VOTING'S over, but many more of you have been telling us the reasons for your choice in the great Boro chest band debate.

As a so-called unfashionable club, Boro would do well to take any advantage of any opportunity that makes them stand out from the crowd. Many clubs play in all red or red and white strips, but to the best of my knowledge very few have the band across the shirt. Living in a nation where brand and image are of primary consideration most if not all sporting clubs will seize any initiative that presents itself to make them unique, by bringing back the band I think the Boro have such an opportunity. Added to this is the memory of the Jack Charlton days and the first promotion to play with the big boys, well for me at least, perhaps one of our best teams ever to pull on the shirt.
Mike Whisson, Houston, Texas

I am on for the white band.  My reason was simple, with the white band, we can play badly and win, with simply red, we play good football and lost.  For the past two relegations, we don't have a white band on our home shirt (except winning the Carling Cup) with the white band we can beat Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal in last few season. Without it this season, we only manage to get Arsenal. With the white band, we go all the way to UEFA Cup final, remember the lighting strike twice? With the white band, it makes us mighty Boro! 
David Yeo

Bring back the band for good. I grew up supporting the Boro through the 70s and to this day still follow the club, albeit from afar in Sydney, Australia. I feel that the white band has and always will be Middlesbrough FC, it really is that simple, it helps the club to stand out from the rest. Also would it be too much to ask to please revert to the old away shirts as well? I am fed up with the fancy, multi-coloured away shirts that we get with each new season. We should be branding the club for the future so that we are recognisable whether playing at home or away. For me the away top has to be either the black and blue vertical stripes or an all white one with red trim.
Andrew Myers, North Narrabeen, NSW, Australia

I am in total agreement with Jeff Winter about the home and away strips. Keep the band as a band and please don't over design the shirt adding white stripes up the side, the band is a strong identifiable image and different to all the other 'reds'. The Black and Blue away strip is iconic too, and very classy. I know the club needs to sell shirts each season but the continual tinkering with image and identity is crazy, be brave enough to stick with a strip when it is right. Some of the teams in Serie A and La Liga have a very strong image and do not seem to be strangled by continual marketing meddling; only the sponsor's name seems to change. The white socks looked great too last week. 
John Richardson, Sandhurst, Berkshire

Bring back the band for good! It makes our shirt unique and provides an identity for the club.
Mike Crawshaw

Yes to the white band. For me, who started to support Boro in the early 70s, it has always been the original dress. It stood out and separated us from other teams, like, for example, Liverpool.
Mats Henriksson, member of Boro-Vikings, Sweden

Having read the comments from various people, I must day that although I am not against the white band on the shirt, of all the comments, I agree with Alec Smith. The white band is not a tradition of Middlesbrough Football Club. My earliest memories of watching Boro is the red shirt, white shorts and red socks of Alec Smith, Gordon Jones, Derek Downing etc and these were always the colours until the Jack Charlton era. I would love to see the plain, round neck, red shirt return, with white shorts, but if the white band is to return, try to keep it as near to the Jack Charlton shirt as much as possible.
Tony Crosby

I'm an intergalactic space and time traveller 'n' that but have many years ago adopted the Boro as me football team. The white band on the red shirt is known throughout not only this world but many others I travel through across this and other universes, as being Middlesbrough Football Club, circa 1970-2130. Therefore I know we keep it. Don't mess with time by not re-adopting it for good. We will have it now in many forms, sometimes broad, sometimes thin or all the way round and front only once or twice it will go diagonal or in a V-shape but from earth year 2008 it will remain.
Freddie Farkle

As a season ticket holder for the last 12 years I fully back the white band as it makes us stand out from any other club, what with the UEFA cup final etc.
J Dawson

I think it's a must. It gives us a unique identity and the club should adopt it permanently. It can also offer lots of different fashion permutations and colours etc for away strips.
Craig Hatton   

I prefer the all red shirt. Man U and Liverpool manage subtle changes each year to encourage shirt sales without resorting to bands or flashes which Boro have adopted in the past. Plain is best, we don't want to look like an ice hockey team! I wouldn't mind a change back to white shorts either and occasionally white socks which Boro have worn for more seasons than the band.
GD Bell, Acklam

