What shade of blue is City blue?
Just light blue.
The colour was initially referred to as 'Cambridge Blue' after 1894. After the Second World War, City's official colour was described as 'light blue', but towards the end of the decade the term 'sky blue' was commonly used.
But there's no evidence to suggest that the actual shade of shirt colour changed throughout this time.
However, there have been two periods when the club adopted a darker blue. In June 1902 the Sporting Chronicle carried this description of the funeral of City player Jimmy Ross, who had died a year after retiring from football due to illness:
'The wreath from the Ground Committee of the City was oval-shaped. In the centre was a ball of flowers, crossed by a row of blue cornflowers, representing the colours of the club.'
The following month, Athletic News wrote of a prospective City signing,
'It is hoped that Davidson, the Celtic back, will don the cornflower blue colours in September.'
Cornflower blue was also used for City's 1926 FA Cup final shirts.
In 1997 City introduced the darker 'laser blue' Kappa home shirts, which they wore for two seasons. But everything was darker at City at that time.
City's kit makers have used many different shades of light blue over the years. But according to Umbro, who designed City's kits from 2009-10 to 2012-13 (and for many seasons prior to that), the colour they used was Sky Blue Pantone: 284 C:55% M:19% Y:0% K:0%.
There’s a great graphic of the club’s kits since 1892 here at Historical Football Kits.
This is an extract from my new book, 50 Important Questions About Manchester City F.C Answered, available on Amazon here, priced £12.95.
I want to keep this Substack free to read. So if you like my work, buying this book is a great way of supporting it. Plus, I think you’ll really enjoy it.
I hope it will provide the answers you’re looking for.
You can subscribe for free, or upgrade to a paid subscription, by clicking the button below. Each Saturday I’ll be publishing a feature about City’s past, while on Wednesdays I’ll be writing about the present. Paid subscribers will get an exclusive story each Monday.
Or if you want to help out with a one-off donation you can Buy Me A Coffee.