The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Friday, May 22

Hi again, everyone!

Welcome to an unplanned kit themed Hoddle. Let’s start with the latest development in well-received kits, courtesy of the NWSL’s Portland Thorns.

Ramble of the Day

Let’s cap the week off with a question: If Tottenham came out with a third kit primarily of a color of your choosing, which color would you pick?

I ask because the job of the third kit is to be as creative as possible, meaning anything outside of a rival’s colors are a great option. Over the last several years with a number of kit manufacturers, Spurs have come up with a ton of colors — purple, yellow, whatever color last season’s third kit was, and a few patterns. There are still a number of colors that haven’t been used in recent years, ones that if you really nailed them would just be fun to own as a timestamp for a season and a design.

I’ll go with two different options: a black kit and a pink kit. I have found that few great kits exist in either color; for the most part, the design is just too cluttered, or the simple route doesn’t pay off because the color choice isn’t just right. For good black kit, I’m thinking RB Leipzig’s 2018-19 third.

Considering Spurs are currently outfitted by Nike, this is probably the best the team might get. I like this design a lot, though, because they picked a good shade of black and went very simple — and high contrast — with the design. For me, I think the key lies with the look of the shirt sponsor; Red Bull obliged to its logo being all white, matching the Nike swoosh, RB Leipzig crest, and the small collar detail. In Spurs’ case, I imagine it’d depend on what colors AIA wouldn’t mind being, but considering the white contrast is basically the design for this season’s away kit, white would be a good way to go. I’d ideally like a dark, dark gray, lighter black, or maybe even a navy as the color for the crest, Nike logo, and shirt sponsor because I want the black to pop.

As for pink kits, I’ve also found them to be historically hard to nail. Real Madrid did a magenta kit in 2014-15 that was fine enough, but not my favorite. As I research pink kits, I’ve settled on a color that I really like and a design that I wouldn’t hate: Palermo’s 2012-13 home kit.

photo found on footyheadlines.com

It’s imperfect — I actually wouldn’t take the subtle checkers board pattern and would adjust the design of the collar so it’s more like Spurs’ third kit this season. Above is the version without the sponsor, since their shirt sponsor of Eurobet actually ruins the kit, Spurs benefit from the fact that AIA would look better, and you coul go for a navy contrast like with this year’s thirds, or you opt for black and hope AIA would agree to having their name in black.

Those are just some ideas, and I went on a bit longer than I’d expected. I won’t require you to go on in comparable length, but the question remains.

tl;dr: If you could pick a color for a Spurs third kit, which would you pick?

Links of the Day

Jaap Stam was named the new head coach of FC Cincinnati.

Denmark’s Aarhus will invite fans to its games through Zoom.

US Soccer’s chief legal officer resigned after an internal review was conducted because of the controversial legal arguments used in the USWNT’s equal pay lawsuit.

Today’s longer read: Tim Vickery on football in Brazil as all involved navigate a tight calendar, political pressure, and a rising death toll from coronavirus for ESPN

Bonus, but behind a paywall: Pablo Maurer interviews forward Trinity Rodman, one of the USWNT’s top prospects, on her aspirations and being the daughter of basketball player Dennis Rodman for The Athletic