I'm in two minds. I like the current shirt, it does stand out as being different from say Man U and Liverpool's red shirts but I did like the white band across the chest as that really sticks out and differentiates the club.
Trevor Knowles

The red shirt with white chest band is unique to MFC. Plain red shirts are worn by so many clubs. The current strip could belong to Liverpool or Bristol City. The white chest band is something which helps fans identify with the Boro.
Stuart Bell

For me I like the chest band. I agree with everyone else that it gives us a bit of uniqueness and identity. I'm also glad you're giving the supporters the choice whether they want it back or not. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to choose the away shirt last season as well. What I would love to see is that you let supporters design their own shirt and get fans to decide. I have many ideas if you would like to see them. Anyway, well done to give the supporters the option and hope you continue on what had become a tradition of letting the supporters choose the clubs kit.
James Graham, Sedgefield

I think it is great and about time too that the club starts talking to the fans regarding the band on the kit. As a person involved in marketing and brand management I find it incredible that you dropped a style which has become steadily established and synonymous with the club not just in the UK but worldwide due to the club's exploits in the UEFA Cup.
Tony McGuigan

Firstly, think its a great idea asking the fans what they would like next year's home kit to be like, especially after the idea to vote for this seasons away shirt was taken away from the supporters. I predominantly agree with Jeff Winter, if we are to bring back the band, then we should also go back to the Blue and Black away shirt. Although if you are to go back over the years, we will find that the band isn't something that we have had for the majority of our time as a football club. Predominantly we have played in plain red with white somewhere on the shirt. However, it is the originality that makes the band so popular and if it will mean more supporters purchase the shirt, I am definitely in favour of it.
Karl Watson, Preston

Anyone remember the competition ran in the sports gazette giving readers the chance to win one of the 'new' white banded shirts in the glory Charlton days? I do, I was one of the lucky hundred to win! Bring it back; it belongs on a Boro shirt, just like the red lion.
Stuart Roper

As a former season ticket holder, now exiled in Florida, I have been reading the great band debate letters on the website with interest. It seems that around 75% of supporters favour the return of the band and I think this is largely because although this was not the traditional Boro strip, it is the one that has had had most impact on our memories in relatively recent years. Many people cited the "Charlton Years" as their reasons and let's face it, they were good times. Middlesbrough have often been described in the media as an unfashionable team. This unfashionable image has carried across the Atlantic because on Fox Soccer Report, on TV here, we're nearly always the last Premier League team they talk about and the American presenters can't even pronounce "Boro".  It often comes out as "Bow Row". The club definitely needs a unique identity and I think the band is the way forward. As for the away shirt, what's wrong with a white shirt with a red band? I think that for the same reason, many fans crave the team coming out to the sound of The Power Game. Thank goodness the club have seen fit to ask the fans over the shirt issue! Finally, although I only live in a small town here, I'm putting the Boro on the map. In fact, locally I'm known by some as "the Boro Boy" because of the number plates on my car!
Dave Baker

I suppose that the white stripe for me personally means quite a lot because it was in the Jack Charlton second division champions year that I watched my first game along with my Dad so I do attach good memories to this. I still feel however that the white stripe sets the Boro aside with regards to identity; the plain red kit may well be Charlton's or Liverpool's. I am aware that Boro for many years have worn plain red as it has been stated it is the most common, I don't want the Boro to be in the common bracket, I want us to stand out on the pitch and when us fans wear the shirt with pride other football fans will know even from a glance what team we support.
Andy Loughran

It has to be the white band! However like many of the e-mailers have said, the best strips by far and the photos that yourselves and the Gazette are always showing are the ones with the lion's crest in the centre of the white band. That strip is as Middlesbrough as the Transporter Bridge itself.  The sponsor's logo can go above the band no problem, even on the sleeves or the back but the band is for the badge not the sponsors.  Listen to us and it will sell in its thousands. 
Jennifer Taylor

