Leeds United have sported some distinctive kits down the years, especially in the days before Don Revie, and here's a pictorial history of the various colours, sponsorships and badges that have been associated with the club and its precursor, Leeds City.

The March 2006 edition of the Leeds Leeds Leeds magazine carried a feature on United fan Paul Waite as he prepared to sell his collection of 52 Leeds tops.

The collection included a full set of every shirt - home and away - from 1975 to 2005 and was supplemented with reproduction shirts from earlier years as supplied by The Old Fashioned Football Shirts Company (TOFFS). Paul's the sort of compulsive follower that Leeds United have been notorious for down the years.

Paul Waite: 'Since around 2000, I've always liked to mess around on eBay. Pretty soon I got to buying one or two a month and it wasn't long before I realised that I nearly had a full set. At that point I wrote to Leeds Leeds Leeds to ask how I could get a yellow lace up collar Thistle Hotels one from 1995/96 as they had never gone on sale. They asked Sean Hardy, the kit man, and the answer was, basically, no chance! But on eBay again I managed to get a Rob Bowman match worn one for £170!

'I suppose the best one for me is the one with the blue and yellow hoops - you know the one I mean? Think of Brian Deane! It's classic! I also liked the yellow one we wore in the Nou Camp when we beat Stuttgart in the European Cup play off match in 1992 - the one with the weird blue pattern on the shoulder. The yellow on blue version looked like you'd been sick on it, but blue on yellow looked great!'

In an attention-grabbing effort to get a team of journeymen and promising youngsters to aspire to higher things, manager Don Revie famously changed the Leeds look in the early 1960s to a pristine all white, mimicking the strip of the all-conquering Real Madrid team. Prior to that, the playing kits of both Leeds City and United had been in various combinations of blue and gold, as incorporated in the heraldic Leeds city crest, dating from 1893 when Leeds became a city by Royal Charter. Remarkably, the white has stuck ever since Revie's original gamble.

From 1976 onwards, the all white has generally been punctuated by trim and edgings of blue and gold; the away kit has used the same colours in varying combinations, though for a time red was used sporadically. That never gained favour with the Elland Road public, for whom the colour was always inextricably linked with the much-despised Manchester United. There were even complaints in the late 90s because the Packard Bell logo was primarily red!

It was partly to do with the blue and gold, but mainly because of the association with the nearby Old Peacock Inn, that Leeds City came by their original nickname of the Peacocks, a moniker that was passed down like a beloved inheritance to Leeds United and stuck with the club long after the white became de rigueur.

Though the Football Association was formed in 1863 and introduced the first rules of the game shortly afterwards, it was some time later before strictly uniform kits and colours arrived; teams were often clad in a hotchpotch of whatever gear was lying around. The young men involved in 'Socker' at the time were preoccupied more with their individual look and style than appearing as part of a single, coherent entirety.

Hunter Davies from Boots, Balls and Haircuts: 'Looking at the photos of the amateur teams in the early years, you see a certain swagger and swank as they stand in their pristine jerseys and knickerbockers, trying hard to be individuals, striking personal poses, some lounging at the front, others sitting sideways. The captain was usually very easy to spot, looking captain-like, aloof from the team.

'With the coming of the professionals, a uniform, regimental team photograph soon took over. There was a period when some teams lined up in the goalmouth for their team shot, in a straight line, but this didn't last long, and from about 1905 onwards the standard team photo was established, with two rows of players with the captain in the middle of the front row, holding the ball. It continues to this day. You see players automatically grouping themselves, without being asked, having seen photographs of football teams in the same formation.

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'Players were always interested in clothes, judging by a paragraph in the Chelsea programme from 1907. "A display of caps in shop windows exercises the same fascination over football players as the milliner's latest styles do over their sisters, cousins and wives."

'In that same programme there is a witty reference to the latest styles on the pitch, with players starting to wear shorter shorts. In describing one player showing a lot of naked flesh, they said 'it was about a shilling cab fare from the top of his stockings to the nearest portion of his nether garments."'

Recognisable team strips started to emerge after the introduction of the FA Cup in 1871. Dave Moor from Historicalkits.co.uk: 'Colours were often those of the public schools and sports clubs with which the game was associated: Blackburn Rovers first wore the green and white of Charterhouse School, while Reading first played in the salmon pink, pale blue and claret colours of the rowing club that spawned them. Colours were changed frequently, depending on what local suppliers could provide and the players could afford. The game was played almost exclusively by middle class men who could afford to buy a shirt in their club's colours. That said, plain white shirts were the most popular kit of the period, being both relatively cheap and easily obtainable.

'During the 1880's the balance of power shifted decisively from the middle class clubs of the South towards the industrial heartlands of the Midlands and North West. Rows over broken time payments led in 1885 to a decision by the FA to recognise professionalism and the Football League was formed in 1888 to provide the leading clubs with regular fixtures against the best sides.

'After 1885, the expense of buying playing kits for those who turned professional fell on the club rather than the players. Secretary managers with an eye for the accounts naturally preferred to spend as little as possible, leading to a trend towards simpler kits in basic colours.

'Stockings did not form part of the kit until the turn of the century while players wore heavy shin guards outside their socks.

'By the close of the century most of the leading clubs were wearing strips that would be recognisable today.

'By 1901, the regulations that required footballers to cover their knees were relaxed and shorts (known as "knickerbockers" or "knickers") became shorter. Shirts and shorts were close fitting and made from tough, heavyweight, natural fibres. For the first time, stockings became part of clubs' strips. These were initially self-coloured but quickly design features such as contrasting rings on the turnover began to appear. The main stocking colour was always dark (red, blue, black or dark blue); pale colours did not appear for another 50 years.

'Knickers were only available in white, black or navy blue. It was exceedingly rare for clubs to wear matching shirts and shorts although Swansea have always worn all-white.

'Shirts with laced crew necks became popular but a variety of collar designs were evident. Striped shirts were popular and the trend was for stripes to become wider than they had been during the previous century. Striped jerseys tend to make the wearer seem taller while hoops emphasise the wearer's bulk. This seems to be the reason why Rugby teams favour hoops while soccer clubs prefer vertical stripes.'

