Quote:United’s new home shirt for 2013/14 takes inspiration from the club’s success and Manchester’s industrial heritage.

The kit features the return of the black collar, a popular and evocative symbol ever since Eric Cantona wore it upturned in the 1990s. This season’s tailored, button-down collar boasts three buttons at the front and one at the back, a modern twist that’s also intrinsically Mancunian.

Clean and classic, the new kit features a single shade of red, although the gingham-inspired check design that characterised last season’s shirt (and was such a feature of Manchester’s cotton mills in the 18th Century) still makes an appearance – in tonal black and grey, underneath the collar and in two side vents on the shirt’s hem.

The new home shorts are white with a thin black stripe on the hem at the back, while the socks are the customary black and feature a white stripe between two red stripes – a design that replicates the popular United bar scarves – halfway up the leg. This makes it easier for players to pick out team-mates on the pitch.