Yes to the band, why not? A team in the Geman Bundesliga play with it.
Gary Hind

I voted for the return of the white band, simply because of the individuality it gives to the Boro. However, I can understand the argument for an all red shirt on historical grounds, maybe the answer would be an all red shirt with parallel white piping lines across the chest. I thank Middlesbrough Football Club for the opportunity to have a say on this matter. I would also like to take this opportunity to comment on the music played when the team runs out onto the pitch, I like the thought of playing Ballroom Blitz by Sweet, we could substitute the names used in the song to those of the chairman, manager and captain in lieu of the words from the song "Ready Steve, ready Andy, all right fellas, let's go". I think this could get both the fans and the team revved up, hope you get my drift.
Colin Thompson, Perth, Australia.

Not only do we need the white band back I think it needs to continue around the back of the shirt too like in the 70s!  We had black numbers over it.
Ray Mackey

Back the band!
Lauren Doherty

My allegiance goes back to the 50s and there was no band in those days - indeed, as long as the home colours are red and white then it's fine by me. Graham Paterson, USA

Yes to the band, because of the 1973/74 season, which defined a break with the years of underperforming that had us firmly rooted in the second division. It made us look bigger on the pitch. It is instantly recognisable.
Gordon Smith

I think the red band is synonymous with Boro, and it should be made a permanent fixture on the Boro kit. It is unique and can, if used regularly, separate Boro from other all red teams and create a worldwide recognised brand. Boro Futsal use a red band across a blue kit, which was unashamedly chosen based on Boro's white chest band and I would like to see both clubs sticking with the chest band to create a unique Middlesbrough identity.
Damon Shaw, chairman of Middlesbrough Futsal Club

It's got to be the white chest band! It clearly says "Boro" to the world and I believe it strikes fear into our opponents. Placed across our shirt, it runs to and from our heart for the game! It states boldly our unique, gritty, never-say-die attitude of '86 and the UEFA runs proudly. Let's puff our white chest bands out - it is the Boro tradition and our identity!
David Allen, Brighton

I grew up in the 70s and was first taken to Ayresome Park in '74 as an awestruck seven-year-old. So for me, my first real life view of the Boro was with the chest band. It made us stand out and was unique to us. I have always preferred it as a result of this so I have voted for its return. It might not have been there for most of Boro's history but it is the design that fans of other clubs, as well as the Boro, associate with us. So like it or not it has become synonymous with Boro and has become part of the club's identity. To lose that is a huge marketing mistake. I do think it should be as it was in the 70s though, with the band forming a complete hoop round the shirt, just having it on the front makes it look like it is nothing more than a contrast panel for advertiser's logos. Bring it back - as a complete hoop, with black numbers - and keep it. Like it or not it has become part of the Boro.
A Carter

Bring back our identity! When Boro first introduced the white band it was unique in Britain, nobody had seen a shirt like it. We were the forerunners in a massive change to football kits in the UK. I met Scottish guy once in Australia and he and his mates from Glasgow have followed the Boro's fortunes ever since we first wore the white band, they were 10 years old then!
Brian Abbott, Thailand

There is no questioning the fact that whenever a white chest band is seen on a red shirt, whether it be on a football shirt, a t-shirt, a sweat shirt or any other shirt or top, people identify it with (or think of) Middlesbrough Football Club. It is "our" shirt, "our" history, "our" identity! Middlesbrough's best, and most successful times have been when they were wearing this shirt and this is the reason - along with the identity factor - why it is so popular with the fans. Why keep changing it? Why lose our identity by discarding the chest band so we look like every other team wearing red? The chest band is unique in English football, let's keep it ours. Okay, there will always be the commercial side to changing the shirt, but I think the band is Boro's trademark, and good from a marketing point of view. A white away shirt is always popular amongst the fans too. Incorporate a red chest band on a white top for our away strip and enforce our identity! It makes us unique. C'mon Boro, we've changed our badge twice in as many decades, and our strip countless times. Let people know who we are. Let's get our identity back and re-instate the white chest band, and keep it Boro's brand!
Gary Whittingham