It is reported that, when Royal Arsenal became the first southern club to be elected to the Football League in 1893, 'their shorts cost 3s 3d, their flannelette shirts 2s 5d and their russet calf boots 8s 6d'.

Leeds City Association Football Club was formed in 1904 and entered the Second Division of the Football League a year later sporting a kit consisting of dark blue shirts with old gold trim, white shorts and blue socks. The shirts also bore the club's badge, the city's crest with its distinctive three owls.

Following the appointment of Frank Scott-Walford as manager in 1908, the City shirt was redesigned to incorporate a rather ostentatious, old gold pinstripe. A year later there was a reworking of the theme with the stripes in the top being swapped, making for a rather gaudier look. That City kit was one of the more distinctive around at the time, but was abandoned after a short period, probably on the grounds that it was simply too fussy.

In the summer of 1910, City signed five young and inexperienced Irish players and, as the Leeds Mercury reported, on 5 September 1910, 'It must be remembered that these Irishmen are very young men, who have been brought into a higher class of football than that to which they have been accustomed, and that they were playing their first match amid unfamiliar surroundings. Mr Scott-Walford evidently had an eye to making his new men feel at home as well as to stage effect when he attired the team in green jerseys and supplied green flags to mark the centre line.' They played in that kit throughout 1910/11.

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After City were forced to apply for re-election to the Football League in 1912, Scott-Walford was replaced as manager by Herbert Chapman. The soon to be celebrated Chapman brought fresh hope to Elland Road with a vow that he would bring top flight football to Leeds. He came very close to doing so in the years before World War One, when Leeds City introduced another new look. Their new shirts were still principally dark blue, but were now hooped by a distinctive, wide gold band. The hoop was replaced shortly afterwards with a broad gold V on the chest, a design that remained in situ until City's untimely demise.

During World War I, Leeds City enjoyed noteworthy success in unofficial competitions, but their financial dealings were the subject of later inquiry by the football authorities. The Leeds City club was wound up in ignominy in October 1919 with all their players disposed of via auction.

Burslem Port Vale eagerly assumed Leeds' place in Division Two, but there was soon another professional outfit formed in the city: Leeds United Association Football Club was admitted to the Football League in 1920.

A driving force behind the early development of the new club and their election to the League was Huddersfield Town chairman Hilton Crowther, who sought at first to merge the two clubs. He eventually left the Terriers behind to take over at Leeds United, bringing manager Arthur Fairclough with him. Their history together at Leeds Road was echoed in the first fifteen years at United as the club kit was modelled on Huddersfield's blue and white striped shirts, in combination with white shorts and dark blue socks with blue and white rings on the turnovers. The Terriers dominated English football in the Twenties under the management of Herbert Chapman, winning their first League championship in 1924, the same year United won the Second Division title.

With the resumption of Football League activity in 1919 came a rapid expansion in membership numbers. Both the First and Second Divisions were extended from 20 to 22 clubs. The following year, the First Division of the Southern League was annexed into the League as an embryonic Division Three. Another twelve months brought the introduction of a Northern Section of the Third Division, populated with major non-League outfits from the North. With the rapidly escalating number of professional clubs, the Twenties saw a massive diversity in colours and combinations, though there was little in the way of design innovation.

In 1934, United ditched their blue and white stripes in favour of blue and gold halved shirts incorporating the city crest badge; the shorts were white and socks blue with gold tops. The kit was worn for the first time on 22 September as United lost 3-0 at Elland Road to Liverpool.

In 1939, the Football League Management Committee made the numbering of players' shirts mandatory.

The introduction of numbers was largely down to the visionary Herbert Chapman. He argued that they would make it easier for players to know where they were on the field in relation to their team mates.

The use of shirt numbers dates back to August 25 1928 when Arsenal wore them in a 3-2 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday. The system deployed by Chapman for the game was slightly different from the one that was to be accepted years later, with the home team taking numbers 1-11 and the away team wearing 12-22. The concept of numbered shirts had first been mooted back in 1906, but had been rejected by the game's lawmakers, who continued to resist it.

The Football League were not impressed by the experiment, ordering Chapman to drop his plans. He reluctantly followed their directive, but continued to use numbered shirts for the reserves. Arsenal wore numbers at Highbury in December 1933 during a friendly match with FC Vienna.

The Football League Management Committee rejected numbered shirts again at its 1934 general meeting, but on June 5 1939 the Committee finally bowed to the inevitable. They agreed a system with both teams wearing numbers 1-11, each representing a particular position in the classic WM formation. Numbering was mandated for the 1939/40 season, but only three games later Britain went to war and the League programme was suspended. It was another six years before numbered shirts finally became a permanent feature of League football.

Dave Moor: 'Stripes began to appear on the side of shorts for the first time towards the end of the decade. Shirts and shorts became more generously cut, giving rise to the baggy shorts reaching to the knee so fondly remembered on shorter players … Clothing rationing limited the ability of clubs to replace their kits and several were forced to change from their traditional colours to those that they could purchase with ration coupons. Southport FC turned out for several seasons in green and white hoops, a gift from one of the club's directors made during the war. Laced crew necks all but disappeared aside from a few diehard, traditionalist clubs, in favour of collared shirts. Hooped stockings became extremely popular. During the early Fifties most clubs stuck to their traditional designs with only minor alterations to shirt and stocking trims.'

The eccentric Major Frank Buckley became Leeds United manager in the spring of 1948 with the club back in the Second Division. He was convinced that the players were performing poorly because the halved shirts made it difficult for them to pick each other out. Former player Jim Bullions recalled that the Major organised a practice match in October 1948 with one side in club colours and the other sporting plain shirts. Chairman Sam Bolton and director Percy Woodward watched from the sidelines and were persuaded by Buckley to invest in a new strip.

United switched to old gold shirts finished with blue sleeves and collars, white shorts and black, blue and gold hooped stockings. Black shorts replaced the white ones in August 1950 on the grounds of improved visibility. At the start of 1955/56 came another change, to royal blue shirts with gold collars, white shorts and blue and gold hooped stockings, a kit that echoed that worn originally by Leeds City. The change was lucky and Leeds won promotion at the end of the season. They were still wearing the same kit when they were relegated four years later under the management of Jack Taylor.

