'The players insisted' - Newcastle 'horror' truth revealed and lost Adidas kits you never saw

It was the summer of 2009 and Newcastle United were in crisis. The Magpies had been relegated, owner Mike Ashley wanted out, the the club did not even have a manager and the dressing room needed fumigating.

Then a new garish custard cream away kit complete with yellow shorts and matching socks was unveiled. Even the man behind it, Adidas designer Inigo Turner, acknowledged it was 'a bit of a marmite shirt'.

"It was in some of the horror lists in the tabloid newspapers," Turner told ChronicleLive. "That was one of the headlines: they have been relegated and now they have to play in this kit!"

The strip may have been reduced in the club megastore before it even came out, but this kit soon became part of the journey this side went on that season. It was rather fitting that Newcastle players wore the two-tone yellow number during the nadir of that campaign, a 6-1 pre-season defeat at Leyton Orient, but, also, the high point nine months later: the 2-0 victory at Plymouth that sealed the Championship title win.

It was also the strip of choice for spirited wins on the road against Cardiff City, Sheffield United, Preston North End, Coventry City, Peterborough United and Reading that season. You can see why Chris Hughton grew to love it and the former Nerwcastle boss said it was 'definitely a favourite of mine'.

"In that great season, we had opportunities to change the shirt occasionally for commercial reasons, but the players insisted on wearing it," he told ChronicleLive. "It was a shirt that served us well and we didn't want to change."

So how did Newcastle end up wearing it in the first place? Well, work began on the kit 18 months before it was released, when the Magpies were still an established Premier League outfit under