It was to be an unlucky 13th April for Manchester United back in 1996 as they lost 3-1 away to Southampton at The Dell.
It wasn’t the fact that they lost the match that made this game live long in the memory, it was more do do with the manner that they did so.
Manchester United came out onto the pitch in their new grey away shirt. This was the fifth (and last!) time that United had worn the shirt in that season. They had lost to Aston Villa, Arsenal and Liverpool and drawn at Nottingham Forest in it. Suffice to say, it was not a lucky shirt!
The visitors had to wear the shorts from their home strip as Southampton had dark shorts. The reason why I’m mentioning the kit is very important as to what happens next.
Southampton raced into a surprise three goal lead at half-time, with goals from Ken Monkou, Neil Shipperley and Matt Le Tissier. This was definitely a surprise as Southampton were in a relegation battle and United were battling with Newcastle for the title!
As the two teams emerged from the tunnel for the start of the second half, Manchester United were wearing a different shirt! They had ditched their grey shirt and were now wearing their third shirt, which was made up of blue and white vertical stripes.
in the second half!
Ryan Giggs bagged a consolation goal for United in the 89th minute but Southampton held on for a memorable victory. The only thing that everyone wanted to know at the final whistle was why United had changed their shirt halfway through the match!
When asked about the change in shirt, United boss Alex Ferguson claimed that his players blended in with the crowd in the background. This then made it near-impossible to pick out their team mates in their grey shirts!
Incidentally, I bought a Subbuteo collection online recently. There was a handful of various different players in made up of a few different teams in the collection. Among the collection was a perfect set of Manchester United players in the grey strip! I have put a couple of photos of the team at the bottom of the article.
United went on to win the Premier League and FA Cup Double at the end of the 1995/96 season. Southampton finished 17th, level on points with Manchester City who went down in 18th. Southampton stayed up as they had a better goal difference of seven goals.
As for the grey shirt, it was never worn again but has gone down in Premier League folklore for that first half at The Dell!
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