Leaked pictures of FC Barcelona kits for the upcoming season were leaked a few months ago and it has become the norm for the past couple of years to see the images of future kits get leaked on the internet. Pictures of the possible kits usually come out to mixed reviews and usually are somewhat close to what essentially ends up being the actual kit. The reaction from the fans usually seem to be negative at first but fans end up warming up to the kits later on. However, it seems that the overall product is still a letdown. I always wondered why not let the fans pick the design of future kits and why not bring back some previous kits that fans enjoyed watching their team don in the past.

 

 

Now nothing is official so these kits could be completely bogus but some of the reactions concerning the home kit designs consisted of Spiderman costume or a prepaid phone SIM card. The black away shirt resembled an old keeper’s shirt that Valdes wore a few seasons ago. So it got me thinking again, why not let the fans decide on the kits? They are the ones who are going to be buying them so it makes sense to let them have a say in the next design.

 

One proposal is having Nike submitting different designs and then have the club members and fans vote on the best choices for both home and away kits. The club can implement that the kits must have over 50% of the votes in favor of in order to avoid having kits with less than 50% approval. If the kits are the ones that the club members and fans like and approve of, then I am sure it will be a big seller. If none of the designs are good enough, then have Nike go back to the drawing board and draft up some more designs. Also, why not open it up for the members and fans and have them submit designs and if theirs is better than Nike’s, then let Nike create it.

 

Additionally, why not tap into the history of the club and bring back the older kits. I am not talking about paying tribute and making homage to previous kits like the 2008-2009 away kits were for the yellow away kits of mid 80’s when Venables was the manager and the 2006-2007 away orange kits for the Cruyff Dream Team era.  I am talking about actual designs, with newer and better fabric of course, from the past.

 

Call me crazy, but I wouldn’t mind seeing either the 2005-2006 or the 2008-2009 away kits brought back. They both were yellow or yellowish and both times, FC Barcelona won the Champions League. If Barcelona own the rights to their shirt designs, then why not let Nike reproduce the Dream Team Meyba home kits, or the 95-97 Kappa home kits. Of course the Nike swoosh would replace those companies’ logos. I personally love the centennial home shirt that Nike made and wouldn’t mind seeing the Barça players don those kits again.

 

Some might argue that we should not be unoriginal and recycle the kits again like Hollywood does with most of its movies nowadays. I think if it the team won with those kits before, then why not use them again. Now the only concern would be that if the team loses with those kits again, then it might tarnish the kits legacy a bit and that is true. So perhaps bringing those kits back might not be a good idea after all, but it sure would be nice to bring one back once in a while. The 2008-2009 home shirt was homage to the centennial shirts and looked how good that season turned out.

 

I still think the club should seek fans input for the 2012-2013 season and hope the current regime at Barcelona make it happen someday. What about you? What are your favorite kits from the past and which ones would you like to see the club bring back or would you prefer just new original kits with your input, or perhaps both ideas are good? If you are interested in buying one of those old kits, you can buy them from Classic Football Shirts website and Toffs.