Historical Football Kits

 

classic football shirts at historical kitsvintage football shirts

Accrington Stanley

Formed 1968

Promoted to League Two 2006

Kit History

1970-1972 b

1972-1973 b

1974-1975 b

1975-1977 b j

1977-1978 b e

Bukta

1978-1980 b

1980-1982 b

accrington stanley 1982-84

1982-1984 j

accrington stanley 1984-85

1984-1985 j k

Umbro

1985-1986 b

1986-1987 b

1987-1988 b

1988-1989 b l

1989-1990 b e

Ellgren
accrington stanley 1991-92

1990-1991 e l

accrington stanley 1990-91

1991-1992 e l

Gibsons Sports

1992-1993 b

Gibsons Sports
accrington stanley 1993-94

1993-1994 l

Premier Sports

1994-1995 b

En-s
accrington stanley 1995-96

1995-1996 h i

En-s

1996-1998 b

Crown Sports

1998-1999 b m

Caprice Apparel

1999-2000 b

accrington stanley 2000-01

2000-2001 j

Cavendish Sports

2001-2002 a l

Prostar

2002-2003 a g l

Nike

2003-2004 a f

Nike

2004-2005 a f

Nike

2005-2006 a f

Surridge

2006-2007 c f

Surridge

2007-2008 c d

Prostar
accrington stanley 2008-09

2008-Nov 2009 c

Joma
accrington stanley 2009-11 joma home kit

Nov 2009-2011 c

Introduced 24 Nov 2009
Samurai
accrington stanley fc 2011-12 home kit

2011-2012 c

Samurai
accrington stanley fc 2012-13 home kit

2012-2013 c

Samurai
accrington stanley 2013-14 home kit

Aug-Dec 2013 c

Mitre
accrington stanley 2013-14 new home kit

26 Dec 13 -2014 c

Mitre
accrington stanley 2014-15

2014-2015 c

Mitre
accrington stanley 2015-16 kit

2015-2016 c

Mitre
accrington stanley 2016-17 1st kit

2016-2017 c

Adidas
accrington stanley 2017-18

2017-2020 c

Adidas
accrington stanley 2020-21

2020-2022 c

Adidas
accrington stanley 2022-23

2022-2023 c

Macron
accrington stanley 2023-24

2023-2024 c

Macron
accrington stanley 2024-25

2024-2025 c

 

Background

accrington stanley 1970Five years after the original Accrington Stanley folded in 1963, a new limited company known Accrington Stanley (1968) Ltd was formed at a meeting held in the Bold Street Working Men’s Club. Although the new club bears the name of its predecessor, it is a separate entity from the “Old Stanley.” Their first manager, Jimmy Hinksman, had the formidable task of building the club up from nothing. Two years later, in 1970, Stanley were admitted to the Lancashire Combination and 620 supporters watched their first competitive match, a 2-0 victory against Formby.

The club spent eight seasons in the Combination during which they were champions twice and won the Combination Cup three times. Problems with the pitch at Stanley’s Crown Ground led to one match being played at Peel Park, home of the previous Stanley club in 1975. Hopes were raised that this arrangement might become permanent but these came to nothing.

accrington stanley crest 1986In 1982, Stanley became founder members of the North West Counties First Division after £40,000 was spent on improving their pitch. Three years later, the club was promoted to the Northern Premier League (NPL) First Division, a move that required the club to install floodlights. The first crest appeared in 1986, a somewhat nondescript design with the club's name embroidered above. This was replaced in 1989 by the crest of the Borough of Accrington (which is what the original Accrington Stanley used) but with the initials ASFC replacing the town motto. After 2001, the club's name was appeared above it.

accrington stanley crest 1989In 1991, Stanley were promoted to the NPL Premier Division following the resignation of South Liverpool.

In 1995, manager Eric Whalley took a controlling interest in the club and as chairman he set about a programme of improvements to the ground that continued over the next few seasons, eventually bringing the Crown Ground (now renamed the Interlink Express accrington stanley 1998Stadium) up to Football League standards.

A new crest featuring a rising phoenix was introduced in 1998 but was dropped after the team were relegated.

In 2003 Stanley won the Unibond Premier League (the new name for the NPL) by 16 clear points to take their place in the Nationwide Conference. After two creditable mid-table finishes, Stanley became the third club to have represented the town of Accrington in the Football League after they stormed to the Conference title in 2006 to earn promotion to Coca Cola League Two. By a cruel twist of fate, one of the clubs demoted that season was Oxford United who had replaced the original Accrington Stanley back in 1962.

The spectre of the original Stanley's fate arose during the 2009-10 season when the club faced the threat of a winding up order over £308,000 in unpaid taxes. The new owners launched the Save Our Stanley appeal in September 2009 to raise the outstanding sum in just eight weeks. The fundraising effort included launching aaccrington stanley crest 2010 new home strip, which was used for the first time on 24 November.

The following season a new crest was introduced, which placed the traditional crest within a roundel embroidered with the club's name. This appeared only on the black away kit in 2010-11, as the club retained the red and white home strip introduced the previous November (with the old version of the crest).

There appear to have been problems with Stanley's kit supplier during 2013-14 and in the middle of the season new strips, made by Mitre, were introduced.

Success arrived in 2017-18 when Stanley won the League Two title. They were relegated from League One in 2022-23 after finishing next to bottom.

Macron replaced Adidas as technical sponsor in 2023-24 and offered a novel shirt that featured a brick work pattern on the front. Anyone who has spent time in Lancashire will recognise the distinctive dark red, polished Accrington bricks that originated from the Nori Works and were used throughout the county in the late Victorian period. The 2024-25 shirt also celebrated an important part of the town's heritage with a graphic representing the Accrington Pals, a battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment formed of volunteers from the town and surrounding area in the early days of the First World War.

You are welcome to Contact Me with corrections and additions.

Sources

Crests are the property of Accrington Stanley FC. Photograph courtesy of Accrington Stanley FC.