English football legends have hit out at the national team’s new Euro 2024 kit, which altered St George’s Cross using purple and blue stripes rather than the traditional red. The jersey’s release this week has caused outrage with a host of football and political figures calling for the change to be reverted.
Both Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer have expressed their displeasure at the change made by Nike. The brand claim that it was inspired by the training kit worn by England’s 1966 World Cup winners.
Nike and the FA say that they have “no plans” to recall the new home kit as a result of the row over the flag. It had been signed off by the FA, but former players and managers have come out in force to reject the major changes.
England’s most-capped player of all time Peter Shilton fears that more changes could follow as he also slammed the price, with an ‘authentic’ version costing as much as £124.99 for adults.
Shilton told GB News: “I am totally against it, which I don’t think is a surprise. I mean I am a traditionalist, really. I think we have seen a lot of design changes on shirts and that’s to get the fans to buy the new shirt every time it changes. But now they are messing with the colours on a national flag and you know, where would it stop once it starts?
“Is the next shirt going to have more changes in the colour? So I am against it, I think it is wrong. It is only a small change, but I think it could be the start of more changes. That’s the way I look at it, once you start changing the colour. I mean the Three Lions is obviously traditional and the fans love that.
“I am very surprised to be fair that the FA agreed to this but it’s all about money and making money and if the shirt sponsor says look ‘we’d like to do this’ then sometimes you get maybe members at the FA who think, ‘Oh well, we are getting paid well for it.’ ‘You know, we won’t bother’.
“But I think it is a precedent that we don’t want, you know, other things to suddenly change on the next England shirt, and you know maybe, you know a pink band going round the middle of the shirt – I mean you don’t know do you what they are going to change.”
Another former Three Lions goalkeeper David Seaman urged Nike to “leave it alone” and believes that the current team would have rejected any proposal altering the cross.
“It doesn’t need fixing,” the ex-Arsenal stopped told talkSPORT. “What’s next, are they going to change the Three Lions to three cats? Leave it alone. It’s the St George’s Flag. Leave it alone. I’m sure that if they’d approached the lads and asked them about it, they would have said no. Just leave it alone.”
Former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp, who had often been linked with the top England job throughout his career, claimed that the update is the “worst” own goal he has ever seen in football.
“I’ve seen plenty of own goals in my time, but this has to be the worst ever,” he added. “Who on earth thought this was a good idea? It’s the cross of St George, red and white…would Nike do this with another country’s national flag?
“It’s something that should be respected, not changed for a bit of playful fun, as they put it. In my book it’s an absolute disgrace – I hope they see sense and have a rethink.”
