Portsmouth Shirt History
Play up Pompey, Pompey play up! Portsmouth are one of only five clubs to have won all four of England's professional divisions at some point in their history. In this piece, we are going to delve into their kit manufacturer and shirt sponsor history.
Portsmouth Kit History A4 Checklist
Portsmouth Sponsor History
Portsmouth have had eleven shirt sponsors in their time, with the vast majority not really effecting the designs too much.
2018 – present – University of Portsmouth
Despite being fairly lengthy for a shirt sponsor, the University of Portsmouth actually looks quite good on the Pompey jerseys. The blue and purple on their logo blends in nicely.
It is also a partnership with great initiative behind it, combining sport and education to inspire the South Coast city. All University of Portsmouth staff and students get discounted tickets to Pompey fixtures and as per the University’s website, ‘the partnership will also deliver joined-up research, work opportunities for University students and outreach activity to inspire children at local schools and colleges’.
2009 – 2018 – Jobsite
Jobsite is an online hiring platform based in Havant, a town nearby Portsmouth, and they remarkably held their place on the strip for nine seasons.
For the first five, I think it looked relatively decent, but for the final four they opted to add .co.uk under the word Jobsite and, for me, it just didn’t look right, albeit a miniscule add on.
However, given that Jobsite stuck by the club from the heights of the Premier League to the lows of League Two, I think that they warrant a bit of leeway on the appearance.
2005 – 2009 – Oki
Oki is a giant Japanese printing solutions company and they would have been delighted with the exposure it received when Pompey lifted the FA Cup trophy.
In terms of appearance, I think that it was pretty much spot on. The brand was flexible in terms of text colour and it wasn’t too large hampering the design.
2002 – 2005 - TY
TY was founded in 1986 by Ty Warner and their website states that they are the ‘largest manufacturer of stuffed plush toys in the world’.
However, their red heart shaped logo doesn’t perhaps look best placed on a football shirt, and if I am being honest, I am not that fond of it. Although, the red applications to the Portsmouth jerseys kind of brought it together a little.
2000 – 2002 – Bishops Printers
Bishops Printers was a family run commercial printing company based in Portsmouth, but it now employs over 180 staff members. The business was also the clubs official print partner as recently as 2020, however I cannot find any verification as to whether this is still ongoing. Interestingly, they now produce Arsenal’s match day programmes.
It is was a fairly basic feature on the Pompey strip, but as the old saying goes ‘less is more’ and that is certainly the case here.
1999 – 2000 – The Pompey Centre
The Pompey Centre is a retail park just across the road from Fratton Park, housing retailers such as B&Q, Safestore and Screwfix, as well as fast food chains such as McDonalds and KFC. It also plays landlord to medical centres and an Ibis Hotel.
It was only a one season partnership, but the sponsor design was actually very smart and well thought out instead of huge letters sprawled across the jersey. I would have liked to have seen more of it.
1997 – 1999 – KJC Mobile Phones
KJC Mobile Phones was sold to PNC Telecom in 2000, shortly after this partnership ended. In terms of appearance, this was definitely a successful deal and it very much reminds me of the Oki design.
1995 – 1999 – The News
The News is a local newspaper based in Portsmouth which covers a wide area of South Hampshire.
The feature didn’t necessarily look bad; however, I do believe that if they had put ‘the’ above the word ‘news’ as opposed to next to it, then it could have looked a tad smarter and there would have perhaps been more to it.
1989 – 1995 – Goodmans
Goodmans was a brilliant shirt sponsor to have as it was simply the word written across the shirt. They were willing to change the colouring of the text, although white on the yellow 1992 – 1994 and the 1994/95 silver patterned goalkeeping shirts was definitely questionable.
More about the company: Goodmans is a British consumer electronics company founded in 1923 with a production line in Havant.
1987 – 1989 – Fiat
Fiat is a well-known Italian Automobile manufacturer and they had the honours of taking on Portsmouth’s first ever shirt sponsorship deal.
It would have been a rude awakening though, as it was probably the most ‘eye sore’ feature of them all. Fiat opted to slap on a huge ‘South Coast Fiat’ sticker, which had a white background, presumably promoting their south coast branch.
Portsmouth Shirt Manufacturer History
2018 – present – Nike
Nike and Portsmouth have been partnered since 2018 and research would suggest that Pompey fans aren't that happy with what has been produced so far. So much so, their Chief Executive Andy Cullen even addressed the issue publicly in June 2023.
As per Portsmouth News, the Fratton Park faithful are unimpressed with the amount lazy 'templated' shirts that has been churned out, limiting what can be done in terms of design and personalisation. Another complaint is that Nike keep bringing out home shirts that aren't quite the traditional, recognisable Pompey royal blue. Cullen has promised supporters that the club will 'explore' how they can have greater input into their shirts for future seasons.
