Wolves away kits - through the years

Few colours have been off limits and Wolves' success rate has certainly been hit and miss.

Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers has trawled through the archive and produced a potted history of Wolves' many away kits.

PRE-1990 - ALL-WHITE IS ALRIGHT

For decades Wolves kept it breathtaking simple with their away kits.

They simply took their home kit, and turned it white.

You see, these were the days when an away kit was used - and bear with me here - whenever there was a kit clash with the home team.

Nowadays away kits, or even third kits, are all about sales figures, with the fact they help supporters distinguish between teams merely an afterthought.

But back when football was football, Wolves went white whenever they travelled to Norwich, Watford, Blackpool or Hull.

EARLY 1990s - A BRAVE BLUE WORLD

In 1990, this all changed.

The maverick Wolves boffins worked long into the night in the Molineux science lab and came up with....light blue.

This came into force from 1990/91 onwards. Reaction to the colour change was generally favourable, and Wolves remained in blue for four years.

1996 - TEAL OF APPROVAL

I mean...wow. What were they smoking when they came up with this?

Wolves went all avant-garde in 1996, completely dispensing with sensible colours and embracing the forthcoming new millennium with a quite hideous shade of teal.

The kit design itself - a wolf head template with lots of mini wolf heads inside - was a winner with the kids.

Puma instigated the new design, which followed two years of white from 1994 to 1996, and this was the season Wolves unashamedly began chasing the Yankee dollar.

They released their third home kit in three seasons, despite stating otherwise a year earlier.

And the away kit unnecessarily got its first airing away on the opening day of 1996/97 at black-and-white-striped Grimsby.

A Bully hat-trick made it a memorable debut outing.

1997 - KEANE TO CHANGE

A year later the teal was upgraded to a moody green and reduced to the role of 'trim' to compliment a predominantly white away shirt, with greeny shorts and socks.

Dedicated/slightly weird supporters queued at the club shop at midnight to be the first to buy it.

Around 400 were sold before 1am with fans snaking halfway around the Billy Wright stand.

Merchandising manager Matthew Jeffrey said: "Some of the shirt designs have come in for a bit of flak over the years but no-one has said anything negative about this one."

It lasted for the Robbie Keane era - 1997 to 1999. And Keano scored many a goal in it, including two on his (and the kit's) debut at Norwich.

2003 - FADE TO BLACK

After a few years of light blue and white (including for 2002/03, as modelled by Paul Butler in the picture at the top of the page), Wolves unleashed a beast of an away kit for their return to the Promised Land™ in 2003.

A cool black number with sultry gold piping. Even the socks were a classy affair. And not even the intimidating Doritos logo could ruin it.

Finally Wolves had produced a garment fit enough to be wed in.

2004 - BLUE ORDER

Sadly contractual obligations meant the imperious black kit lasted for 12 measly months.

And when it came to producing its successor, Wolves seemingly enlisted the help of visually impaired designers.

Blue, with light blue piping, and plan white shorts and socks. What, Wolves? What?

The sponsor was an improvement, but otherwise this was a number that accurately reflected growing uncertainty and confusion in a post 9/11 society.

2008 - BACK TO BLACK

With new rave in full swing in 2008 Wolves produced a kit that The Klaxons would undoubtedly have nodded knowingly in approval at.

Black was back, but instead of a sensible white or gold trim, fluorescent green was installed to give a distinctly glow stick feel.

Even global project management consultants Chaucer channelled their inner acid sci-fi punk side, altering their sponsor logo to adorn the trippy bright colour.

2009 - WELL RED

In 2009 Wolves curiously decided to pay homage to the red and white striped shirts the club wore in its infancy in the 19th century.

Yes, you know, the shirts everyone longingly yearns for the team to wear once more, and rejoice in moustachioed times of yore.

Retail boss Peter Pridmore said: "Both kits have been designed as a result of supporter feedback and also the manager's input."

Mick McCarthy has got a lot to answer for.

2013 - DEEP PURPLE

Wolves got their Dulux colour chart out to see where they could go after white, black, teal and blue...and came up with purple.

The traditionalists furiously besieged message boards with expressions of utter disgust and predictions of the apocalypse.

But despite the rather radical shade of purple, the League One promotion kit proved popular.

And, complete with fetching white trim, it may well be one that's remembered fondly in years to come.

2014 - WHITE WASH

Every now and then, when they're not trying to be zany, or wacky, Wolves produce a 10/10 kit that you can almost legitimately wear when not at a football match.

This glorious return to the no-frills white kit with black piping was exactly that.

Absolutely no-nonsense. Classic white, black trim, non-invasive sponsor logo. Perfect.