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Dave Moor: 'Continental influences were seen in new lightweight strips that began to appear in 1955, featuring bold V-necks, short sleeves and more streamlined shorts. There were several innovations in design, perhaps most notably the "candy stripes" first worn as change strips by Manchester City and Aston Villa in successive FA Cup finals (1956 and 1957 respectively). This design enjoyed a vogue that lasted until the mid Sixties. By the end of the Fifties the heavy playing kits and boots of previous eras had disappeared.

'Beginning around 1960, crew necks started to replace V-necks. Shirts became ever tighter, shorts became very short indeed and stockings were lightweight.

'It might be supposed that technical advances in textile manufacture and dye technology would have resulted in greater innovation in kit design. The reverse was true: because of the increased use of floodlights, which allowed midweek games to be played at night, many clubs adopted simplified designs that would stand out more clearly under the lights (which were far less effective than their modern counterparts). Liverpool were the first club to adopt red shorts to match their shirts, while Chelsea quickly followed suit with an all-blue ensemble.'

Don Revie took over as Leeds United player manager in the spring of 1961 and went for a drastic colour change for the start of the 1961/62 season, introducing a plain all-white throughout. United teams remained in the pristine strips until 1976, though many argued that the saintly purity of the kit was in stark contrast to the roughhouse onfield antics the manager employed. The only changes over Revie's time came with subtle modifications to badge, logo and collars.

Bagchi and Rogerson: 'Though [Revie's} decision effectively jettisoned forty years of United's history, astonishingly little was made of it at the time. The replacement colours were to be all white, in quite deliberate imitation of the famous all white of the finest team in the world, Real Madrid. To re-profile a club so efficiently on such a whim demonstrated the man's flair and vision, drawing a line under the failures of the past. That nobody remonstrated with him for it is an early sign of the Board's growing willingness to indulge him and of the interminable apathy of the majority of Leeds fans. Such a flagrant psychological gimmick was risky. If he pulled it off, it would be interpreted as a masterstroke. If "New Leeds" continued to founder, however, it could look like hubris and finish his career. To invite comparisons with Gento, Di Stefano and Puskas when all he had was McConnell, Peyton and Cameron ... one has to admire Revie's nerve.'

The white had been tried temporarily some time before, as recorded by Andrew Mourant: 'Early in 1960/61, spectators were given a glimpse of the future - for the home game against Middlesbrough on 17 September 1960, the team appeared in what was basically an all white strip, though with blue and gold trimmings, instead of the blue shirts, white shorts and blue and gold socks.

'[Revie's] famous decision … showed the touch of a man with a dream, an ideal that his debt-ridden, down-at-heel club might one day emulate the feats of one of Europe's richest and most brilliantly successful teams. The move invited astonishment among some, ridicule from others. While Revie himself felt the club had not a cat in hell's chance of reaching such heights, he was determined to try anything to get players believing in themselves. And along with the new kit, Revie decreed that on away trips, players should no longer slum it in third-rate hotels but stay in the best establishments money could buy.'

Jack Charlton claimed that there was pragmatism behind the change: "This was the gear Real Madrid played in and the initial reaction from the local press was that Revie was aping the Spaniards. Not so, explained Don. In his opinion, white is the easiest colour to identify on a pitch. When you have only a split second to make a pass before the tackle comes in, you're more likely to pick up the right man if he's wearing not red or blue or green but white." Charlton borrowed the trick when he took over as Middlesbrough manager by adding a broad white hoop to the Teessiders' all red shirts.

In 1964, Leeds United introduced a badge to the shirts: a perching owl on a white background circled by a dark blue border. The design was a surprise, given the superstitious Revie's morbid misgivings about the symbolism of birds. The owl came from the city crest, which itself was based on the crest of Sir John Saville, the first alderman of Leeds in 1931.

Andrew Mourant: 'His most famous superstition was his continued wearing of a "lucky" blue suit, notwithstanding its shabbiness in later years. But Revie's waking hours were riddled with other phobias and rituals; taking the same route to his dug out before a match, a fear of ornamental elephants, a readiness to believe that a gypsy curse on Elland Road was preventing his side winning, even a distaste for birds on pictures or as motifs.

'[Harry Reynolds' daughter] Margaret Veitch's husband Peter remembers a visit Revie made to their home in Pudsey shortly after they had done some decorating. "We wanted to put some pictures up in the bedroom. The only ones I could get which were small were birds. He wouldn't go in the bedroom. He said: "What are they doing there... you don't have birds in your house. You don't have birds anywhere." That's the reason the owl was eventually taken off the club badge. He wouldn't have birds."'

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Not too many other top teams wore white shirts in those days - Tottenham were the only regular example in the top flight until Derby County's promotion in 1969 - but competition in Europe meant that for United there was a growing necessity for an alternate strip when there was a clash of colours. For most of the decade, Leeds generally opted for blue shirts coupled with gold shorts and socks, but that made for a pretty unappetising combination. Phil Brown reporting for the Yorkshire Evening Post on the FA Cup clash with West Bromwich Albion in early 1967: 'Graham Williams, Albion's left-back, led them out in all red, with a little boy mascot. United had also changed - blue shirts, yellow shorts (ugh!)'

United gradually moved onto change kits of all blue or all red, but then settled on all yellow, as they famously wore in the 1972 FA Cup semi-inal against Birmingham City. By then, Revie's misgivings had led to the owl badge being ditched in favour of the scripted LUFC logo, as modelled for the first time in the 1971 Fairs Cup triumph over Juventus.

Pedantics everywhere (one or two at least!) protested vehemently that there was a missing 'A' in the logo, because Leeds United's full title incorporated 'Association Football Club'. I guess it just wouldn't have looked as nice.

The 1971/72 campaign saw the introduction of numbered blue stocking tags; they embodied the snazzy Super Leeds image that evolved in 1972 after handsome televised victories over Manchester United and Southampton and the club's sole FA Cup win. The same kit and gimmicky tags were rather less lucky for United the following season when they lost an FA Cup final, a Cup Winners' Cup final and finished third in the league.

