Middlesbrough FC kit release causes real stir online | OneFootball

Middlesbrough have released their new shirt for the 2026/27 campaign, and it's not gone down well with the fanbase

Middlesbrough are celebrating their 150th year as a football club this season, with their anniversary falling on October 20th.

They'll be hoping to mark it with a promotion back to the Premier League in their 10th successive Championship campaign, after falling short in the play-offs last year.

Last season will ultimately go down as a successful one at the Riverside, despite the disappointment in the end. Not many critics tipped Middlesbrough to be amongst the promotion conversation after back-to-back finishes outside the top six under Michael Carrick in the two years prior.

Boro had to deal with the adversity of losing their manager after a strong start, too, after Rob Edwards left for Wolves. With Kim Hellberg, though, they are arguably in a better position to land in the top two come May, and arguably should have last season, too, if not for a run of two wins in 10 games to end the term.

That bled into the postseason, where Hellberg's side ran out of steam in crucial moments late on against both Southampton and Hull City, becoming the first side to lose both the play-off semi-finals and the final.

Middlesbrough will be looking to sweep that disappointment under the rug, though, and go one better while wearing their 150th-anniversary shirts.

Middlesbrough's 2026/27 kit reveal hasn't been received positively

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An anniversary shirt usually brings about positivity and excitement for the year ahead, but Middlesbrough's kits to mark their 150th year have invoked anything but that amongst the fanbase.

Three of the four strips feature a central crest, and while each kit, including their special one-off 150 shirt, which will be worn against Wolves on October 10, is steeped in history and inspired by either older shirts or parts of the club, they aren't exactly gripping shirts.

"Never felt more deflated at a kit reveal. Truly awful!" one Boro fan said in the comments on X in response to the shirts. "Let's celebrate a massive milestone in the club's history with quite possibly the worst kits we've ever had," wrote another.

"They look like the cheap 80s kits for Sunday league teams," one fan compared. "It's taken you this long for four awful, plain kits," another Boro supporter said.

And it's not just Middlesbrough fans who have had their say on the shirts, as rival supporters have also gathered in the comments online to poke fun at Kim Hellberg's side over the new shirts for the upcoming season.

One Southampton account said, "Spent the kit design budget on lawyers, guys?" referencing the spygate incident which saw Tonda Eckert's side removed from the play-off final and replaced by Middlesbrough after they were found guilty of illegally spying on Kim Hellberg's training session before the first leg.

"Not a single one of them shouts' "Boro" when you look at them, and usually Boro are one of the more recognisable kits!" a Sunderland fan commented.

Ultimately, that's the biggest issue with the strips. They lack originality, and the White and Yellow away and third kits, respectively, could easily be confused with a Preston North End or an Oxford United shirt.

Middlesbrough will hope to associate 150th-anniversary shirts with a promotion campaign

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Ultimately, all the negative discourse surrounding how the shirts look can quickly be forgotten if Middlesbrough have a successful season while wearing them.

One fan stated that while they were "not for him, [...] as long as the lads win matches wearing them, who cares?" That has to be the mindset that some of these disgruntled Middlesbrough fans have to adopt.

The disappointment of how last year ended has clearly bled into the offseason with the kit reveals and the sale of star academy man and last season's Championship Player of the Year, Hayden Hackney, but that can all be easily put to the wayside if Kim Hellberg's side performs well on the field next year.

If Middlesbrough can return to the Premier League for the first time in a decade this upcoming campaign, then there won't be many complaints about what kit they do it in.