Don’t get shirty with me!

I can’t believe how many people are getting their knickers in a twist about the new England football shirt.

The ‘problem’ is a small cross on the back of the collar. Instead of being a red cross, to represent the England flag, it’s a combination of navy, light blue, and purple.

As a simple motif it complements the navy blue collar and is quite subtle. Nevertheless, ‘fans’ and politicians are in uproar because, boo hoo, it’s not the colour of the cross on the England flag.

Incredibly, as if they’ve nothing better to do, the prime minister and the leader of the opposition have both commented on the furore.

Yesterday Keir Starmer called for the new shirt to be scrapped, and this morning Rishi Sunak added that we shouldn’t “mess” with our national flag.

National flag?! It’s a small design motif on the back of the collar of a football shirt!

OK, it may be the England football shirt but the primary kit has never represented the colours of the England flag. If that was the case the team would play in white shirts and red (not blue) shorts.

As for the demand for a red cross on the collar of the shirt, the addition of a flag or any form of red cross to the collar of the national shirt is a relatively recent development driven by commercial considerations not national pride.

Truth is, as kits started to be replaced with increasing frequency (national kits are replaced every two years, club kits every year), manufacturers are under enormous pressure to come up with new designs, or tweak elements of previous designs, often for the worse.

What Nike has done with the cross on the collar of the new England kit is just that, a tweak. Unfortunately, their pompous and ham-fisted PR speak - reported by the BBC - simply added fuel to the fire:

Nike says the shirt, launched earlier this week ahead of Euro 2024, includes "a playful update to the cross of St George" which "appears on the collar to unite and inspire".

A Nike spokesperson told media outlets: "The England 2024 Home kit disrupts history with a modern take on a classic," inspired by the training kit worn by England's 1966 World Cup winners.

But here’s the thing, whether you like it not, what’s it got to do with the PM, the leader of the opposition, or any other politician? The Football Association is an independent body, and the kit supplier, Nike, is an independent commercial company.

As it happens, I would very much doubt that Nike has introduced the new kits (including the purple second kit) without conducting extensive market research.

After all, they want to sell as many shirts as possible, so it makes sense to test the market in advance and see what consumers like, and don’t like.

Demanding that the new kit be scrapped is not just pathetic, it’s pointless because I expect the design was approved by the FA the best part of a year ago.

I would imagine too that tens of thousands of shirts have been manufactured and are already in shops or awaiting distribution both nationally and globally.

For what it’s worth, the last England strip I liked was the plain white shirt and navy blue shorts with plain white socks, supplied by Umbro, that was worn, unchanged, from 1965 to 1974.

My other favourite kit was the equally iconic change strip - the famous red shirt, white shorts, and red socks - that was used in the 1966 World Cup final (and also worn from 1965 to 1974).

In 1974 Admiral won the contract to supply England kits and although the supplier has changed at least twice in the intervening years, it’s been downhill ever since.

Today shirts, shorts, and socks all have to have additional ‘trim’ in a variety of colours. The famous ‘Three Lions’ badge now fights for space with the manufacturer’s logo and the player’s number that unnecessarily (in my view) replicates the number on the back of the shirt and on the shorts.

International players’ shirts even include details of the opponent, the date, and the name of the tournament, and on the back they’ve added the names of the players.

And if that’s not enough, manufacturers have added flags or motifs to the back of the collar!

What today’s confected anger tells me is that we have to go back to basics. No flags or motifs on shirts. No manufacturer’s logo. No names. Nothing.

Keep it simple. A badge or emblem on the chest and a large number on the back. That’s all.

And while we’re at it, no national anthems before the start of every international match. We don’t need it. Just stop!