In 1973, as Revie's parting shot, came the embodiment of Seventies imagery with the iconic LU Smiley badge. It was a classic PR stunt from Revie, mingled with tracksuits bearing the players' names and branded footballs for hurling into the crowd after pre-kick off callisthenics. The manager's predilection for gimmicks was years ahead of its time and all with the explicit intention of gaining acceptance from a public outside of West Yorkshire. 1973/74 brought a record unbeaten run, a spectacular championship triumph and some wonderful performances.

Revie was popularly credited for initiating the football industry's move to exploit the game's increasing commercial possibilities. He recognised that passionate football fans would be prepared to pay good money to wear replicas of the team strips worn by their heroes. The more distinctive the kit, the more obvious it was who was being supported. Revie arranged a deal with the new kids on the block, Admiral Sportswear, and for a while the United strip sported the distinctive Admiral logo, which enjoyed almost equal billing with the club badge.

Revie repeated the trick when he took over the England team in 1974, though his time as a Football Association employee saw him branded as a money grabbing, disloyal mercenary.

Dave Moor: 'The established manufacturers, Umbro and Bukta, quickly followed suit and logos began to appear all over the place. Admiral pursued a vigorous and innovative marketing campaign, targeting the top clubs, radically redesigning their kits, which would then be showcased at important Cup finals. Rapidly a market was created. Instead of having to buy three or four sets of kit each season, leading clubs found that manufacturers were queuing up to offer free kits and a share of the profits from the sale of replicas. The new kits had, of course, to be distinctive to be saleable. When Manchester United adopted an Admiral kit in 1975, the popular press raised an outcry. Devoted fans now had to shell out £15 for an authentic United shirt instead of the £5 that would have bought a generic red shirt with white trim: in the pre-Thatcher era the Daily Mail for one considered this to be gross exploitation.

'These commercial considerations drove a new wave of innovation in kit design. It became desirable for clubs to register copyright on their badges and to feature these on their shirts. Manufacturers competed to produce new designs that displayed their own logos to best effect. Admiral led the way and were quickly followed by Umbro and Bukta who all introduced kits that featured sleeve trim with their distinctive logos.

'Towards the end of the 1970's there was increasing pressure on clubs to feature sponsors' logos on players' shirts, pressure that was resolutely resisted by the football and broadcasting authorities. Derby County landed the first deal with Saab in 1978 but the sponsored shirts were never worn after the pre-season photo shoot. It fell to Liverpool a year later to wear the first shirts to carry a sponsor's name in 1979.

'Once Liverpool broke the mould, clubs began to exploit the potential revenue from selling shirt sponsorship. The BBC and ITV companies refused to broadcast matches featuring branded shirts, forcing clubs to remove sponsors' logos when the cameras were present. Coventry City thought they were on a winner when they introduced a kit that incorporated the logo of the Talbot car manufacturing company into the design but the TV companies blackballed them until they introduced an alternate strip for televised games.

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'In 1983 the TV companies finally gave way and allowed sponsored shirts to be broadcast: immediately the value of a sponsorship deal with a club that would feature regularly on Match of the Day or the equivalent ITV programme went through the roof. At the time, Football League regulations restricted the size of logos to a maximum of 81square centimetres (32 square inches) but for televised games they had to be half this size.

'The monopoly enjoyed by Umbro and Bukta since time immemorial was now broken as a new breed of kit manufacturers stepped in with sophisticated new brands. Le Coq Sportif (France), Hummel (Denmark), Adidas (Germany), Patrick and Hobotts (UK) captured significant sections of the market that now included selling replica kits to fans. Admiral, who had done so much to transform kits in the previous decade, overextended themselves and were bought up by Adidas, although the brand re-emerged later in the decade.

'In the 1982 FA Cup Final Tottenham Hotspur unveiled the first shadow stripe design and suddenly everyone was sporting shadow stripes, pinstripes or both as technology allowed for ever more intricate designs.

'Towards the end of the decade, shirts became more generously cut as new lightweight fabrics became available. Improvements in production allowed for intricate designs to be woven or printed into the fabric itself, permitting manufacturers to counteract the burgeoning market in cheap counterfeit kits that began to appear.'

Leeds United were as effective as anyone in exploiting commercial possibilities. The period from 1976 through to 1981 saw the addition of busy blue and gold trims on collars, sleeves and cuffs, and a couple of variants on the Smiley badge. In 1981, the club switched kit manufacturers back to Umbro and introduced a new badge, similar to the last version of the Smiley but with a stylised peacock, after the club's original nickname, replacing the LU. It remained in place until 1984, when a new club badge was introduced. That lasted right through until 1998, making it the longest lived of the modern era. The Rose and Ball badge was distinctive, in the traditional blue, gold and white and incorporating the white rose of Yorkshire together with the club name.

Relegation in the summer of 1982 brought financial hardship for Leeds United and a desperate scrabble for any funding that was available via sponsorship.

The club's first sponsors, lasting just twelve months, were RFW (RF Winders), a company from Pudsey. Over the next three years United ran through three different patrons: Systime, WGK and Lion Cabinets. They then agreed a five-year deal, beginning in 1986, with local clothiers, the Burton Group. Future United chairman Peter Ridsdale was managing director of Burton's Top Man chain at the time and was the moving power behind the association, joining the United board in 1987.

1989-91 - Burton insisted that their Top Man brand be used for the remaining two years of their association and 1989/90 saw the logo introduced on a redesigned strip with a round, button up blue collar, with blue and gold trimmings added to shirt and socks. The new image brought luck as the period saw the club capture the Second Division title and fourth place in the top division. The away kit sported a rather busy pattern of yellow and amber triangles, with broad blue and white panels down the side of the shorts.

1991/92 - The same kits were in place for United's league championship year, though there was a change of sponsor. The Burton deal ended, and the club announced a multi-million pound deal with Admiral Sportswear; it was said that the arrangement would last for five years, but would not commence until 1992. The club had to find an alternative and managed to agree a stop gap association with the Yorkshire Evening Post to cover the twelve-month period. The newspaper group certainly got its money's worth with the return of the championship to Elland Road after 18 years.