For the 2023/24 campaign, the popular sports brand teamed up with Portsmouth to produce shirt to recognise its 125th anniversary and even this is a template design. The only sense of personalisation is that the colour is the same salmon pink wore back in 1898 and ‘125 years’ is placed under the club crest, albeit some would describe this as ‘pushing the boat out’ for this particular partnership.
In 2021/22, there was an attempt to pay homage to the 1993/94 and 2011/12 seasons by releasing a split red and black design. However, it is noticeable that the split isn’t quite centred straight down the middle.
To close this section, if I had to select my favourite Pompey home strip during this period then it would be the one worn 2020/21. It was a white collared polo strip on a blue base, with triangle checks patterned into the background.
2013 – 2018 – Sondico
As stated on their website, Sondico is perhaps best known for their footballs, goalkeeper gloves and shin pads as opposed to kit manufacturing deals, but they have had a dabble within this section of the industry.
Their partnership with Portsmouth didn’t receive the same complaints as Nike and there are quite a few personable features to the strips produced. The first came in 2013/14, where Sondico too paid tribute to the 1890’s, when the club was formerly known as ‘The Shrimps’. To do this, a distinctive maroon jersey with a band of pink going around the shirts outlines and across the sponsorship area was made up.
The next one that I am going to talk about is the 2014/15 home shirt and it is a truly heartfelt jersey. To mark the 100th year since the United Kingdom entered into the first world war, the shirt includes the names of every single ‘Pompey Pal’ who sadly died during conflict. Pompey Pal is ‘now a standalone organisation which aims to commemorate all those men and women from the Portsmouth region who served in any capacity during the Great War’, however it was originally ‘set up in partnership with Portsmouth Football Club to produce a lasting memorial to the Portsmouth Battalions’. The shirt also reps the 1914 club crest, the first ever one worn on a club shirt.
Finally, when you’re talking personal touches, you can’t get much more personal than Portsmouth’s 2017/18 home jersey – the Pompey logo didn’t feature only once, but it featured twice. As well as standing proudly in the typical ‘crest spot’, it was also watermarked into the background of the shirt around the stomach area.
2010 – 2013 – Kappa
Kappa is an Italian brand and you can really feel the Italia in each of their strips produced for Pompey.
On every single Portsmouth shirt during this partnership, Kappa doesn’t only have the name of the company written on the chest, but they also have their logo splattered largely onto the shirt somewhere. On six out of the nine outfield player jerseys you can find this on either side of the shoulder area, on the remaining three you can see it on both of its sides. If they insist on this and you had to find the best place for it, then my personal preference is probably on its shoulders.
As this piece referred to earlier, the 2011/12 third strip pays tribute to the 1993/94 campaign by being half red and half black, but with its gold Kappa logo’s, the 2011/12 home shirt is probably my pick of that particular year.
The 2010/11 away shirt is a famous sought-after Pompey shirt as it is the jersey that the players wore in the FA Cup final against Chelsea in 2010, albeit they lost 1-0. It has a white base with touches of burgundy and pink that refer to the football club’s original colours.
2007 – 2010 – Canterbury
Canterbury now focuses on rugby, but they did strike a deal with Portsmouth back in 2007 – and they certainly got their money’s worth, given it’s a period where the club was heavily in the press for footballing reasons.
Let’s start where it all began in 2007/08. Canterbury produced a blue home shirt, a white away strip and a black third jersey, adding gold details to them all, and each of these three kits has their place in Pompey folklore, as it is the campaign that Harry Redknapp led a team made up of Sol Campbell, David James, Glenn Johnson, Nwankwo Kanu, Niko Kranjčar and Sulley Muntari, to name a few, to FA Cup glory for the second time in the club’s history. They beat Cardiff City 1-0 at Wembley Stadium.
Following their historic FA Cup success, this meant that Pompey played in Europe for the first time in their history in 2008/09 and they had three strips paying tribute to their 110th year anniversary to go with it. A favourite is the home shirt, it was a blue and gold centre badge design giving the look of champions – deservedly so after the previous season.
However, it all came crashing down in 2009/10 as a financially troubled Portsmouth was relegated from the Premier League, finishing 20th, and they haven’t been back since. Focussing on the kits, the away shirt that year is a really smart one. The Canterbury crest featured central, just under the neckline of a white polo shirt with a blue collar. It also had two thin blue stripes running horizontally through the Pompey crest.
2005 – 2007 – Jako
Jako was founded in Germany and their most interesting collection came in 2006/07. The reason for this is probably because of where the Jako branding was placed. They produced three identical strips, with only the colour changing each time, and the Jako text featured more towards the left collar bone.
Each of the goalkeeping jerseys that campaign were centre badge designs and the Jacko logo also featured centrally just above the Portsmouth crest.
1999 – 2005 – In House
From 1999 until 2005, Portsmouth opted to manufacture their own jerseys under the brand name of ‘Pompey Sports’. Towards the end of this era, you could say that the shirts went a bit bland, but they actually started fairly strongly with lovely V-necked buttoned home kit and a striking yellow polo shirt, including Pompey blue features, as an away strip.
