One of the reasons that yellow or amber change kits became popular in the 1970s was the fact that, by and large, they negated the need for a third strip.
Apart from a few games against Blackpool in 1970 and one against Luton Town in 1975, Arsenal didn’t need a third shirt when they had a yellow away until 1998 while Everton’s 1985 one-off white third was necessitated by a cup clash against Shrewsbury Town.
For 1990-91, Everton had a new yellow change kit – replacing a grey-and-white-striped top that effectively been superseded by a yellow third, but that’s another story – and no third strip was needed. It was the same case in 1991-92 but the first season of the Premier League saw the introduction of a salmon and navy second kit.
While it wasn’t an issue against blue teams, with salmon change shorts often worn, Everton did find themselves needing a third kit for ‘half-clash’ games and so a white Umbro teamwear shirt – similar to Chelsea’s 1990-91 third but with a different fabric pattern – was called upon.
Against Crystal Palace in January 1993, it was used with the home shorts and white change socks (used at Tottenham), while the blue home change shorts appeared for the game at Aston Villa in February.
Seemingly, the shirts were only available in long-sleeved format, while the use of the lower-case Umbro logo would indicate that there were in the kitroom in the 1991-92 season – hopefully nobody had to go to the trouble of removing the old Football League sleeve patches and applying new Premier League ones.
For 1993-94, another white third shirt was used – this one with navy pinstripes and shorts, identical to that used by Manchester City that season.
