BIRMINGHAM brightened up an otherwise drab black away strip with the addition if pink socks at the John Smith’s Stadium last Saturday.
But colourful change kits are nothing new to the second city club.
Just check out the yellow, red and black affair sported by Trevor Francis.
It was known as the German flag kit, even though it was closer to Belgium’s, and used as third strip between 1972-74.
City had previously worn all white as their alternative colours (as sported against Town in FA Cup clashes in both 1970-71 and the season after).
But they introduced three new outfits after their promotion to the top flight in 1972 (the year Town dropped to the original Second Division).
Leading the way in the era of Francis, Bob Latchford and Bob Hatton, was the popular ‘penguin’ home shirt of royal blue with white, and there was a red version as the main change kit with the flag shirt, which was worn with black shorts, as the third.
Legend has it that a Birmingham director on a pre-season tour of Germany liked the colour combination of that country’s flag.
It was only worn a handful of times, at places like Spurs and West Brom, but seems to be looked upon favourably by the St Andrew’s faithful old enough to remember it.
Watching footage of the kit in action (check out the 1974 FA Cup tie at QPR on YouTube), is quite disconcerting because the players take on a very different appearance depending on which direction they are running … it almost looks as though there are three teams on the pitch!