1992/93 - The new Admiral kit was only marginally different from the previous design, though it did incorporate a new V-neck look, but the change strip underwent a more radical transformation. The initial choice was a predominantly blue affair with an unsightly yellow-flecked pattern on the shoulder. It was the first time that the club had moved away from yellow for an age, but a yellow variant with blue flecking was soon introduced because of potential colour clashes. It was the Admiral gear that bedecked the team as the club resumed its place in European competition and captured the Charity Shield.

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1993-95 - Within twelve months of the commencement of the Admiral deal, there was a falling out and the two organisations parted company after a legal dispute. United established a new arrangement with the global Asics firm for the supply of its kit, while the Thistle Hotels chain became sponsors for three years. A completely new look was introduced with a blue and gold hoop across the chest and blue collar and cuffs. The change shirts were of blue and gold stripes, coupled with blue shorts and yellow socks; for a number of games the blue shorts and yellow socks were combined with the home shirts. The blue and gold stripes resulted in a number of colour clashes and, in early 1994, dark blue and green striped shirts were introduced.

1993 also saw the onset of squad numbering and players' names on shirts. The system was used for the first time in the League Cup final, on April 18 when Arsenal met Sheffield Wednesday. Less than a month later, squad numbers were used by the same two teams as they reconvened at Wembley to contest the 1993 FA Cup Final, and then again five days later for the replay. Squad numbers were introduced as standard for the 1993/94 Premiership season.

1995/96 - A distinctive all white kit was launched, featuring the return of the LUFC scripted logo, though still incorporating the Thistle Hotels brand. It represented a stylish recreation of the Seventies look and was the kit that Tony Yeboah wore during his marvellous early season run of goal getting - remember the beauties against Liverpool and Wimbledon? Unhappily the season petered out after a promising start - United made it to the League Cup final, although they couldn't compete with Aston Villa and were hammered 3-0. The green and blue stripes were dumped unceremoniously after an FA Cup tie at Bolton in 1996 with the players complaining that the colours were too dark and made it difficult to pick each other out. As a holding position, Asics introduced an all yellow alternative.

1996-98 - The summer of 1996 brought European Championship football to Elland Road and new backers in Puma and Packard Bell - London-based media group Caspian bought the club and introduced George Graham as manager. Together with the Packard Bell logo, the new kit incorporated a broad yellow trim. The change kit saw the white and yellow interchanged, while for 1997/98 the old gold and blue halved shirts of the Thirties and Forties were revived to spectacular effect.

1998-00 - In keeping with the global branding of the club, 1998 brought an end to the 14-year Rose and Ball period with the introduction of the shield badge, bringing a modern, almost European, feel. It was a radical change to what had gone before and it took a while to gain acceptance. After a year, there was a minor change, with a ball being added at the centre of the white rose. The home kit was virtually unchanged apart from the addition of a collar and the heavy usage of the Puma brand down the sleeves. 1999 brought a new change kit with the powder blue Lazio style shirt with dark blue trim and shorts. It was a stylish and popular design. A yellow version was introduced part the way through the season as a sop to traditionalists.

2000-02 - As United prepared for their UEFA Champions League debut in 2000, they joined forces with Nike and Bulmers. An almost completely white kit was introduced. The shirts restored the V-neck look and bore the Strongbow logo. Peter Ridsdale's European shield was seen throughout the continent as United made their way to the last four of the Champions League. The change kit for both seasons was a simple all yellow affair. A garish blue outfit with bold yellow trimmings was introduced in 2001 as a third option.

2002/03 - David O'Leary and Rio Ferdinand left Elland Road in the summer and Terry Venables was recruited to preside over a money-strapped decline. The only change in the home kit saw the introduction of a gimmicky white collar overlaying a blue V-neck. The brash blue change strip was retained for a second year, and United wore it when they won at Arsenal in their penultimate game to avoid relegation. An even more bizarre yellow and amber look was introduced as the third strip.

2003/04 - The whisky manufacturers Whyte and Mackay began a three-year association with United but had little to cheer about as Leeds slumped to disastrous relegation in 2004. The logo was the only change to the home kit, but a stylish dark blue outfit with yellow and white pinstripes was launched for some away games. It was one of the unluckiest kits ever used by the club - they gained a single point from the five games played in it, conceding 14 goals in the process. An all yellow kit was regularly used, and was best remembered in a ripped and torn state, as modelled by the ill-fated Roque Junior when he encountered Everton's Duncan Ferguson.

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2004/05 - A new kit was introduced with blue and yellow flashes on sleeves, shorts and socks and sponsor's name added to the back of the shorts. An away strip of powder blue shirts and dark blue shorts, harking back to the European campaign of 1999/00, was introduced.

2005/06 - Yellow and blue pinstripes brought echoes of the Eighties when added to the white shirts. The change kit consisted of dark blue shirts, with sky blue trimmings and shorts.

2006/07 - In July 2006, Leeds United announced a major new deal with Bet24 on its website: 'Leading internet betting site Bet24 will be featured on the front of the club's shirts next season, but the agreement goes far beyond a normal shirt sponsorship deal. Bet24 is 90% owned by Modern Times Group and the agreement reached between United Chairman Ken Bates, Holger Kristiansen, the CEO of Bet24, and Jorgen Madsen, CEO of MTG Denmark, will go a long way towards regaining United's international standing, with all the commercial and merchandising opportunities that entails.

'MTG is an international media group with operations in more than 30 countries around the world and is the principal broadcasting business in these regions. It is the largest free-to-air and pay-TV operator in the Nordic and Baltic regions and the largest commercial radio operator in northern Europe. MTG's Viasat TV channels reach 60 million people in 19 countries every day and MTG radio stations reach three million daily listeners. The company already has major connections with football and Viasat recently expanded their exclusive rights to show Champions League matches to the Baltic regions, Finland and Hungary to 2008/09.'

The home kit for 2006/07 saw the pinstripes disappear but heavy use of blue trim, alongside the Bet24 logo. The change strip saw the restoration of all yellow with blue collar and cuffs.

