Official images of Newcastle United shirt called 'worst Premier League kit of all time' emerge online

Newcastle United will return to the domestic-only stage of their European qualification cycle next season.

The Magpies' primary focus will be on returning to the Champions League or Europa League through their Premier League position, a target they've been able to meet under manager Eddie Howe without the burden of playing in Europe at the same time.

When Newcastle return to action in pre-season, they'll do so in an Adidas shirt that is imaginative but perhaps not the most popular.

Images of the supposed 2026-27 home shirt were leaked earlier this month and

Sharing an image of the kit on social media, one fan account asked: "Worst shirt we’ve ever had?"

The shirt, which combines an unusual symmetrical striped design in Newcastle's traditional black and white, with a very bold use of wide blue Adidas stripes on the shoulders and blue trim around the sleeve cuffs and round-neck collar.

Including stripes of varying widths on either side of a wide central black pillar is an unapologetic attempt to do something a bit different, and is exactly the kind of thing that can make a slightly dodgy shirt legendary if the players wearing it can achieve something special on the pitch.

It's bound to divide opinion at best for the time being and new images purporting to be official Adidas shots do nothing to lessen that inevitability.

Fans of clubs that wear striped shirts will be well aware that what seems like a simple design is, in fact, quite challenging in the context of frequently refreshing football kits and awkward manufacturer templates.

Stripes make for a classic, classy look when they're simple and well executed, but any creative deviation can be incredibly difficult to implement.

Are we in the era of the botched stripe?

In the last few seasons, many of the clubs and national teams that typically play in striped shirts have been treated to various fresh ideas to break from the clean lines and easy symmetry.

Various fades, textures and angles have been tried out with varying degrees of success, and while innovation is to be applauded, it can be frustrating when a club that's had some of the better striped shirts in the last 15 or 20 years looks set to spend a year living up to a derogatory nickname applied to them by fans of other clubs.

Newcastle's apparent new shirt looks a lot more crisp in the supposedly official images than the previous leak but the final verdict from fans will come down to a matter of taste.

The aggressively different design looks to have been applied well enough, so Magpies fans will like it or they won't.

As ever, the key is to wait until it's worn in anger in the summer.