White and Blue for Hartlepool United's new shirt

By Albatross
June 18 2003

Hartlepool United have unveiled the new home kit for season 2003/4; and it's guaranteed to raise one or two hackles. But is the angst about the shirt symptomatic of the continuing wait for the new manager to be announced? I think so.

Beckham has finally done the unthinkable and flown to Tokyo, so hopefully the press will soon settle down from their current frenzy and start reporting what's going on back in the real world of football. The most immediate thing for Poolies is of course the unveiling of the new home shirt.

The fact that we are having a new shirt, just 12 months after the "Tesco Bag" was announced, has understandably raised a few hackles. While there are good reasons to be annoyed - the decisions must have been made some time ago if stocks will arrive when the club say, and yet nothing was officially said about this until last week - the response speaks to me of something deeper. The longer we are without a manager, the more the disquiet grows; and when you read in the Hartlepool Mail that Colin Todd has apparently not been given an interview, while Gardner Speirs apparently has, it doesn't do much for the way you feel about things. With the list of players released gradually becoming shorter as the better prospects sign up elsewhere, it's no wonder that people are getting a bit twitchy.

In the meantime though, is the new shirt any good - and how does it compare to some of our shirts of the past?

You can view the new shirt on the Official Sitehere. In effect, it's white, with a blue Pinstripe, blue shorts, and white socks.

My first reaction is, "But it's white!" There's so much white that it almost looks like it should be the away shirt. Definately a case of white and blue as opposed to blue and white. That's not going to please the traditionalists. But once over that, I have to admit that it actually looks pretty good - certainly better than last year's "Tesco Bag" effort. I didn't like that one at all, to the extent that I just bought the away shirt; but I won't have many qualms about getting this one.

It's also far from the first time we've worn a predominantly white kit. Back when we last got promoted, we wore white shirts with blue chevrons up the sides. There was some debate in Monkey Bizz at the time, and I'm sure there's a few people who won't be happy now either; but in my opinion it does look considerably smarter than either that effort or last seasons. I'll get it - assuming that we actually get in the stock!

One other advantage of the kit will be for those of us that have to rely on Pools World for commentary. One big problem with the last couple of home kits has been reading the numbers on the players' backs - something that almost every commentator seemed to mention at one point. At least now it should be easier to identify who's who!

Elsewhere, to no-one's great surprise, Sheffield Wednesday have confirmed that both Graeme Lee and Paul Smith will be joining them. It does mean that there will be even more interest attached to the date of our fixtures against the Wendys when the list is released tomorrow morning. And even more pressure to get someone in place to sign their replacements.