Wolverhampton Wanderers

Kit History

1877 a

Corroboration needed

1883-1886 a q

1886-1891 a D

1891-1892 q G

1892-1895 a i l q

Some shirts were reversed

1895-1897 a i q

1898-1900 C

1900-1907 f q z C

1907-1908 C

1910-1915 y

1920-1921 b

Centring of stripes varied

1921-1922 C

1923-1924 b q

1924-1925 C

1925-1928 q y C

1928-1929 C

See notes

1928-1930? C

1930-1931 q

1931-1935 b q

1935-1937 b q C

1937-1947 b o

1947-1948 A

1947-1954 b o

1951-1955 Special o B

See notes

1954-1956 b j

1956-1962 a d r

1962-1963 1 D

1962-1963 2 f

1963-1965 d k

late1965-mid1966 d w

mid1966-1969 w A

1969-1970 w A C

1970-1972 c d A D

1970-1972 alt E

Warm weather kit

1972-March 1974 c A

1973-March 74 s A

Warm weather alternate

Umbro

March 74-1975 A

Umbro

1975-1977 c k p s A

Umbro

1977-Nov 1979 b c n s

Umbro

Nov 1979-1982 c n s D

Umbro

1982-1983 u

Umbro

1983-1985 b c n u

1985-March 1986 D

Umbro

March-May 1986 u

Spall

1986-1988 j n D

Scoreline

1988-1989 b d x

Scoreline

1989-1990 x

Scoreline

Aug-Sept 1990 c n t

Bukta

Sept 1990-1992 m n t

Molineux

1992-1993 d m n

Molineux

1993-1994 c d

Nutmeg

1994-1995 c d

Nutmeg

1995-1996 c n H

Puma

1996-1998 c m

Puma

1998-2000 c n

Wolves Leisure

2000-2002 c n F

Admiral

2002-2004 c n

Le Coq Sportif

2004-2006 c n

Le Coq Sportif

2006-2008 h n

Le Coq Sportif

2008-2009 h H

Le Coq Sportif

2009-2010 h

Burrda

2010-2011 a h

Burrda

2011-2012 h

Burrda

wolverhampton wanderers 2012-13 home kit

2012-2013 h

Puma

wolverhampton wanderers 2013-14 home kit

2013-2014 h

Background

wolverhampton wanderers team group 1888 Wolves began as a school side, St Luke's FC in 1877. Two years later they merged with another local side, Wanderers FC and became Wolverhampton Wanderers. Initially they played in blue and white and we have assumed that there earliest jerseys were hooped, the most usual arrangement for this period. Vertically striped shirts were worn when Wanderers won the Wrekin Cup in 1883-84 and may have appeared earlier.

In the course of his research, Michael Capewell has discovered the first reference to the team playing in red and white in a contemporary newspaper report of a match with West Bromwich Albion played on 4 September 1886. Wanderers entered the field attired in their new colours, (my emphasis) having discarded the blue and white for red and white striped jerseys and black knicks (sic) braided with white. Later on the Albion arrived clad in their blue and white striped jerseys and white knicks. It is possible that the Wanderers changed to avoid a colour clash but the new colours seem to have then been worn on a regular basis and were variously described as "red," "faded red," or "pink" and white.

In 1891 the Football League required member clubs to register distinctive colours. As Wolves' shirts clashed with those of Sunderland it appears that the midland club registered "orange and blue" for the 1891-92 season.

The famous old gold and black appeared in 1892, inspired by the municipal colours of Wolverhampton, which in turn represent the town's motto, "Out of Darkness Cometh Light." The shade used was very dark indeed, verging on brown.

A formidable cup side, Wolves reached three finals between 1889 and 1896, winning the trophy in 1893. In wolverhampton crest 1921 fa cup final 1906, Wolves slipped into the Second Division: two years later they defied the odds to win the FA Cup for the second time, beating the hot favourites Newcastle United 3-1 at Crystal Palace.

The club reached yet another FA Cup final in 1921 while still in Division Two. This game marked the first time that a crest was worn by a Wolves team, consisting of the Wolverhampton coat of arms. This featured only in the first half as the team changed into clean jerseys at half-time. This crest also featured in the 1939 and 1960 finals and was worn in the League during 1947-48.

Disaster came in 1923 with relegation to Division Three (North) although they stormed back as champions in 1924, losing only three matches. During their brief stay in the lower division, the traditional striped jerseys gave way to plain old gold with a bold "V".

