colours for a long time though.
There’s a ‘behind the scenes’ video on social media where Hannant says the quiet part out loud when noting the collar reminds him of Eric Cantona.
If it was a collar on a Manchester United shirt, it would be fine. | |
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| New home kit on 16:47 - Jul 5 with 2579 views | blackdogblue |
I remember Fergie once saying about rising kit costs… there are only 11 people who need to wear the kit and that was the team on the pitch |  |
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| New home kit on 17:02 - Jul 5 with 2544 views | isitme |
| New home kit on 16:47 - Jul 5 by blackdogblue |
I remember Fergie once saying about rising kit costs… there are only 11 people who need to wear the kit and that was the team on the pitch |
If people did not buy them it would leave a hole in our income stream. |  | | |
| New home kit on 19:40 - Jul 5 with 2390 views | blackdogblue |
| New home kit on 17:02 - Jul 5 by isitme |
If people did not buy them it would leave a hole in our income stream. |
Let’s see… years of voting as fans seems to have been forgotten..
CAB seems to be making decisions now | |
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| New home kit on 19:50 - Jul 5 with 2357 views | 442Dale |
| New home kit on 19:40 - Jul 5 by blackdogblue |
Let’s see… years of voting as fans seems to have been forgotten..
CAB seems to be making decisions now |
It hasn’t been established on who made the choices and at what stage. The club chose not to clarify why the design choices were made in the kit release article.
Fans didn’t vote on last season’s kits and they were fine and at least stayed true to the club colours.
Whoever was involved should be happy to accept the constructive criticism made so far, so that we don’t make the same mistakes again.
Back to the actual kit, have had a look at the online shop - the shorts have a white trim on the reverse. Except it’s plain white, so the decision to introduce the chevrons in the chosen colours wasn’t seen as important enough to continue onto the shorts.
That’s if enough attention was paid to notice. [Post edited 5 Jul 19:52]
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| New home kit on 20:02 - Jul 5 with 2328 views | pnc4eva1 |
In my opinion the new kit is just Meh!
Nothing special, nothing adventurous and nothing too bad. |  |
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| New home kit on 20:35 - Jul 5 with 2269 views | Trev |
| New home kit on 19:50 - Jul 5 by 442Dale |
It hasn’t been established on who made the choices and at what stage. The club chose not to clarify why the design choices were made in the kit release article.
Fans didn’t vote on last season’s kits and they were fine and at least stayed true to the club colours.
Whoever was involved should be happy to accept the constructive criticism made so far, so that we don’t make the same mistakes again.
Back to the actual kit, have had a look at the online shop - the shorts have a white trim on the reverse. Except it’s plain white, so the decision to introduce the chevrons in the chosen colours wasn’t seen as important enough to continue onto the shorts.
That’s if enough attention was paid to notice. [Post edited 5 Jul 19:52]
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When did we last have a good kit, 442? | | | |
| New home kit on 20:50 - Jul 5 with 2225 views | 442Dale |
| New home kit on 20:35 - Jul 5 by Trev |
When did we last have a good kit, 442? |
That’s all personal opinion!
I liked last season’s, it fit our colours and looked good as a full strip during games. Thought the first O’Neill’s home shirt was just ok, bit too cluttered for my liking with too many design features, but it was still a Rochdale shirt.
The only one I’ve really disliked was in 15/16, the first with Errea, which was just blue and white. No black at all. We were told then that the players had a say. That was ridiculous.
Both that shirt and the current one have completely missed the importance of sticking to a club’s identity. This season’s is a much better football shirt though, again only an opinion, but I like it. It’s just not us. | |
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| New home kit on 21:00 - Jul 5 with 2187 views | D_Alien |
| New home kit on 20:50 - Jul 5 by 442Dale |
That’s all personal opinion!
I liked last season’s, it fit our colours and looked good as a full strip during games. Thought the first O’Neill’s home shirt was just ok, bit too cluttered for my liking with too many design features, but it was still a Rochdale shirt.
The only one I’ve really disliked was in 15/16, the first with Errea, which was just blue and white. No black at all. We were told then that the players had a say. That was ridiculous.
Both that shirt and the current one have completely missed the importance of sticking to a club’s identity. This season’s is a much better football shirt though, again only an opinion, but I like it. It’s just not us. |
I dislike it for the reasons you've cited around last season's - too cluttered
It's just not a "football shirt" full stop, more like a 'fashion' item from a cheap retail outlet [Post edited 5 Jul 21:23]
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| New home kit on 21:35 - Jul 5 with 2110 views | TVOS1907 |
| New home kit on 20:50 - Jul 5 by 442Dale |
That’s all personal opinion!
