The smart black & red shirt which City wore from the late 60’s onwards was the brainchild of maverick assistant boss Malcolm Allison who sought to emulate the style and success of Italian giants AC Milan. The style was first worn by City on 5th October 1968 but it didn’t get off to the dream start Allison had hoped for with City going down 2-0 to Everton. This caused some distress among the blues faithful seeing their hero’s in red with several complaint letters being received.
As it turned out, the experiment was a roaring success, City wore the changed strip against Leicester when they lifted the 1969 FA Cup Final, from which I’m fortunate enough have Tommy Booth’s match shirt in my collection, then in their ensuing 1970 ECWC Final victory in Vienna against Gornik Zabrze and, just nine days later, in their League Cup win over West Brom so it’s no wonder the Milanese look has kept cropping up in various forms as City’s second or third kit ever since.
A number of City kit manufacturers have attempted to replicate the black & red with Le Coq Sportif using the design over three seasons from 1999-00 to 2001-02 which saw City Promoted twice and relegated once while Reebok produced a similar style for two seasons from 2003-04, the first at the City of Manchester Stadium and 03-04. A return to Umbro from 2009-2012 saw the famous Black & Red stripes return once more with City ending a 44-year wait for a topflight Championship, winning the Premier League in 2011-12 when the stripes were worn in fantastic victories at Spurs and Blackburn to name a few.