The strip shown for 1928-29 is something of a puzzle. Although official portraits show players wearing these interesting striped tops research by Jonathon Russell into the club's programmes of this season indicate that the older plain old gold jerseys were used for most, if not all that season.

wolves 1939 crest Under the guidance of Major Frank Buckley, Wolves returned finally to the First Division in 1932. Now wearing their famous old gold shirts with black collars, Wanderers were runners-up in 1938 and 1939 when they also reached the FA Cup final. Starting out as favourites against little fancied Portsmouth, the players were provided with extract of monkey gland to boost their performance but crashed 1-4.

The period after the Second World War was a golden age. After retiring as a player, Stan Cullis took over as manager in 1948, guiding them to an FA Cup win in 1949 and Division One championships in 1954, 1958 and 1959. The club also pioneered midweek floodlit matches against European sides, including the Dynamo and Spartak teams from Moscow, Real Madrid and Budapest Honved. For these games, played under primitive floodlights on gloomy winter evenings, Wolves used a special fluorescent kit. Research by Steve Gordos has established that these appeared on at least two occasions on gloomy Molyneux afternoons in November and December 1951, two years before floodlights were installed. Programme notes from a match at Fulham In the match against Charlton last week, Wolverhampton started something entirely new by appearing in the second half in shirts of yellow, made of material that glows in semi-darkness.

After their 1954 title win, the shade of the shirts became a brighter gold, according to Steve Gordos.

In 1960 they won the Cup once again and almost achieved the double, missing out on the Division One title by a single point.

In 1964, Wolves parted company with Cullis and slipped briefly into the Second Division but further Cup wolverhampton wanderers crest 1970 success arrived in the Seventies.

Gold shorts were adopted towards the end of the 1964-65 season in an effort to give the team a more modern appearance. The match programme, Molynews (oh dear) announced wolverhampton wanderers crest 1974 the return of black shorts on 9 August 1969. The following season a stylish new badge was introduced consisting of a wolf leaping over the letters "WW." This evolved into three wolves worn in the centre of the shirt while the lettering remained on the left breast.

Defeat in the UEFA Cup final. Against Spurs in 1972 was followed by League Cup success in 1974. After a season in the Second Division, Wolves returned to the First Division as champions in 1977 and a second League Cup win wolverhampton wanderers crest 1979 in 1980.

A wolf's head replaced the leaping wolves in 1979, perhaps the most iconic of the designs that appeared in the decade.

In 1982 the club was bought by the Bhatti brothers. At first all seemed well as Wolves won promotion to Division one in 1983 but on and off the pitch the club descended into chaos, plunged straight down to the Fourth Division and faced extinction. A consortium wolverhampton wanderers crest 1988 including the local council, Asda and builders, Gallaghers, rescued the ailing club and they won the Fourth and Third Division championships in successive seasons (1987-88 and 1988-89) to return to the Second Division. During this period the wolf's head was placed on a gold/white shield with scrolls.

In 1990 millionaire fan Sir Jack Hayward bought the club and invested £20m of his personal fortune in the redevelopment of Molineux, transforming it into one of the most modern in the country. Among the innovations of the period was the reintroduction of the Wolverhampton coat of arms to the team's shirts in 1993. This was replaced in 1996 with an elaborate version of the wolf's head: the overall shape was echoed in the design of the shirts worn that season. This version was used for six season before being wolverhampton wanderers crest 1996 replaced with a much simpler version.

Hayward continued to pour money into the club but it was not until 2003 that his ambition was realised and Wolves returned to the top wolverhampton wanderers crest 2002 flight after beating Sheffield United at the Millennium Stadium in the play-off final. Six months later Hayward resigned and handed over the chairmanship to his son, Rick. Sadly, Wolves triumphant return was short-lived and they were relegated after one season.

In 2006 the club embarked on a complete clear-out, appointing Mick McCarthy to build a new side with the emphasis on youth, ambition and talent. Twelve senior players departed, halving the club's wage bill. The young squad performed above expectation and reached the play-offs that season. In August 2007 Jack Hayward gifted his controlling shares to business man Steve Morgan who promised to invest £30m in the club to re-establish them in the Premiership. Following their strategy of signing promising young players from the lower divisions, Wolves won the Championship title in 2009 and enjoyed three seasons in the top flight before they were relegated in 2012.

Historical Football Kits

Kit History

Background

Sources