I'm personally surprised the club did away with the band this year. You can attribute the shirt design to years we've done well and years we haven't. Overall, I'm not one for superstition in connection with the shirt. But I'm all for something unique, which is the band across the shirt. It sets us apart from the all red strips that other teams wear and makes us individual. You can look at a shirt with the white band across the chest and instantly recognise its Middlesbrough FC, whether you're opposition team's supporters in the Premiership, or a team which we played in the UEFA Cup. I can't identify whether I see a Middlesbrough supporter, or indeed a Liverpool, Man United supporter etc when I see a plain red shirt in the distance!
Michael Compitus

The white band should be part of the identification of Boro which differentiates us from any other clubs run of the mill red shirt. Let's have a shirt that is totally different to other clubs, so I say the white band has to be reintegrated back into our football heritage.
Malcolm Trotter

In 2008, brand awareness is all. Our website has Korean and Chinese buttons appealing to the vast, Asian markets. There are many plain red shirts. Most patterned football shirts are striped - whilst patterned rugby shirts tend to be hooped, creating an optically broader, squatter, more resolute shape. (Proving the point, my XXXX size, "888" shirt successfully disguises my sylphlike figure). In response to your invitation there has been a constant 75% in favour of bringing back the band.  Please follow this vote by permanently incorporating the band on both the red home shirt and all away variations. Create a sustainable form; it may vary in background colour and with differing sponsor's logo's, but always recognisable as "The Boro".  It is great to see the Boro shirt with the band all over the world.
Lawrence Wright, season ticket holder, Leicester

Yes give us a big white chest band with the new Boro badge slap bang in the middle to bring us happy days because God loves the Boro. PS support our Forces.
Andrew Grey

I think the white band should be brought back as it is a unique and distinctive feature which sets us apart from other teams. Based on the other responses I have read there is also a definite link to previous successes which we need to maintain. One other point that no one has mentioned is that a white band must make it easier for players to make more accurate passes in today's fast game. Crossing into the box to a crowd of players must be easier if a Boro head is above every band of white.
Mark Kilburn

I would like to keep the home kit all red for the following reasons. Middlesbrough's strip is and always will be red. We have had the so called white band. Look at Man United - do they have a white band across the chest? No, they keep it all red. Do Liverpool have a white band across the chest? No, they keep it all red, because that is the tradition of both clubs. Why do we have to want a white chest band and make our shirt look like something that looks like a shirt from the MLS? So come on, keep the traditional all red.
Geoff Wilkinson

My Granddad was a big Boro supporter and I will always remember as a child him telling me that the white band on the Boro strip stood for "no entry"! He died 20 years ago but was the man who swayed me into being a Boro supporter. If he is up there now, he'll be shouting for the band to return!
Stephen Ash

As I grew up with the Charlton team of the 70s, I'm backing the band. That Bukta shirt stood me in good stead for many years, many of which after if no longer fitted me properly. Living in Suffolk there were very few fellow Boro fans about but supporters of other teams instantly knew my where my loyalties lay. I'm hoping that this vote will not only Back the Band for 08/09 but ever more, leave Simply Red for Liverpool. Also bring back the vote on away shirts, I'm not so sentimental about the colours but loved having that choice.
Alex Card, Leiston, Suffolk

Whilst I am old enough to remember the all red pre-band days, the band has since become too iconic to ignore. People keep mentioning branding, which I guess is important, but more important to football supporters is tribalism. The white hoop or band, gives the Boro tribe its unique selling point. When we are at large, be it in Macclesfield or Malaga, we can spot a fellow Boro fan at a hundred paces or more because of his white band/hoop. What's more, so can everyone else. This is very, very important, and it was a mistake to overlook it this year. No-one would dream of tinkering with Real Madrid (copied by Leeds), Juventus, Newcastle United, Ajax, Arsenal, Celtic, all iconic strips. There'd be hell to pay if the clubs started messing about with them. We now have our own iconic strip, and it should stay, with minor variations in collar and piping design. As for the away kit, as a 70s fan, I loved the black and blue away strip, but the idea of borrowing the Ajax white with red hoop design for our away strip is brilliant.
Nick Small

