Colours and Crest
| Early Middlesbrough F.C. kit |
Middlesbrough's original home kit upon election to the Football League in 1899 was a white home shirt with blue shorts and they did not adopt their colours of red and white until later that season. Previous kits included a white shirt with a blue and white polka dotted collar from around 1889. The Middlesbrough kit has remained broadly the same over the years with a red shirt and socks and either red or white shorts. The distinctive broad white stripe across the chest was introduced by Jack Charlton in 1973 (following an attempt to change the home shirt to a Leeds United-style white shirt) and brought back for a one-off in 1997–98 and then again for the 2000–01 and 2004–05 seasons due to popular demand. The club subsequently announced in December 2007 that the club would allow the fans to decide via an online and text vote whether the white band should return for the following season. On 8 January 2008 the club announced that the white band was to return, with 77.4% of voters voting in its favour, with the fans to choose the final shirt design from a selection of three designs, of which the winner was announced on 7 May 2008.
The Middlesbrough crest has gone through four changes since the formation of the club. Initially, the badge was simply the town of Middlesbrough's crest with a red lion instead of a blue lion in order to fit in with the club's colours. Following the adoption of the white band on the shirts in 1973, only the red lion remained with the letters "M.F.C" underneath in red. This was further adapted following the reformation of the club in 1986 to a circular crest with the lion in the middle and the words "Middlesbrough Football Club 1986" around the circle in order to reflect this new era. In 2007, Middlesbrough changed their crest once again, this time with the lion inside a shield and the words "Middlesbrough Football Club 1876" underneath. The club stated that this was to reflect the club's long history and not just their post-liquidation status.
Since the 2009–10 season, Middlesbrough's kit has been produced by adidas, replacing the previous deal with Errea which had lasted for 15 years. The kit is only available in the UK from the official club shops and Middlesbrough's online store. The club's shirt sponsor was announced on 20 July 2007 as satellite navigation device manufacturers Garmin. This contract was extended until the end of the 2008–09 season in a deal described as "the biggest in the club's history". For the 2010–11 season, due to struggling to find a season long sponsor, the shirt sponsor will be different every month. Each month a company can purchase the shirt space for that month. The replica shirts will be sold without a sponsors name across the middle.As of the start of the 2011/2012 season Middlesbrough will be sponsored by Ramsdens pawnbrokers.
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Famous quotes containing the words colours and, colours and/or crest:
“The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to me
An appetite: a feeling and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
By thought supplied, or any interest
Unborrowed from the eye.—”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
“The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to me
An appetite: a feeling and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
By thought supplied, or any interest
Unborrowed from the eye.—”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
“What shall he have that killed the deer?
His leather skin and horns to wear.
Then sing him home.
Take thou no scorn to wear the horn,
It was a crest ere thou wast born;
Thy father’s father wore it,
And thy father bore it.
The horn, the horn, the lusty horn
Is not a thing to laugh to scorn.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)