Aston Villa left viewers of their FA Cup clash against West Ham confused when they were seen wearing an all-black kit.
Villa are hosting the Hammers in the third round of the iconic competition on Friday night in what is the first match of Graham Potter’s tenure in charge of the visitors after the former Chelsea boss was appointed on Thursday.
However, as the action got underway, there was a marked difference with how the home side looked.
Instead of the the usual claret and blue strip that Unai Emery’s side sport for matches, Villa were simply wearing white shorts with a plain black shirt and black socks.
The club announced earlier this week that the players would be wearing the special one-off strip – which doesn’t have any sponsors on it – to mark the club’s 150th anniversary.
This kit will only be worn once and has a retro feel to it, with just numbers on the back of shirts, but no names.
Aston Villa wore black shirts for their FA Cup home clash against West Ham on Friday night
The special one-off commemorative kit is being warm to celebrate Villa’s 150th anniversary
The black kit is markedly different to Villa’s usual home strip and has no sponsors displayed
When announcing the decision, the club gave an explanation for the reasoning behind the move, which has seen them ‘create this historic look’.
‘Aston Villa is delighted to announce it will honour the club’s 150th anniversary with the launch of a special commemorative kit,’ a statement read.
‘With Unai Emery’s side hosting West Ham United in the third round of this season’s Emirates FA Cup on Friday evening, the club will continue its season-long celebration almost 150 years to the day since our first-ever recorded match.
‘To mark the occasion, the players will wear a black kit, modelled on the first kits worn by the club before the transition to our famous claret and blue colours.’
They continued: ‘In 1878, Aston Villa became the first team in the UK to put a crest on their playing kit, adopting the Scottish lion rampant.
‘The motifs were sourced from Scotland by William McGregor himself and in honour of our club’s pioneering spirit, a crest inspired by the one that featured on those kits has been authentically redrawn from the earliest sources we have.’
As part of the design, Villa’s principal sponsors Betano and Trade Nation – whose logos are usually emblazoned across the shirt – gave up their branding space for the fixture.
The commemorative strip also had had an extra symbol on the front of the shirt that is said to be inspired by the stained glass windows at Villa Park.
The black bit is available to buy online and in person at Villa’s club shop.
