The 2010-2020 era saw Cheltenham sport 8 different shirts on their travels in the EFL and National League. 5 of these were proper away shirts but there was also 2 third shirts worn when the home and away kits clashed and a shirt only worn in pre season and by the fans in the match against the Legends for the Scoreboard campaign. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a trip down memory lane with the Cheltenham Town Away shirt history.
2019-2021
The current Cheltenham Town Away shirt is, in my opinion, one of the best ever. The azure strip features 3 shades of blue, the main colour being a light blue with a slightly darker hoops going horizontally across the shirt, which in term feature another darker shade of blue lines going across horizontally within the hoops. The shirt takes inspiration from the town crest, and old club badge, which features light blue on the shield and the pigeon’s perch. The shirt was also the first to feature Salubritas et Eruditio within the neck of the shirt, something which has appeared on the home shirt produced since. This was the first time the Latin from the Cheltenham coat of arms since it was removed from the kit in 2010 and is now a key part of the club celebrating its heritage. The shirt was debuted in a preseason friendly against a strong Leicester City side, one of Maguire’s last games for the club, where the visitors won 2-1. It’s not the first time Cheltenham have worn light blue, although a different shade and plainer, the club wore light blue (with black trim) from 2013 to 2015 and sported a plain light blue shirt in 2012. The Errea logo goes down the sleeves from shoulder to cuff, similar to the 2002-2004 home shirt, a design that Errea are bringing back.
Notable Players: Luke Varney, Charlie Raglan, Ben Tozer
Memorable Match: Northampton 0-2 CTFC 18/6/20
2017-2019
A throwback to the shirts of the last decade, 2017 saw the return of a yellow away kit as supporters voted yellow and blue their favourite over a dark blue with white trim design or a black shirt with red trim. All three designs posed as throwbacks to yesteryear with all these colour schemes having been worn by the club in the 2000-2010 era. In 2002-2003 the side wore a yellow with light blue trim shirt but this colour scheme is more akin to the 2005-2007 shirt used in League One. The shirt’s design is fairly plain, with just one shade of yellow which is often the case for away kits. The blue trim, which the club had to point at was blue and not black upon release, brings the shirt together nicely, featuring at the cuffs of sleeves and the collar. The shirt is brought together nicely by the presence of the blue down the side of the shirt as well as in a line across each shoulder, with the Mira, Errea and Marchants (across the back, above the name) all in the same colour adding up to a very nice shirt. The inside of the neck of the shirt features the club’s #CTFC used by fans and the media team on social media. The design was commended by at the time manager Gary Johnson who said it would make it easier to pick out passes under floodlights. The Mira logo is printed on the shirt, this was not done for the previous or following kit designs where the logo is within the fabric.
Notable Players: Joe Morrell, Brian Graham, Sami Odelusi
Memorable Match: Swindon 0-3 CTFC 10/3/2018
2015-2017
A first time back in non-league this century and another first for kit designs. Voted for by the fans, the robins donned a purple strip for the first time as they entered project #BounceBack, one of the club’s best season in recent memory. The purple kit features gold (or yellow to some) trim on the inside of the sleeve, which can be turned out to make a purple and gold sleeve or left as it is for a plain purple on the arm. The collar is the same gold as the inner sleeve. The Errea and Mira logo sit on the front in white with the Marchants logo taking its new place above the player name on the back of the player issue shirts, but not on the replicas. After its league use, the shirt was used by the club in preseason friendlies, featuring against Bristol City (which Premier League official Kevin Friend took charge of) and Weston-Super-Mare in 2018 as well as on various other occasions.