I prefer the whole red shirt as it looks much nicer than the one I had previously (Cellnet). So what if it looks like Manchester or Liverpool shirt? They are both great teams and I would not mind being likened to them. If any change is necessary maybe some white piping would be enough. Anyway, the lion emblem would identify our beloved Boro.
Ron Serge Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

Boro must have the white band on a permanent basis! Teams are recognised by their shirts. Who plays in green and white hoops? Celtic. Who plays in black and white stripes? Newcastle. Who play in red shirts with white arms? Arsenal. See what I'm getting at? Bring back the band!
David Mason

The white band was distinctive from all those other red shirt wearing charlatans bring it back give the Boro identity.
Mark Millington

Well, when you look from a practical point of view, Boro should definitely wear the white band again, and then sit and watch how Tuncay starts to play. You know why? Because that was exactly the style Turkey's national team's shirt used to be!
Can Gokce, Luxembourg

Regarding the great shirt debate - some want to go back to our Inter Milan away shirt, I propose a different design and colour. When I read the history of Middlesbrough Football Club, there was a reference to us playing in mint green and burgundy or chocolate stripes. My suggestion is a mint green shirt, burgundy band and red shorts or just the green and burgundy stripes. It will certainly stand us out from the crowd.
John Hughes

COMMENTS POSTED EARLIER 

I would definitely prefer the white band on the shirt. It's something that's uniquely Boro and makes us stand out from the crowd. I think across Europe I've only seen Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern using it.Also, so many of our best moments have come in shirts bearing the white band, including our adventures in Europe.
Mark Drury BBC Tees Sports Team

It is good to see the football club are asking the fans on what their think on next year's home kit, I for one would like to see the band back. Why? A few reasons. I am 46 years old and the best time for me as a Boro fan was in 1970s under Jack Charlton with the white band. Also if we have the white band other supporters around Britain and the rest of the world know it's the Boro on the TV and not  Liverpool, Charlton etc and which give the football club some identity, also the sponsors of the kit can write their logo on the white band which would stand out more for them.
Geoff Richardson, Middlesbrough Official Supporters Club

I do prefer the white chest band, it's unique and sets the Boro shirt apart from countless other red shirts. It will always be synonymous with Charlton's Champions, a very special Boro side. That along with a blue and black striped away kit would always get my vote.
Jeff Winter, former Premier League referee

The Twe12th Man welcome the decision to give the fans the choice on next years shirt design. From the feedback we have received at meetings and via e-mail it seems that the majority are in favour of the white band on the shirt. It easily identifies us and is unique in the Premier League. Our two successful years in Europe saw us wear a kit with a white band design. Lets hope that as many fans as possible take up the option to vote.
John Donovan, Twe12th Man supporters group

My own thoughts are strongly in favour of incorporating the white chest band on a permanent basis. It is relatively unique in football shirt design - only VfB Stuttgart and Boca Juniors currently use a chest band element with any regularity and those two clubs are worldly synonymous with it. More fundamentally, it is a feature which is absolutely unique to English football and sets the Boro aside from a host of clubs who traditionally wear plain red. From a marketing point of view the chest band would strengthen the Boro brand beyond question and over time help to establish customer loyalty and increase turnover, particularly following the re-brand of the club crest at the start of the current season. The major brands in football are the ones the market easily identifies with. Constant change and the introduction of a wider use of disassociated colours only serve to dilute the brand. From a fans' viewpoint, the introduction of the famous white chest band would give the clubs fans the strong sense of identity they crave. What was once good enough at international level for Turkey in the early 80s should undoubtedly be good enough for the Boro and our current Turkish superstar, Tuncay!
Geoff Thomas, Twe12th Man

I've always liked the white band, I think it gives us a unique identity and sets us aside from your average, bog standard teams in red shirts. Liverpool and Manchester United might have won Premierships and Champions Leagues, but they've never had a nice, big white band across their chests and that gives us the edge in my eyes.
Bob Fischer, presenter of BBC Tees show Gobstopper

