Often heralded as the worst football shirt ever Coventry City’s chocolate brown away strip has become an iconic masterpiece of footballing fashion culture. So what’s the story behind Coventry City and the Chocolate Brown Kit?

The chocolate brown kit made by Admiral got its first airing in 1978 fast becoming known as one of the worst kits in football. But over time public opinion has softened and it’s now viewed as an iconic kit.

Early 1975 saw Coventry sign a deal with Admiral to produce their kits. At the time Admiral also produced England’s kits.

The Chocolate Brown Kit

Admiral’s designers had come up with an eye-catching ‘egg-timer’ design for the Sky Blues, with two blue and white stripes from the shoulders down through the strip. Wales’s kit followed the same design as Coventry’s but looked better on the eye in red than Coventry’s brown affair. The chocolate brown kit however would become an icon and remembered more fondly than the home blue kit of the same design.

It was a style that remained for 6 years, in a period when Club’s did not change shirts each year as they do now.

Coventry’s change shirt from 1975 to the end of the 1978 season was in the same style but in red. But before the 1978/79 season saw the famous Brown kit enter the scene.

The First Outing of The Chocolate Brown Kit

It was first worn away at Derby County in 1978. Steve Hunt and Ian Wallace scored in a 2-0 victory. In total in that first season, it was worn on 12 occasions, with City only losing 4 times in it. For some Coventry supporters, there was a case for wearing the kit for both home and away games.

The egg-timer design remained in place till 1981 when Coventry changed to a T-design on their kit. An iconic kit in itself but not as eye-catching as the chocolate brown version.

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