Notable Players: Dan Holman, James Dayton, Jack Barthram
Memorable Match: Dover 1-2 CTFC 24/1/16
2013-2015
2013 saw the first use of light blue as the main away kit, with the colour having been used for a third shirt in 2012, and was used for the season that saw Cheltenham relegated to the National League in 2014/15. The top has what can only be decribed as ‘swirly bits’ with black lines on the torso, shoulder and each arm (below the sleeve on the left and on top on the right) which are accompanied with faint white outlines and tips. The collar is black to go with the swirls, with the Errea and Mira logo black too. The back featured the Gloucestershire College logo above the player name, where the Marchants logo currently calls home. This was the shirt worn by Joe Hanks when he scored that goal against Bury.
Notable Players: Terry Gornell, Conner Goldson, Steven Gillespie
Memorable Match: Bury 0-1 CTFC 9/8/14
The 2013/14 season also saw the use of a third shirt. The trip to Scunthorpe required the use of a white top as the home sides claret and blue home shirt clashed with both the home ruby and white and away light blue kits used by Cheltenham. A rare use of a third shirt in an odd season for kits in League Two which involved Bury, Torquay and Accrington play in four different kits, with latter changing kit supplier in December. With more Errea swirls, but in a different design, the plain white is accompanied by dark blue lines with black tips, a small line around the Errea logo and longer one past the badge. The dark blue features on the collar and sleeve cuffs too. The shirt was also worn in a memorable trip to the Boleyn Ground where Cheltenham lost 2-1 in front of 23,440 people. The back featured the Gloucestershire College logo above the player name, where the Marchants logo currently calls home.
Notable Players: Matt Richards, Steve Elliot, Russell Penn
Memorable Match: West Ham 2-1 CTFC 23/8/2013
2010-2013
The first away kit with the new badge paid homage to the clubs history by returning the blue and black stripes seen in the from 2003 to 2005 season where the sponsor changed from Towergate to Bence at the end of the 2003/04 season. The shirt features black stripes which come in three lines, with one thick black line in the middle and two thinner ones either side, an unusual feature is that the stripes also feature on the arms, with most football shirts choose to have one solid colour on the sleeves (but we can’t forget Cheltenham’s interesting decision to have two different coloured sleeves in 2016). There’s a simple v neck collar which is mainly blue but has white trim, and the sleeves feature white trim too. It’s not common for a football team to wear a shirt for more than one season these days, but this shirt broke the trend even further by featuring for three years from 2010 to 2013.
Notable Players: JJ Melligan, Darren Carter, Sam Deering
Memorable Match: Northampton 1-1 CTFC 8/1/11
The 2012/13 season also saw the use of a third shirt for the trip to Gillingham where both the club’s centenary kits clashed with both of Cheltenham’s shirts from that season, with the Gills wearing Red with Blue sleeves. Because of this the robins sported a plain light blue kit, unique in the fact that the Errea badge sat in white in the middle of this shirt, above the sponsor, compared to its normal place on the left breast. The match itself finished 0-0.
Notable Players: Billy Jones, Jeff Goulding, Kaid Mohammed
Memorable Match: Gillingham 0-0 CTFC
Blue and white stripes
Cheltenham also wore a blue and white striped kit for preseason friendlies around the 2015 era but this was fazed out by the purple away shirt and preseason games and featured the more normal shirts since. The shirt was worn by the fans team who played against a Legends XI at the Seasons training ground in July 2017, unfortunately the only photo I have of this is of me as the referee for the fixture, which was part of the club's scoreboard campaign. The shirt has featured against teams such as Bishops Cleeve and Evesham. The blue stripes are accompanied by a white collar and white patch on the back for the number.
Notable Players: Harry Pell, Danny Wright, Kyle Storer
Memorable Match: Fans v Legends 16/7/17
And that is that, all 8 shirts worn by Cheltenham on their travels between 2010 and 2020. A decade of ups and downs and annoying hard to confirm kits used at away games, from the heartbreak of the playoffs to the ecstasy of the National League title its been quite a decade for Cheltenham. Coming soon will be a look back at our home and away strips from 2000 to 2010 and a look into my favourite shirts the club has ever played in so keep your eyes peeled.