Season 2014-2015:The Kits
The home kit was very well received when it was released on the 28th July. It was shown appeared, initially, to members of The Bench via email before being placed on the clubs official website. The new supplier was Carbrini who returned to a traditional look with full black and white stripes, white shorts and hooped socks. 1862 was embroidered on each sleeve and there was gold trim. The sponser was Pay Group (the logo also in black, white and gold) and with a white block on the back for the numbers. Each number had a Prostate cancer campaign symbol on each one. Skybet sleeve patches completed the players kit as well as being available for sale. The away kit was yellow and green to link with Nottinghamshire colours but this was not enough to endear it to fans. One of the main complaints was the sponsor 'Women Make Waves'. which put off the more conservative buyers.
So how do you tell the difference between a matchworn and a replica ?
With the home kit, the truth is...you don't! The home shirts did have a habit of accumulating ingrained dirt, more visible obviously on the white lines but apart from that rather minor point, the replicas had numbers, names and patches available. Obviously the ladies team kit had a dfferent sponsor - Pinnacle, on the front but there was a limited amount of replicas available. However, the sleeve badges for the WSL certainly weren't around weren't available for sale, at least not locally, so if you get one with these sleeve patches....you're morelikely to have a match worn. The women used the shirts for the second part of the 2014 season and first part of the 2015 season before being replaced after the FA Cup Final with the new home kit. There is no ladies away kit but the men's featured a sponsor - 3663 added underneath the name and number making it very distinctive and quite different to the replica. The same rule applied to the goalkeepers, however it is worth noting that the away blue and black kits (2nd and 3rd respectively) were not available for sale. A very limited number became available at the end of the season. These were players shirts which were not used and mainly in sizes large and extra large.
As usual, the club put some player shirts out for sale in the close season and owing to the revolving door policy with signings and loanees, there were certainly more shirts available this year than ever before! In the end the club had used 51 different squad members and each one had two home shirts and two aways as a rule. Towards the end of the season a lack of spares led to a more stringent policy for the later loanees. It is worth noting that this year, unlike previous years, there were no long sleeved shirts. The skin tight shirt also gained popularity so that matchworn shirts were no longer just in large and extra large size but also mediums and even smalls! Liam Noble and Jamal Campbell-Ryce both had smalls (though Jamal would have had a junior extra large if this had been available!). As usual the sponsers were entitled to one and the players themselves had permission to take one (though of course, early season players and loanees werent around to take theirs and not every player had a sponser either). After this, the shirts were up for grabs! Most appeared in the club shop which gave fans the chance to buy the likes of Blair Adams, Haydn Hollis and Hayden Mullins. However, some popular players shirts were never seen, such as Alan Smith and Banjer. It was well known though, that Smith and goalkeeper Roy Carroll frequently gave their shirts away. The club shop did price the shirts in a slightly different way; a pricing structure was introduced. Shirts were now graded at £125, £100 or £75 pounds, reduced as time went on. Each shirt was tagged with an official retail tag placed on by the club shop and a COA was provided. A few appeared subsequently for auction, one being the captain Hayden Hollis (from his sponser - lifeline) and Roy Carroll. The goalkeeper had a blue shirt made up for the final game v Gillingham and this was the one auctioned . Unfortunately it was never used as he wore black ( as Gillingham play in blue) - therefore it is only match issued.
A return to the traditional even black and white stripes plus the addition of a little gold - all good stuff for the faithful however the sponsors getting first crack at the home shirts and the players straight afterwards meant that there were not too many coming out in the shop when considering the number of squad members there were.
The never-to-be-remembered away shirt was a bit of a miss with fans who
weren't taken with the drift into non-traditional colours and the unusual sponsor that advertised a resource for teenage girls.
Note the addition of a sponsor on the matchworn shirt - not a feature of the replicas.
This shirt belonged to Nicky Wroe, a journeyman with eight previous clubs to his credit before arrival at Notts. As with so many other signings, he never really had chance to shine before being shuffled along to make room for the next one.
The home shirt of Sean Newton who came in from non-league Lincoln.The absence of Skybet match epaulettes proves a shirt is a replica; it's not so easy to distinguish a genuine match worn though other than to say it's likely to be a bit dirtier !
