Yes, Ipswich Town's season has been over. But that doesn't mean we can't rank the League One away kits from the 2021/22 season.
Let's go.
24: Cheltenham Town – Errea
Did somebody at Cheltenham forget to order the away kit until it was too late? Was a plain blue t-shirt all that was left?
You have a blank canvass when creating an away kit, so to come up with something so lacking in character is a real shame. It’s a nice shade of blue, though.
In more positive news, I can confirm Cheltenham’s sponsors, Mira, make very good showers. We have one. I can turn it on from anywhere in the house using Bluetooth. Other shower manufacturers are available.
23: Accrington Stanley – adidas
Just like with their home kit, Accrington have helped fans out by using their 2020/21 away strip for a second season. That’s highly commendable.
I didn’t get time to rank the League One away shirts last season, sadly, but I’d have said the same about it then as I do now.
It looks like it’s a shirt from 2006, in the peak Diadora years which saw dots slapped all over sleeves. It’s not for me.
22: Burton Albion – TAG
This effort from Burton makes me quite cross.
It was all there for them. All you needed to do, Brewers, was invert your home shirt’s colours and produce a black shirt with a yellow crackly stripe. Then team it with yellow shorts with a black stripe. Perfect. You might even have cracked the top five.
But instead you bring us this, which looks like someone's taken a highlighter pen to a plain white shirt. What a disappointment.
21: MK Dons – Errea
The overwhelming feedback following my home kit rankings was the huge anger sparked by an ‘obvious bias against the colour red, you muppet’.
I don’t dislike this shirt because it’s red. I feel absolutely nothing for it because it’s dull.
MK’s black third shirt, complete with silver detailing, would have scored very highly here. Just saying.
20: Wigan Athletic – Puma
I have nothing further to add on red kits.
19: Bolton Wanderers – Macron
Hello Bolton Wanderers. Your home shirt wasn’t great but this one was ok.
It’s nice and sharp, with the navy blue a nice touch on the sleeves. It would have been better with navy shorts, rather than yellow.
Once again, though, the colours of the sponsor logo make it difficult to like.
18: Sunderland – Nike
I bet Sunderland sold a bucket load of these.
I can’t say Nike shirts enthuse me at the moment. They are very plain with little character and feel like logos are slapped on templates with little thought.
The colours are nice, though. I reckon colleague (and friend) Stuart Watson would like this one.
17: Gillingham – Macron
Is it me or do Gillingham always have red away kits? You’ve got to mix it up, guys.
This one’s ok. If you’re going to do red and black (which is a great combination) I’d rather the stripes were a bit smaller, rather than being huge blocks of colour. It looks like the players are wearing a red shirt with a black scarf draped over them.
But that’s just me.
16: Wycombe Wanderers – O'Neills
This gives off QPR vibes from the final day of the Premier League season in 2012, which brought the Premier League title and Agueeeerrrroooooo to Manchester City.
I think I quite like it, though it does remind me of the kind of cheap tops supermarkets produce to encourage support for England during World Cups.
15: AFC Wimbledon – Puma
There are two reasons why this shirt is so much higher than Sunderland’s.
1) There is a nice bit of pattern to the body of this shirt.
2) Football Manager
14: Rotherham United – Puma
Right, I am conflicted here.
Rotherham’s official away kit is this grey shirt, with which they are clearly channelling their inner Liverpool. I like it.
But they’ve barely worn it. Maybe they struggled to see each other? I can only find evidence of two outings despite nine games away at teams wearing red. They wore their black third strip in the other games.
I have to send it plummeting down the rankings for this reason alone.
13: Morecambe – Joma
As you will see later on this list, I like black football kits.
This, though, is just that bit too simple to make the top end of the rankings.
12: Plymouth Argyle – Puma
The home kit champs are down the rankings a bit on this one.
I like the strip, I like the colours and I like the products the sponsor makes a little too much. Particularly the ‘scotch egg bars’.
But I feel like I’ve seen this before from Plymouth on a number of occasions.
Now their third kit, which looks to be inspired by the Northern Lights (not convinced you see them often in Devon), is beautiful.
11: Doncaster Rovers – Elite Pro Sports
Rovers’ pyjama home kit came 23rd in my home rankings but I actually really like this one.
A nice blue, some good texture on the body and striking white sleeves.
How would Ipswich fans feel if this was offered up as a Town home shirt? It would have an Ipswich badge on it, obviously.
I’m not convinced it would be very popular.
10: Charlton Athletic – Hummel
Remember when you used to have to tune in your television and fuzzy white and black lines were moving around your screen? This Charlton shirt reminds me of that process, only without the horrible hissing noise.
I like this shirt, though I’m keen to know what it would look like if you successfully tuned it in.
The Addicks would have been challenging for a medal had they put forward their black and gold third kit, with stripped back badge, as their away offering.
9: Portsmouth – Nike
I’ve had my say on Nike when discussing Sunderland. But this is a pretty good effort from the American giants.
I love white kits generally and, with this one, I like the black, gold and burgundy used in the detailing.
8: Cambridge United – Hummel
Cambridge got a little excited with their home kit, with little blocks of colour all over the place, but have calmed things down a little here.
The result is nice. The players look like they could be a team of people working as mechanics in F1, but that does the business for me.
7: Ipswich Town – adidas
Full disclosure, when this kit was released I was a little underwhelmed. I thought it was too plain and was lacking some black in the shoulder area or around the collar.
I still agree with that last point but, once I saw it in person with the names, numbers and sleeve badges put on, I liked it more and more.
It’s actually a pretty classy kit.
Now, about that black third kit...
6: Oxford United – Puma
Here’s a lovely black kit. Oxford always produce decent stuff and this is no exception.
It looks like the pattern on the shirt is tyre-tread, which I respect.
Another good finish from the Kassam boys.
5: Shrewsbury Town – Umbro
Yes, it looks like the club badge, sponsor logo and Umbro emblem has been put onto a faded Dennis the Menace shirt, but the result is great.
Bold colours are a winner in my book. Could I make kit rankings into a book?
4: Fleetwood Town – Hummel
Bare with me. This kit feels like it’s based around the burning embers of a fire, coming out of an extremely dark cave. We don’t know what’s in there. Is it safe to enter? It’s all very intimidating. It could be a film, simply called 'Fleetwood'.
A fantastic kit which would have been even better had the crest been striped back to dark red. The League One patches don’t help matters.
3: Crewe Alexandra – FBT
Crewe were dead last in the home kit rankings but have had a stunning turnaround here. I have to tell you, they were so close to winning and may have taken top spot had there not been so many black kits across the league. Rotherham and Charlton’s third kits being black haven’t helped matters in that regard, let alone Ipswich’s.
This effort is class, with the gold detailing also including the lion from the club crest on the lower portion of the shirt.
2: Sheffield Wednesday - Macron
When I set out to do these, I felt sure Sheffield Wednesday would end up winning thanks to their pink offering.
I love the colour, the pattern, the colour again, the cuffs. All of it. They pulled me in very easily and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
But, ultimately, they come in second.
1: Lincoln City – Errea
I love this shirt. It's my surprise winner.
It’s like the Imps are caged behind some barbed wire and are bursting to get out. Such deep meaning. Shades of t.A.T.u's hit music video 'All The Things She Said' from 2002 - kind of.
The colours are great and really eye-catching, making it look like something out of the Tron remake.
A great effort and this year's winner.
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