For on the pitch success, the most popular collection of the Pompey Sports tenure comes in 2002/03, as this was the season that they won promotion to the Premier League as Championship champions. To do this, the squad donned a fine polo home shirt with an interesting ribbed collar and thin lines running horizontally throughout the blue base. It also had touches of red and white throughout. Their away shirt was similar in terms of design, but the gold V-necked third shirt was completely different.
1997 – 1999 – Admiral
Admiral had a two-season partnership with Portsmouth and the club wore the same home and away shirt for both of those campaigns.
The home shirt was a centre badge design, and of course predominately blue, with white and red features to its collar and around the trims of the arms. The famous eight-point star and crescent moon from the Pompey crest was also elegantly printed into the base background.
The away shirt was mostly yellow and it had similar ideas with key points of the Portsmouth crest imprinted into the background, but what ruined it for me was the royal blue star and crescent moon printed largely on both of the arms. It also had ‘Pompey’ printed on the lower back. For me, it just made it slightly too tacky.
1993 – 1997 – Asics
Asics were the creators of the aforementioned 1993/94 away shirt which has since been replicated by Nike and Kappa, respectively. However, the biggest talking point, in my opinion, is how the two home shirts that Asics produced are at complete different ends of the spectrum in terms of ‘funkiness’.
To put it simply, if you like a plain football shirt, Asics produced one for you, if you like a ‘groovy’ football shirt, then Asics also produced one for you. The funkier version came first with a coolly diamond patterned polo shirt brought out as their 1993/94 and 1994/95 home strip.
A very toned down, almost plain in comparison, home jersey was introduced in 1995/96 but it had a couple of features that kept things interesting. It had a very high, white neckline, but just under that it had ‘PFC’ beautifully stitched in.
1991 – 1993 – Influence
In fairness to Asics, when you see what Influence produced as a home jersey to be worn in 1991/92 and 1992/93, then you will understand why they went ‘out there’ in the early years of the partnership. Although, Influence, in my opinion, absolutely smashed it.
A really cool zig zag pattern was placed vertically across the royal blue polo shirt, topped off with a white collar which had red detailing. Influence attempted the exact same design on a red background for an away jersey, but it didn’t quite give the same vibes.
1989 – 1991 – Scoreline
The same jerseys were worn over two seasons during Scoreline’s tenure. For these campaigns, Portsmouth had a finely checked home jersey with a buttoned-down polo necked collar.
Their away kit was very ‘Norwich City like’ with it being a crew neck design and canary yellow and green.
1987 – 1989 – Admiral
Admiral’s certainly left their stamp on the South Coast club during this era. Starting with the home shirt, it was the usual Pompey blue but it had red and white lines running horizontally throughout – something we haven’t seen in a Portsmouth shirt since. The V-neck neckline was white, with red and blue running through the middle of it.
The away had two different shades of red running alternatively diagonally across the shirt with thin white lines going over the top of them horizontally. It had a black neckline and arm trims.
1985 – 1987 – Umbro
Umbro and Portsmouth enjoyed a period of success together, albeit not to the heights of some of their competitors. The double diamond brand produced the strips which Pompey achieved promotion to the first division in as runners up back in 1886/87.
The home shirt was really nicely done for this agreement as it was very slightly, finely striped different shades of blue, and on each of the stripes it either had either ‘PFC’ or the Umbro logo subtly imprinted into it.
For most of their battles away, Portsmouth wore was a fairly bland white kit with a centre badge design, but Umbro did attempt to spruce things up by placing the famous double diamond on both of the arms instead of the front.
1983 – 1985 – Le Coq Sportif
Le Coq Sportif is a French brand which was founded in 1882. Their time with Portsmouth would be described as a relative success.
The 1984/85 away strip must get a mention for me, as it is definitely different to what we are used to seeing with the Pompey club. It was red with thin blue and white conjoined stripes going vertically across the base, but running horizontally on its arms.
A similar strip with a white base and red and blue stripes was worn in 1983/84 as an away shirt and in 1984/85 as a third kit. Except, the duo stripes were also slightly more spaced out and remained vertical around the arms.
1980 – 1983 – Gola
Gola is a British brand founded in Leicester. The whole collection in the first and second campaign followed the same concept of being a V-necked polo shirt, however in the third season they ditched the polo aspect but kept the V-neck design.
Research suggests that Gola produced the first Portsmouth shirt with any kind of stripe. In 1982/83, both the home and away strips had rather small white stripes running vertically. Conclusion
To draw this piece to a close, I think it is worth mentioning that I haven’t had to discuss or describe many, if any, absolute ‘shockers’ from Portsmouth’s kit history, even if there are some rumbles of discontent with Nikes ‘lazy’ designs.
For the most part, all of their jerseys have been clean and I particularly like the strips with touches of salmon pink to mark their original routes, as the famous quote reads ‘always remember where you came from’.