What colour is Manchester City blue?

[Mike N]

I remember reading City used to play in cornflower blue in the 30's whatever that is!

 

[yerwot?]

Slow news day?

is it that obvious? :) zzzzz

 

[xgorton]

Powder blue when I painted my football rattle back in the early 60s.

 

[Dr Dweeb]

We played in 'Field Blue' a couple of seasons ago. The all blue with navy trim. One of our worst ever kits.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

I remember reading City used to play in cornflower blue in the 30's whatever that is!

 

[Gary James]

Our original colours (blue, white and maroon) come from the colours of the Masonic Lodge, which had a strong link with us in days of yore. The same is true of other clubs (Villa etc); so for the true city blue look to Masonic colours. You could google it, but I doubt you'll get access without rolling up your trouser leg and giving the funny handshake.

Unfortunately that's a myth. There is no evidence, just lots of people claiming it as fact with various explanations none of which stand up. I go on about this quite a bit in my new MCFC Folklore book: Amazon product ASIN 1999900820. I do think there was a Masonic influence with our black kit and white cross pattee of 1884 (Gorton AFC - not St Mark's as is often claimed or Maltese cross for that matter) but the blue and white story doesn't add up. The articles that have been written on the Masonic colours ignore several key facts. The main myth that circulates is that the club's debts were paid off by senior Masons in 1894 to allow MCFC to become established and that an agreement was made for City to change their colours to pale blue and white. This overlooks the fact that Lawrence Furniss paid off most of Ardwick's debts; that City was established before Ardwick closed down (they played on after MCFC was established); and that Ardwick were already wearing the colours (and had been since 1890 maybe earlier) after wearing royal blue and white stripes in 1887.

In terms of the actual description and shade of blue.... it's changed a lot with Cambridge Blue being the usual description in the early days; then Pale Blue or Sky Blue (Sky Blue appears in lots of annuals/yearbooks etc from the 1920s onwards).

 

[Gary James]

When I first started going to see the blues in the early 60’s a lot around me used to shout “come on you dolly blues”

I didn’t really understand that meaning until my nan said a “dolly” was a light blue sort of dye added to the washing!!

I once had a researcher connected with the company that owned the Dolly Blue brand (it was a cleaning product that made washing cleaner than clean or some such silly comment but actually made it slightly blue too). He claimed the company believed MCFC wore blue because our white shirts had been in the Dolly Blue too long. I pointed out that this was another myth but it's a nice angle.

 

[Gary James]

That bit is simply not true, mate.

We've worn navy socks for over 80 years, far more than any other colour.

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Manchester_City/Manchester_City.htm

Don't believe everything you read on there. Some of those Navy socks are probably black - sock colours were not often recorded and people have assumed navy far too often I think.

 

[Gary James]

I remember reading City used to play in cornflower blue in the 30's whatever that is!

That was the 1926 FA Cup final. It's a darker shade than normal. Quite a good colour but City lost the final and dropped the colour.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Don't believe everything you read on there. Some of those Navy socks are probably black - sock colours were not often recorded and people have assumed navy far too often I think.

What's the earliest record we have that we were definitely wearing navy socks? I assume there must still be blues alive now who could confirm whether we wore them in the 40s / 50s?

 

[idahoblues]

I recently did a little carpentry project and decided to paint said project with City colours, had a helluva time picking the right tone

 

[Gary James]

What's the earliest record we have that we were definitely wearing navy socks? I assume there must still be blues alive now who could confirm whether we wore them in the 40s / 50s?

Sky blue and white hoops were typically worn in 50s. There's photographic evidence for many kits - including some cigarette cards (although some are coloured and not necessarily matching) - and descriptions at time. I do know City wore navy blue with a couple of white hoops in 1890s based on a description, but many images of dark socks have been recorded as navy by modern day writers and do not match what was believed at the time. I think people have often assumed navy when it may well be black. That historical kits site for example shows socks of predominantly navy in late 1940s when other images from that period (and coloured in that period) show predominantly sky blue socks with a much smaller amount of black (or navy). It's an area that needs a lot of research (I'm trying to catch every reference at the moment but it'll take some time).

 

[Stevieatlasblue]

Is it Coventry? Who by the way.. have a bigger fan base than us.

 

[yerwot?]

before the advent of synthetic fibres for clothing/bedding, nearly everything was cotton based and white. A hint of blue, almost imperceptible, made white "seem" whiter, a dolly blue was a small cloth bag with a small wooden peg, containing a blue dye. As this was before washing machines (in the UK), I have no idea when the dolly blue was added to the dolly tub and then attacked with a three-legged posser . zzzzz

 

[Stevieatlasblue]

For me, the true 'City blue' is the deeper sky blue seen throughout the 70s. As much as I love the new shirt, it still doesn't get close to that colour tbh; whether it's similar to the sky blue of the 60s is for other, older blues to say I guess.

It seems that no matter who produces our kits, the shade of blue opted for is either too light; an insipid, wishy-washy blue; or too dark; the 'lazer blue'.

This one for me

 

[bigf42]

I remember the Dolly blues shouts from when I started going as a kid in the 60s, my first kit as a kid was an Umbro shirt, before the days of official replicas c 68. It was lighter than the early 70s one, and I do prefer that shade. To me the proper socks are the maroon topped ones with two white hoops.

All in all it’s down to personal taste usually driven by first memories...I don’t mind what the home kits are like, bar one thing, I hate sky blue shorts, makes us look like Coventry.

As to away kits, I used to love the red and black stripes, but now we are trying to be genuine chimps league contenders, big mal’s mimicking of Milan made us look small time.

 

[sir baconface]

So it's your fault all our empty seats stick out like a sore thumb :-)

Although not admitting it, @worsleyweb bought the red circles too.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

As I said paletone 284c 80% tint

https://www.cam.ac.uk/brand-resources/guidelines/typography-and-colour/palette-and-text-legibility

Interesting… going on that, I see our true colour as somewhere between 80% and 60%.
Of course when we say sky blue, that's a nonsense, if you take even one second to think about it. The sky is all kinds of blues, in different seasons, and on different days, and at different hours. Even when it's cloudless.
It's also notorious that people don't actually see colours in the same way. They're culturally inflected. And there are differences between individuals.
I always hated the laser blue, myself. It just wasn't us at all.
Whatever it is, I'm proud of the fact that, to my knowledge, we're the only team in the league, apart from Coventry City, to wear it.

 

[sir baconface]

As a side issue, to what extent do people feel kit colour has a bearing on field?

Has wearing a very non-aggressive colour stopped us from winning as much as if we’d worn, say bright red (spit!) or striking yellow and black stripes?

 

[Gremlin]

Whatever it is, I'm proud of the fact that, to my knowledge, we're the only team in the league, apart from Coventry City, to wear it.

Although a number of clubs have used it for away kits from time to time (probably because it is less common and less likely to clash).