The protracted struggle to exit administration in 2007 after relegation led to a delay in arrangements for a new sponsor. During the pre-season win at Darlington, United took to the field in shirts with tape covering the name of the lapsed sponsor. Eventually Red Kite Holdings, a property company was revealed as the new sponsors, with the red in their logo infuriating United fans.

For 2007/08, the new Italian supplier, Macron, with whom Leeds signed a four-year contract, delivered traditional home and third kits but the new away outfit, in sky-blue and deep navy, was a complete novelty. Although the kits were formally announced on 10 July, the launch was spoiled by a dispute with their shirt sponsor, which delayed delivery. In August a sponsorship deal was finalised with Netflights.com.

Netflights.com were a local online travel agent, who included Terry Fisher and former United captain Trevor Cherry in their management. The men came close to a buy out of United at the time the Gerald Krasner-led consortium rescued the club in 2004.

According to the club's official website: 'Netflights.com stepped in as a White Knight to rescue Leeds United after contractual difficulties with the proposed shirt sponsor proved unresolvable. Netflights.com and Leeds United have successfully signed a three-year commercial agreement. The deal sees netflights.com becoming the official shirt sponsor of Leeds United. The two organisations are working together to drive a variety of co-marketing opportunities during the season with netflights.com appearing throughout the club's Elland Road stadium, advertising on backdrops during interviews and advertising in the matchday programme.'

'The agreement was signed by netflights.com's managing director Terry Fisher and Ken Bates, chairman of United. Commenting on this agreement Fisher said, "We are delighted to have concluded this commercial agreement with Leeds United. Travel companies have a great link with football clubs, as football is truly a worldwide phenomenon and netflights.com is excited to be working with Leeds United. For me the deal is even sweeter as I have followed Leeds since I was a small boy and this is a relationship that will bring mutual benefit to all parties."

'Fisher joined netflights.com just two years ago and has brought in a whole new management team and driven a return to profit for the business. Terry as well as being a keen Leeds supporter is also a knowledgeable football fan boasting the accolade of being the youngest ever football chairman, championing Huddersfield Town at the tender age of 29.

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'Terry isn't the only link to football within the netflights portfolio. Part of the travel group, Sellers Travel in Huddersfield is run by Trevor Cherry, ex United skipper who also captained England. Trevor is overjoyed at being involved with the club again. He is working closely with netflights.com and Leeds on this collaboration and will be a regualr visitor to Elland Road throughout the season.'

For 2009/10, the netflights.com connection remained in place, and the new kit was used for the first time in the final League game of 2008/09, at home to Northampton on May 2. The new home kit was an attractive reinterpretation of their familiar all-white strip with a royal blue flash down the left hand side, trimmed with gold. Tradition was also maintained with the all-yellow away kit, which had royal blue side panels to the shirt and shorts, 'an attractive interpretation of the orthodox second choice.

The decade between 2010 and 2018 was a turbulent one for Leeds United both on and off the pitch, and the club's kits reflected that uncertainty.

After three seasons in League One, promotion back to the Championship in May 2010 felt like the beginning of a new era. Fittingly, Leeds chose to unveil their new home kit during the final game of the promotion-winning campaign against Bristol Rovers at Elland Road. The design represented a return to the classic all-white look that had become synonymous with the club's greatest achievements under Don Revie.

It could hardly have made a more memorable debut. Jermaine Beckford scored the winner in a dramatic 2-1 victory that secured automatic promotion, ensuring the shirt would forever be associated with one of the happiest days Leeds supporters had experienced for many years.

Throughout the early years back in the Championship, Leeds maintained a relatively traditional approach to kit design. Macron supplied the club's kits and generally favoured clean white home shirts accented with royal blue and yellow detailing. Enterprise Insurance became the principal sponsor in 2011, beginning what would become the longest-running front-of-shirt sponsorship agreement in the club's history.

Some designs proved more popular than others.

The 2011/12 home shirt paid tribute to the championship-winning side of 1991/92, incorporating blue and yellow trim inspired by the final title-winning campaign before the formation of the Premier League. The accompanying black away kit, complete with fluorescent yellow detailing, divided opinion sharply. Some supporters admired its boldness; others regarded it as one of the least attractive change strips ever worn by the club.

As Leeds settled into life as an established Championship side, kit launches increasingly became marketing events in their own right. Promotional videos, social media campaigns and elaborate unveiling strategies became commonplace, reflecting wider changes across the football industry.

The 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons continued the trend towards more bespoke designs. Macron introduced Korean-style collars, retro striping and embroidered references to the club's founding year of 1919. The 2013/14 home shirt, featuring subtle blue and yellow vertical striping within the traditional white design, generated particularly mixed reactions among supporters. As so often happens with Leeds kits, opinion was sharply divided between those who welcomed innovation and those who preferred simplicity.

Away kits became increasingly adventurous.

A steel-blue design introduced in 2012 proved popular, while the striking gold away strip unveiled the following year represented one of the club's more distinctive efforts.

Marketed through a social media treasure hunt campaign, the shirt demonstrated the growing importance of supporter engagement and digital promotion in modern football.

Beneath the surface, however, Leeds United remained a club searching for stability.

Ownership uncertainty, boardroom upheaval and repeated managerial changes characterised much of the period. While supporters continued to fill Elland Road in remarkable numbers, promotion remained frustratingly out of reach. In many ways, the kits became one of the few constants supporters could rally around from season to season.

The arrival of Massimo Cellino in 2014 brought another shift in direction.

For the 2014/15 campaign Leeds returned to a classic all-white strip with bespoke white manufacturer logos that emphasised the purity of the design. The shirt was generally well received and marked a move back towards the minimalist aesthetic many supporters preferred.

A year later Cellino made one of the most controversial commercial decisions of his ownership by terminating Leeds United's agreement with Macron and switching to Kappa. The move resulted in a costly legal dispute but ultimately ushered in a new era of kit design.

The first Kappa home shirt, released for the 2015/16 season, immediately became one of the most popular Leeds kits of the modern era.