I'm firmly backing the band. I was a kid when the white chest band was first introduced for the 1973-4 season under Jack Charlton. We immediately transformed from second division also-rans to Champions by 15 points, and then became an established and much-respected top flight team. More importantly, everyone knew who we were. When it's been reintroduced at various times over the years, it always gives me a lift. It gives us an identity which is unique in club football as far as I know. Without it, we're virtually indistinguishable from the likes of Charlton, Rotherham and Barnsley. With it, we're instantly recognisable as Boro! And as a child of the 70s, the away kit should ideally always be based on the Inter Milan colours! And we need to try to shift the TV gantry to the other side of the pitch so 27,000 looks nearly full instead of half-empty! I probably get asked about that nearly as often as you do - I keep going on about the average crowds compared to the size of the town, but no-one listens.
Paul Armstrong, Match of the Day

I think we should do away with the band and have an all red kit with white socks which we wore when we did so well at Portsmouth. I'm not bothered about the band but I think we should have white with the club crest on.
Dave Parnaby, Academy manager

My favourite all time kit is the Dickens one from when we won promotion to Division One under Bruce Rioch in the late 80s. For obvious reasons I also love the kit we wore when we won the Carling Cup. Bring back the white band!
Paul Addison, BBC Tees commentator

I started supporting Boro in 1967 and my dream was always to see Boro play in Division One (now the Premier League). The dream was achieved following a record breaking promotion season in 1973-74 when Big Jack Charlton introduced the white band and the team seemed unbeatable. The 8-0 demolition of Sheffield Wednesday at Ayresome Park was just one result that underlined their class. The white band was also part of the kit worn by the team led out by Tony Mowbray after the liquidation crisis of 1986, as the players under Bruce Rioch restored footballing pride to Teesside with back to back promotions. The white band is unique to the Boro and is as essential as a good parmo!
Alastair Brownlee

I'm a big fan of the white band, and have been since the Jack Charlton days. I think the band gives the club's strip a special individuality, and separates us from the likes of Liverpool and Morecambe. When fans from other clubs see the white banded shirt from a distance, they know immediately which club it comes from. I do not believe the white band wavers from tradition, because we have had white bands and white shoulders etc on occasions in the past. I also believe the white band should be here to stay. It is recognised as our trademark throughout Europe and we should embrace the future with the white band. And if the club ever plans to test the worldwide market, the white banded shirt is certain to be a bigger seller than an all-red shirt, because of the way in which it stands out among the rest.
Eric Paylor, Evening Gazette

Great news that the club are asking the supporters to vote on a return of the white band. I was so disappointed when we opted to return to a plain red shirt at the start of the season, a "plain red shirt" with nothing to distinguish us from any other team wearing red tops from Man United to our third round cup opponents, Bristol City. There is something unique and very special about our white chest band. We are instantly recognisable and stand out from the crowd. The band says "Boro" and I am always proud to wear it. It's synonymous with great Middlesbrough sides from the legends of Charlton's Champions to the UEFA Cup comeback kings. We excited millions around Europe with our heroics and Middlesbrough FC became a household name all over the continent. Surely it makes sense to return to a shirt design that lit up those screens. It's our own Boro brand and an identity and something to build on, support and wear with pride. Bing back the band.
Robert Nichols, Fly Me To The Moon

I think it's great that the club is consulting the fans on what should be the choice for Boro's next kit. It makes sense to get the fans' view and hopefully will give us more of a stake in our club. Also, given that the supporters buy the shirts in great numbers it should make financial sense to have a shirt that fans like and want to wear. My choice would be to have the white band across the chest. For me, that design is iconic and intrinsically Boro. The band is the brand! It makes us stand out from the crowd and makes a statement of our individuality - rather like Teessiders do wherever they may be!
Andy Walker, chairman, Middlesbrough Supporters South

Absolutely, we should have a white band across the chest! It's our defining kit and should never have been got rid of.
Geoff Vickers, secretary, Middlesbrough Supporters South

Bring back the old Boro spirit, back to the old days when the strip was made out of horse hair!
Alistair Griffin, musician

It's the white hoop that links us to what is important to us as a club, which is our history. So yes to the band.
Robbie Mustoe, former Boro player

White collar and white band please. I've grown up with and I've always seen Boro in the red and white colours.
Lewis Bradley, contestant on ITV's Joseph

