It is always a pleasure to hear from Mr Motherwell, Matt Johnstone

I first spotlighted him twelve months ago and he has been busy again. He kindly sent me details of his latest additions


He says:

In this series through a collaboration between Daft Laddie T-shirt brand and The Well Society we look to make Motherwell fans aware of our rich heritage through the use of images of our kits throughout the decades.

140 Yrs Newsprint Design

The Motherwell F.C. Historical Times 


Before highlight reels and hashtags, history lived in print. Back in the early days of Motherwell F.C., every match, moment, and memory was captured in ink, from the action on the pitch at Fir Park to the fashions in the stands. Flat caps, bowler hats, heavy cotton shirts, and the buzz of the taverns before and after the game. It’s all part of the Motherwell story.


With 140 years of history behind us, this is a nod to where it all began.


Motherwell F.C. history.

#1 in the Daft Laddie, Motherwell F.C. Historical Kit – Card Collection tees


The ‘Blue Period’. 


Motherwell wore blue shirts from 1893 until 1913. It wasn’t until season 1913-14 when we switched to the now famous claret & amber. In our 140th Anniversary season, we at Daft Laddie are recognising this period in our first in a series of collectable kit card tee shirts. Each tee comes with its very own collector card.

#2 in the Collectables Card series  –

The Yoke jersey.

This design represents the first Claret & Amber jersey worn by a Motherwell team in 1913. Similar to the jersey worn by Bradford City when they won the FA Cup in 1911, a Scottish agent based down South allegedly brokered the deal to supply these jerseys using the same company which provided Bradford with theirs.

#3 in the Collectables Card series.

Kings of Spain

We have already covered the formative years wearing Blue then the change to a more recogniseable Claret & Amber. This time we feature another fairly drastic change when we adopted Striped jerseys, which became famous of course when we won both the King of Spain Cup and Barcelona Cup in 1927. Again these are similar to the kit worn at the time by Bradford but there is no evidence of any official connection with these kits.

#4 in the Collectables Card series

Champions of Scotland kit.

The easily recognisable Hooped jerseys were first worn in 1928 and lasted nigh on 30 years with very little change. Basically a rugby style shirt with coloured collars changing from Claret, to White and then to Amber being the only noticeable change. Our only League Championship was won wearing this in 1931-32 when we became the only club to interrupt the Old Firm dominance between the wars.

#5 in the Collectables Card series

The Floodlight kit.

If the figure bears an uncanny resemblance to Ian St John that’s because it’s intended that way. Sinji was an integral part of the Ancell Babes side and wore this kit with distinction so who better to showcase this little part of our kit history. Widely regarded as Motherwell’s best ever change kit.

#6 in the Collectables Card series

The Signature kit.

The lauded Ancell Babes wore this crew neck style first and it lasted throughout the 60s until we dropped the Hoop in 1970. For fans of a certain generation this is viewed as the Signature kit, basically any kit which followed is viewed in comparison to this one.

Here’s the latest collaboration between Daft Laddie & The Well Society (above)

Collectables Card #5 the Floodlight kit, nicely timed to coincide with the upcoming Floodlight retro issue. Is this the best away kit ever?

As always, if you want to order or learn anything about Motherwell, Matt is your man

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