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Stripped of sponsorship branding following the departure of Enterprise Insurance, the shirt presented a beautifully simple image: all white with subtle royal blue detailing and the iconic Kappa logos. Free from commercial clutter, it evoked memories of an earlier footballing age and quickly became a favourite among supporters.

The accompanying yellow away kit was equally admired. Together, the two shirts demonstrated the enduring appeal of Leeds United's traditional colours when presented without unnecessary embellishment.

In many respects, they represented a rare moment of unity during one of the most divisive periods in the club's recent history.

The following season saw the arrival of new sponsor 32Red, whose logo appeared prominently across the front of the shirts. Although many supporters regretted the loss of the sponsor-free aesthetic, the partnership reflected the growing commercial realities of modern football.

The 2016/17 and 2017/18 home kits remained rooted in Leeds United's traditional white identity, albeit with increasingly prominent gold detailing. Some supporters appreciated the premium appearance, while others felt the club risked drifting away from the clean simplicity that had always characterised its most iconic shirts.

Yet as the club approached its centenary year, discussions about kit design began to focus on something even more fundamental than colours and sponsors.

The question was no longer simply what Leeds United should wear.

It was what Leeds United should look like.

That debate would explode spectacularly in January 2018 when the club unveiled one of the most controversial badge designs in English football history.

The club found itself at the centre of a storm after unveiling a proposed new club crest intended to accompany the centenary celebrations. The design featured the now infamous 'Leeds Salute' motif, an attempt to capture the passion and loyalty of the club's supporters. Club officials insisted extensive consultation had taken place, involving supporters, former players, staff and community representatives.

The reaction was immediate and overwhelmingly negative.

Supporters criticised the design as generic, corporate and disconnected from the club's heritage. Online petitions attracted tens of thousands of signatures and the backlash became a national story. Within weeks Leeds United performed a rare public retreat, abandoning the design and promising further consultation. In the end, the club opted for a far simpler solution: a gold-coloured version of the existing shield badge to commemorate the centenary year.

The episode served as a reminder of a lesson football clubs regularly relearn: supporters regard badges and kits not as marketing assets but as symbols of identity and belonging.

The centenary celebrations themselves were handled with considerably more success. In October 2019, Leeds marked 100 years of the club with a special one-off all-white strip worn against Birmingham City at Elland Road. Featuring a traditional lace-up collar and subtle White Rose detailing, the shirt deliberately evoked the earliest years of Leeds United's history. Even sponsors agreed to tone down their branding, allowing their logos to appear in white as part of the commemorative design.

The shirt perfectly captured the mood of a club reconnecting with its past while simultaneously moving towards a brighter future under Marcelo Bielsa. That future arrived sooner than many had dared hope.

Promotion to the Premier League in 2020 ended a sixteen-year exile and transformed Leeds United's commercial standing overnight. New partnerships reflected the club's return to football's elite. Adidas replaced Kappa as kit supplier in a deal that immediately restored Leeds to the same stable as clubs such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus, while SBOTOP became the club's principal sponsor in what was then the most lucrative commercial agreement in Leeds United's history.

The first adidas home shirt of the modern era struck exactly the right note. Clean, simple and unmistakably Leeds, it combined the traditional white shirt with royal blue detailing and immediately became one of the most popular kits of the post-Revie era.

The accompanying away and third kits demonstrated adidas' willingness to draw from the club's rich archive. The away strip revived the famous blue and green colours associated with the mid-1990s, while the maroon third kit offered a more contemporary interpretation of Leeds United's visual history. Supporters responded enthusiastically and sales soared, underlining the enduring commercial power of the club despite its long absence from the top flight.

As Leeds established themselves back in the Premier League, adidas increasingly experimented with the formula.

The 2021/22 home shirt retained the traditional white base but introduced off-yellow detailing in place of blue. The response was mixed. While some appreciated the attempt to evolve the design, many supporters preferred the cleaner simplicity of the previous season's shirt. The navy away kit, by contrast, was widely admired for its understated elegance, while an initially unpopular lilac third kit gradually found acceptance among supporters over the course of the campaign.

If the 2021/22 collection divided opinion, the following year's offerings proved even more controversial.

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The 2022/23 season produced one of the most polarising ranges in recent Leeds history. The home shirt remained relatively conservative, but the away and third kits ventured into far more experimental territory. A tie-dye yellow and blue away shirt became infamous among supporters, while a dark pinstriped third strip featuring bright orange trim was met with widespread disbelief. Neither design was helped by the fact they became associated with a deeply disappointing campaign which ended in relegation from the Premier League.

As is often the case in football, results and memories shape perceptions of kits just as much as design itself. Shirts once criticised can become beloved through association with success, while others remain permanently linked to disappointment.

The club's return to the Championship in 2023 marked the beginning of another shift in direction.

New principal sponsor BOXT replaced SBOTOP and adidas delivered one of the strongest home kits in years. Featuring subtle peacock-inspired detailing woven into the fabric, the shirt celebrated one of Leeds United's oldest nicknames and provided a thoughtful nod to the club's history. The design was widely praised by supporters, many appreciating the balance between tradition and innovation.

Behind the scenes, the club had begun embracing a more story-led approach to kit design.

Leeds-born designer Ed Cowburn and his creative collective Acid FC played a central role in shaping the 2023/24 collection. Cowburn understood the challenge better than most. Football shirts are not simply garments; they are repositories of memories, identity and emotion. Every supporter carries their own idea of what a Leeds United kit should look like, making the process of creating something both fresh and authentic remarkably difficult.

The peacock theme provided the foundation for all three kits. The home shirt proved particularly successful, featuring feather-inspired patterns and a subtle peacock motif on the back of the neck. It struck a chord with supporters and demonstrated that modern football shirts could tell meaningful stories without sacrificing the club's traditional visual identity.

The away shirt continued the theme with a deep blue palette and feather detailing, while the infamous 'rhubarb and custard' third kit generated far more debate. As had happened many times before, initial scepticism gradually softened as supporters became accustomed to seeing it both on the pitch and in the stands.

Yet all of those discussions about colours, badges and design choices would soon be eclipsed.

The summer of 2024 brought a change that sparked one of the biggest debates in Leeds United's kit history: the arrival of Red Bull as the club's principal sponsor. It triggered one of the most heated kit debates in the club's history.