I liked last season’s, it fit our colours and looked good as a full strip during games. Thought the first O’Neill’s home shirt was just ok, bit too cluttered for my liking with too many design features, but it was still a Rochdale shirt.
The only one I’ve really disliked was in 15/16, the first with Errea, which was just blue and white. No black at all. We were told then that the players had a say. That was ridiculous.
Both that shirt and the current one have completely missed the importance of sticking to a club’s identity. This season’s is a much better football shirt though, again only an opinion, but I like it. It’s just not us. |
Our identity is perfectly illustrated on one of the images here:
https://rochdaleafc.co.uk/an-u | |
| Maestro? No.
Elite? No.
Heavyweight poster? No.
Able to be rational and not over-react to individual results? Yes. |
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| New home kit on 21:37 - Jul 5 with 2093 views | 442Dale |
| New home kit on 21:00 - Jul 5 by D_Alien |
I dislike it for the reasons you've cited around last season's - too cluttered
It's just not a "football shirt" full stop, more like a 'fashion' item from a cheap retail outlet [Post edited 5 Jul 21:23]
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One of the first rules around making sure a shirt isn’t “too cluttered” is to stick to the ‘three colours’ rule.
Sponsors aside (United had Chevrolet logo in gold, Spurs AIA in red) if you add a fourth colour to a trim then it’s immediately distracting. | |
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| New home kit on 21:42 - Jul 5 with 2073 views | 442Dale |
That’s it!
The new training ground will be huge for the club and the town. They’ve done a fantastic job with the info provided to the public, including images that represent how it’ll look in Dale colours. Really professional.
Now we have a kit that doesn’t match. Are we going to include bits of red on the next training ground plans? [Post edited 5 Jul 21:45]
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| New home kit on 07:25 - Jul 6 with 1813 views | Albert_Whitehurst |
| New home kit on 14:29 - Jul 5 by 442Dale |
As said before, it’s a decent football shirt. It’s not exclusively a Rochdale shirt though.
By my reckoning, we are now one of two teams in England who feature blue/white/black/red in our shirts. The other is Whitby Town. At least they’ve stuck to those colours for a long time though.
There’s a ‘behind the scenes’ video on social media where Hannant says the quiet part out loud when noting the collar reminds him of Eric Cantona.
If it was a collar on a Manchester United shirt, it would be fine. |
The club has played around with colour scheme and design since we first moved to blue from black & white (circa late 40s?)
Post-centenary the blue / black stripes was a personal choice by the Chairman as part of a ‘new era’ initiative.
Season on season since, there has been little consistency in kit selection that would suggest there is any adherence to a brand identity or desire even to create a coherent brand. | | | |
| New home kit on 07:43 - Jul 6 with 1797 views | D_Alien |
| New home kit on 07:25 - Jul 6 by Albert_Whitehurst |
The club has played around with colour scheme and design since we first moved to blue from black & white (circa late 40s?)
Post-centenary the blue / black stripes was a personal choice by the Chairman as part of a ‘new era’ initiative.
Season on season since, there has been little consistency in kit selection that would suggest there is any adherence to a brand identity or desire even to create a coherent brand. |
Unless my memory's playing tricks again, the change to blue happened in 68/69, the promotion season
As it happens, an aberation occurred for 73/74, the relegation season, with a diagonal multi-stripe (something like black and yellow) on white shirt [Post edited 6 Jul 7:46]
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| New home kit on 08:05 - Jul 6 with 1757 views | 442Dale |
| New home kit on 07:25 - Jul 6 by Albert_Whitehurst |
The club has played around with colour scheme and design since we first moved to blue from black & white (circa late 40s?)
Post-centenary the blue / black stripes was a personal choice by the Chairman as part of a ‘new era’ initiative.
Season on season since, there has been little consistency in kit selection that would suggest there is any adherence to a brand identity or desire even to create a coherent brand. |
Until now, since 2008, our home colours have been blue/black/white every season bar one (as noted above). That is evidence of consistency.
There has most definitely been an adherence to that colour scheme and brand. As TVOS has pointed out on various occasions, there was never any statement that those colours always had to be worn as stripes. | |
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| New home kit on 08:41 - Jul 6 with 1714 views | EllDale |
| New home kit on 07:43 - Jul 6 by D_Alien |
Unless my memory's playing tricks again, the change to blue happened in 68/69, the promotion season
As it happens, an aberation occurred for 73/74, the relegation season, with a diagonal multi-stripe (something like black and yellow) on white shirt [Post edited 6 Jul 7:46]
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That’s right.
I vividly remember being one of a lot of volunteers who painted the crush barriers blue on summer evenings in 1968 to match the new shirts.
Whose decision it was and why I’ve no idea. | | | |
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