Saints have finally revealed when the new home shirt will be available for supporters to buy after the issues surrounding it delaying it's release for two months. However bizarrely they are delaying it further themselves before it goes on general sale.

Saints home kit will finally hit the stores two months late after issues with the sponsors logo, Saints have been very coy about the exact reasons behind the issues, but it is believed that the problem arose after the club ordered the logo separately from Under Armour and after it being fixed to the shirts and training kit etc it came off in virtually the first wash.

Investigations then found that the material that the logo was made of was not compatible with the material the shirt is made from and this was not discovered till it came out in the wash so to speak.

It is unknown how many replica shirts at this stage had actually had the logo affixed to them and whether they had to be scrapped, or whether this was found out before the replica shirt 's had their logo's attached, but whatever the situation you can't just fit a run into the schedules at the drop of a hat, with the levels of mass produced football shirts these days, production has to be booked way in advance.

The good news is that the shirt goes on sale 9am on Saturday morning 31st August, perhaps not the best day to do this given that a little over 3 hours later we are playing Manchester United at St Mary's so there is bound to be a rush.

The club have also warned that there are limited quantities in some sizes, although stock is arriving imminently, however there are no infant or toddler mini sizes at all yet, so if that is what you are after it will be a wasted journey.

The club do realise that there will be a rush and are advising the fans to utilise the store in West Quay and not just the one at the stadium.

But given that they have dispatched pre orders yesterday (Thursday) they clearly have the stocks in the warehouse, surely it would have made more sense to put it on sale on Thursday or failing that Friday.

Indeed Customers who chose the club's click and collect service can collect their order from their selected store from 10am on Friday 30th August, so why not put it on sale then

That would have relieved some of the pressure on the stores on a matchday when they are busy enough as it is, there is going to be a big demand compressed into a short time on Saturday and whether Saints have the staff available to cope completely with that demand is doubtful and at best it will mean long queues to get the shirt and at worst utter chaos with some fans being disappointed as they are not able to get their hands on the shirts.

I cannot for the life of me think of any good reason why it could not have been put on sale today, perhaps with a special late night opening for those not able to get down during the day.

If the club had done that they would have sold hundreds of shirts and that is hundreds of people who would not have to join the queue on Saturday and in turn perhaps hundreds of kids who might not face disappointment as their parents are unable to get a shirt.

This issue has been bad enough as it is, yet right to the end the club seem determined to create potential more problems for themselves.

Photo: Action Images

saintmark1976 added 10:42 - Aug 30 "I cannot for the life of me think of a good reason why it could not have been put on sale today" Because Nick, the club owners and management now appear to have very little concern for us bread and butter fans. They have had their heads turned by a desire for people who can afford the Gasworks Bar and ridiculously over priced hospitality.
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SaintNick added 11:14 - Aug 30 saintmark, if you think the club owner had any input at all in what day the shirt was put on sale then you dont have much of a grasp of how a big business or a football club is run. Do you really think that someone phoned Gao up and said " morning Mr Gao, I do hope it is morning in China as not quite sure of the time difference, anyway hopefully it's not the middle of the night and I havent woken you up, quick question, the shirts have arrived shall we put them on sale straight await or wait till Friday " Gao: "You wake me up to ask that question, of course we wait, but not Friday, Saturday would be far better, I dont care a fig for the bread and butter fans, I like to stick it up their little imperialistic asses at every opportunity, I have already invested £200 million so a couple of hundred thousand wont matter to me" If you truly think that every little thing that happens at the club has some sort of ulterior motive at the highest level I think it's time to walk away, it is going to eat you up with hatred etc, when I wrote this article, I wasn't looking much above the shop manager to blame

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SonicBoom added 12:41 - Aug 30 To be fair the club have minimised the potential for a "rush" by designing a shirt that the majority of fans appear to think is bloody awful.
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saintmark1976 added 12:43 - Aug 30 Wow Nick, I really rattled your cage didn't I ? If you took the trouble to read my response before you wrote your reply you will see that I stated the club owners and management.Further, at no point did I suggest that there was an ulterior motive, my point being that when the club has made a complete mess of the shirt situation is it too much to expect that somebody in senior management subsequently owns the problem of sale and distribution? The fact that they did not and possibly left the decision to a "shop manager" as you put it reinforces my view that the club and yes its owners, care more now for the "prawn sandwich brigade" than average joe season ticket holders of which I am one.Others of course such as yourself may have,and are entitled to hold a different view, which I of course respect In regard to your comment that in your view it's time for me to walk away and I hate the club I can only assume that you were somewhat tired and emotional this morning when you responded?

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LoisDeem added 13:35 - Aug 30 Saints Nick (and Mark) :- The club do appear to be veering /careering towards the PSG brigade (deliberate initialisation of Prawn Sandwich Brigade) rather than the B & B (bread and butter) fans -as do you, more's the pity. In your pioneering days you would be asking why 'membership' needs to be £35 or what is the point of the Fan Zone -when improved fare all round, that's better value, whether it's on the concourse or on the pitch productivity, is all the cross section of Saints fan base are constantly asking for. I will also 'get shirty' by adding my ten penn'uth to this strange and apparently unprecedented issue too. This 'action' by the club does make you wonder whether they consider too many people at the stadium wearing the current strip might confuse or 'blind' some of the players, and with all the thinking in today's game focussed towards the smallest possible gain for advantage (at all costs) -you never know. Why, I've even heard of some manager's blaming the kit for their defeat, unbelievable though this may sound.

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Cjay80 added 14:25 - Aug 30 My shirt arrived this morning, with an apology for the delay and a free scarf each. Frustrating it is 2 months late but nice unexpected gesture. Looking forward to wearing it at Forest Green on Tuesday
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TripleNiemi added 10:18 - Aug 31 Who the fcuk is gonna rush out and buy that debacle of a shirt anyway. Personally overweight geezers wearing the crap tight designs nowadays should not be seen in replica clothing. Still at least if the logo does come off in the wash it would make it one or two percent more appealing. Under Armour really know how to design a s**t kit.
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