Manchester United will today launch a new away kit inspired by a regional daily’s long-defunct football edition.

HTFP has previously reported claims that a pink alternative strip, based on the Manchester Evening News’s former Football Pink newspaper, would be produced by the club this season.

United confirmed the rumours on the front cover of their matchday programme ahead of a game against Tottenham Hotspur last night, which they lost 3-0.

Announcing the launch of the kit, United described the Football Pink, which closed in 2007, as a Saturday “institution” which told supporters “everything they needed to know about the afternoon’s football fixtures”.

The announcement added: “Sellers who went into pubs as post-match drinks were being finished virtually had money thrown at them, such was the thirst for the day’s football knowledge. The murmurs of reports and scorers being read out by The Pink buyers captivated fans, who hung on to every word.

“There was a respect from supporters for a service which seemed to defy the technology of the day.”

The club went on to describe the MEN’s former chief United writer David Meek as a “prince in the world of The Pink, crafting great prose as the action unfolded before him”.

It added: “For many years it was the main source of knowledge for fans about the came they loved. But nothing can last forever.

“The Pink eventually succumbed to the digital age and instant goal notifications and on-the-whistle reports in 2007. But its legacy endures and this season The Pink rides again. Not just in the hearts and minds of the fans, but on the backs of their heroes too.”

The new shirt will be available from today at the Adidas store, in Market Street, Manchester.