For the 1996-97 season Brentford teamed up with sports chain Cobra Sports to produce their home and away kits. In keeping with mid 1990’s fashion, the shirts were worn baggy by players with the longer than usual arms adding to the fad. Black shorts returned as the default choice after David Webb’s experiment with red.
For the first time the shirts could be bought on the High Street at the Cobra Sports stores in the surrounding area.
Swedish telecommunications Ericssons remained as shirt sponsors, their logo printed initially in navy directly on the shirt, only to be replaced soon after with light blue lettering version on a white background.
The shirt remained for 1997-98 as Brentford were relegated to Division Three, 12 months after losing the 1997 Play Off Final.
Super League produced the new shirt as Brentford sought to gain promotion back to Division Two.
A ‘V’ neck returned, and in a change to the form a red pinstripe surrounded the red stripes on the diamond jacquarded fabric.
New sponsor GMB’s oval logo adorned the middle of the shirt.
While black shorts were the first choice, red shorts were won on the last day away to Cambridge, creating an iconic look as Brentford won Division Three.
The same shirt returned for 1999-2000 with the badge placement (within the stripe rather than straddling it) the only thing to change.
French manufacturer Patrick teamed up with the club in 2000, producing a smart black collared shirt on with which the thicker red stripes were encased in black.
GMB remained as sponsors and the shirts were worn without change for two seasons.
The shirt is probably best remembered for the 2001-02 season where Steve Coppell’s team drew with Reading on the last day of the season to miss out on automatic promotion, subsequently suffering defeat at the Play Off final in Cardiff.
The Field Group, or TFG, continued with the stripes encased in black for their 2002-04 shirts.
These shirts saw a return to centralised badges and a V-neck, and the shirt sponsor changed from GMB to building company St George in 2003.
This association was capitalised on for the 2004-05 season which saw Brentford celebrate 100 years at Griffin Park with an addition to the club badge.
The shirt itself had the sponsor integrated into the central stripe to give the impression of a St. George’s cross. Black elements, now an integral part of the Brentford shirt, divided the main body from the arms, and the shirt was finished with a thin round neck.
A rear shirt sponsors logo was worn for the first time with UK Packaging’s emblem appearing on the shirts midway through the season. The shirt was nearly a triumph in shirt and sponsor synergy, the main flaw being a big white square on the back for the players squad number.
Lonsdale took over shirt production duties for 2005-07 bringing back the baggy style.
Their 2005-06 offering had a modern angled collar, a curved red element on the sleeve and two black stripes on the sleeve. The following season’s edition continued with an experimental collar, red side panels with black piping, and the clubs first gambling sponsor in Samvo.com.
With successful manager Martin Allen departing in the summer of 2006 and the club in financial difficulty off the field, a much changed side were relegated, and the Lonsdale shirts will be remembered by shirt collectors for their unbelievably sticky and fragile sponsor logos which did not last.
Puma joined for Brentford’s return to League Two in 2008, as Andy Scott replaced Terry Butcher mid-season to steady the ship following a terrible start to the season.
The shirt returned to a plain red and white stripe pattern with a thin round collar.
The following season shirt saw a thicker striped shirt with a red collar, red sleeves, a black side trim and a ref ‘fanged’ element protruding into the white stripe from the collar.
Director John Herting’s fixtures and fittings company became shirt sponsor, and a successful season saw Brentford win the division and progress into League One.
Puma experimented with the red and white theme for 2009-10 adding a central white stripe to the red with a curved black side pattern …….. the fan’s reaction was mixed.
Next time and finally
We complete the red and white history with the shirts from 2010 to 2025
Brendan’s website has all you need to know about the history of Bees shirts
https://www.brentfordshirts.com/
Brendan Nevin