I didn't play with the band, but I like it, and it seems to be coming back too. Our fans associate us with the red and white, it stands out and it is historically The Middlesbrough strip. It's ideal for sponsors too because it gives them a clear canvas to advertise on!
Alan Peacock, former Boro and England player

All red for me, red is the dominant Boro colour, it's striking and looks better. We won the Carling Cup in all red too. And how about those vain players, they don't really want a thick white horizontal white line to make them look wider!
George Craig, lead singer of band One Night Only

I would go for the white chest band. For me, Boro were always red and white, it's the white band with makes us stand out on mach of the day. Without it, we could be any other team.
Marrie Wieczorek, MFC Ladies manager

I don't really mind to be honest, but I do like the strip now, as it is - all red.
Andrew Taylor, Boro left-back

The kit with the chest band is not a traditional Middlesbrough strip. Our traditional strip is red shirts, white shorts and red socks. That's what I played in when I was with Boro. So I'm not a great lover of the chest band.
Alex Smith, former Boro player and current kitman

The reason I voted for the white chest band is simple, it makes the Boro shirt distinctive, it is unique in the Premier League and recognised all over the world, whereas a plain red shirt is often mistaken of a Liverpool, Charlton or Man U shirt by the less informed.
Ian Scott, Season Ticket Holder, South West Corner

The white band is uniquely identifiable as belonging to Middlesbrough, just like the white sleeves help to make Arsenal into Arsenal, rather than looking like just another bog-standard red shirt, white shorts, football club. Imagine if Ajax dilly-dallied over whether to keep their red band every so often. It just wouldn't happen! I think Boro's board should make a definitive decision for kit manufacturers to consistently run with the white band from now on rather than chopping and changing. So please, no more messing around with the club's most visually striking symbol.
Kuen-Wah Cheung, Hollingdean

I believe it was a misjudgment to remove the chest band from the shirt. The chest band on the Boro shirts has become an iconic symbol of the club; it is instantly recognisable by fans home and away, it is the Boro! At this time when the manager needs the fans to back the team, the chest band would have given them a manifest sign of individual association with their team, something unique, something to identify with in much the same way as military units take pride in their insignia. The sooner it is reintroduced the better.
Michael Murphy

I am for the chest band. We need a strong identity. Middlesbrough are a small club, without the history or traditions of the established Premier League clubs. The need for a Middlesbrough "Brand" is crucial. We need an identity, a motto and a common unifying goal that represents all that Middlesbrough is about. A unique shirt is crucial that. It should be identifiable from a distance, by football fans the world over. Come on Boro!
James Nugent

I started going to Ayresome in 1973/74 and the white chest band is my first memory of a Boro shirt and it immediately stood out as a unique design. It differentiates us from all the other teams in red and is instantly known as Boro wherever you go. When the Twe12h Man group chose the two flags for the stadium they didn't go for all red, they went for the white band and the blue and black stripes as they are iconic shirts to Boro fans. It gives us our own identity, similar to Arsenal's white arms or Blackburn's halves and it should be permanently adopted as our home shirt. PS We should also return to the blue and black stripes away kit.
M Bramley

Boro need to keep the white band on our shirts! Other than Boro there's Man United, Liverpool and Arsenal all in the top flight wearing red shirts, with a number of Championship clubs towards the top of the table also wearing red. We need the white band to help distance ourselves from these other clubs. We don't want to be the same as the rest. Let us stand out from the crowd!
Gav Roper, Sedgefield

The white chest band is something that every club in England would immediately identify as Middlesbrough. It is part of our identity and because it is different we should keep it. The only problem is that as always we bow to sponsors and their logo goes across the middle. Of all the iconic images of Boro in the 70s it is that of the red lion in the centre of the white that stands out, and that is what the fans would like to see. The sponsor's logo could go above the band and I believe that by doing this it would stand out more as on the current strip, ie white on red. Therefore, to sum up, next season it must be the lion in the centre.
Craig McBurney

Visit MFC Retail's online club shop for all your official Boro merchandise. Click here to go there now.