While Leeds supporters had spent decades arguing over badges, shades of blue and yellow, and the occasional flirtation with unfamiliar colours, this controversy centred on something altogether different. The new home shirt remained predominantly white, as tradition demanded, but the prominent red of the Red Bull logo immediately divided opinion. For many supporters, red remains a colour intrinsically linked with Lancashire and, more significantly, Manchester United. To some, its appearance on the front of a Leeds shirt represented an unwelcome intrusion into the club's visual identity.

Social media erupted. Many supporters accepted the realities of modern football and commercial sponsorship, but others argued that Leeds should always remain visibly distinct from colours associated with historic rivals. The debate rumbled on for weeks and became one of the most talked-about kit launches in recent memory. If the home shirt generated controversy, however, the away kit produced quite the opposite reaction.

In July 2024, Leeds United unveiled a yellow away strip inspired by the shirt worn during the club's championship-winning 1973/74 campaign under Don Revie. It featured a bold yellow base, blue and white adidas stripes and, most significantly, the return of the famous Smiley badge.

The reaction was immediate and overwhelmingly positive.

For years supporters had called for the club to embrace more of its visual heritage. The Smiley badge, originally introduced during the Revie era, had become one of the most beloved symbols in Leeds United history. Generations of supporters who had never seen Leeds play in the 1970s had nevertheless adopted the emblem as part of the club's identity. Its appearance on murals, clothing and unofficial merchandise had ensured its popularity never faded.

The return of both the badge and the traditional yellow colour felt like a conscious acknowledgement of the club's past.

The kit became an instant commercial success. More than 15,000 shirts were sold on the first day alone, setting a new club sales record. It was a remarkable achievement given the football industry's long-held belief that yellow shirts were difficult to sell in large numbers. Leeds supporters appeared determined to prove otherwise.

The launch was accompanied by a promotional campaign featuring club legend Eddie Gray and members of the first-team squad, further reinforcing the connection between the modern club and one of the greatest periods in its history.

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The third kit, released later that summer, took a very different approach. Featuring a dark navy base with vivid waves of mint green, purple and electric blue, the design drew inspiration from the topography of Yorkshire. While opinions were mixed, it demonstrated adidas' willingness to experiment while maintaining links to the county and region that define the club.

The following year brought another opportunity for adidas and Leeds United to blend heritage with modern design.

The 2025/26 home shirt looked inward, drawing inspiration from one of Elland Road's most recognisable landmarks: the Lowfields Tunnel. For generations of supporters, the tiled passageway has served as the symbolic gateway to the stadium. The mosaic-inspired detailing incorporated into the collar and cuffs was intended as a tribute to that shared matchday experience.

While many supporters appreciated the sentiment, others felt the design was too conservative and insufficiently different from previous home shirts. The response was respectful rather than enthusiastic.

Any disappointment was quickly forgotten when the away kit appeared.

Released in July 2025, the blue-and-yellow shirt paid homage to one of the most iconic kits of the Premier League era: the Strongbow-sponsored away strip worn between 2001 and 2003. That shirt had become synonymous with David O'Leary's young side, European football and some of the most memorable nights in Leeds United's modern history.

The new interpretation successfully captured the spirit of the original while introducing contemporary elements. A deep navy base was combined with bright yellow detailing, tonal horizontal patterns and two-tone adidas stripes. The launch campaign featured Leeds legends including Nigel Martyn, Ian Harte, Mark Viduka and Jermaine Beckford, reinforcing the nostalgic theme.

Supporters immediately embraced the design. Many described it as one of the finest Leeds shirts produced in years and another example of the club recognising the emotional connection supporters have with their visual history.

The third kit for 2025/26 drew inspiration from another enduring Elland Road tradition. The predominantly black design featured abstract blue, yellow and white patterns intended to represent the sea of scarves twirling around the stadium before kick-off as supporters sang 'We Are The Champions, Champions Of Europe'. It was a creative attempt to capture not just the appearance of Elland Road but its atmosphere and culture.

By the summer of 2026, Leeds United had survived their Premier League return and adidas had firmly established a pattern of celebrating the club's heritage through thoughtful design.

The new away kit arguably represented the strongest example yet.

For the first time, Leeds United and adidas combined two of the most recognisable symbols associated with football nostalgia and Yorkshire identity. The shirt featured the iconic adidas Originals Trefoil logo and the return of the White Rose crest, which had not appeared on a Leeds United jersey since the 1998/99 season.

The design itself was reassuringly familiar. A vibrant yellow base, synonymous with Leeds away kits for generations, was complemented by navy and white detailing. The result was both modern and timeless.

The significance of the White Rose should not be underestimated. While Leeds United have used a variety of crests and symbols throughout their history, few carry greater emotional resonance. The White Rose has represented Yorkshire for centuries and has regularly appeared in club iconography since the 1960s. Its return reinforced the idea that Leeds United is more than simply a football club; it is one of Yorkshire's most recognisable institutions.

The launch campaign reflected that theme perfectly.

Filmed against the dramatic backdrop of the Yorkshire Dales and narrated by Lucas Radebe, the accompanying video celebrated the extraordinary loyalty of Leeds supporters and their connection to both club and county. Rather than focusing solely on players, the campaign highlighted the lengths fans travel and the sacrifices they make to follow Leeds United, whether across Yorkshire, around the country or across the world.

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It was a fitting message. Leeds United's history has always been about more than trophies, managers and players. It has also been about identity, belonging and a unique relationship between a football club and its supporters.

In many respects, the 2026/27 away kit encapsulated all of those themes. The yellow recalled decades of memorable away shirts stretching back to the Revie era. The White Rose re-established a direct link with Yorkshire heritage. The Trefoil logo connected the modern game with football's golden age of kit design.

More than half a century after Don Revie transformed the club's image by introducing all-white shirts, Leeds United's kits continue to evolve. Yet the most successful designs have always shared a common thread: they understand where the club has come from.

The 2026/27 away shirt was another reminder that while football fashions may change, the symbols that matter most to Leeds United supporters endure.