Liverpool can move back on top of the Premier League on Thursday night if they beat bottom side Sheffield United at Anfield.
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The fixture will be all-red against all-yellow as the Blades don the change kit which harks back to those of the early 1990s.
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The actual default change kits launched in 1989 and 1991 had red shorts and socks – United appeared in such a look away to Brighton & Hove Albion this season, even though a switch wasn’t really needed.
Back in 1992, they were of course forced into a mashup at Anfield for what was the second game of the inaugural Premier League campaign.
In 1991-92, United had worn the black home shorts and socks as alternative away sets as required but the new home strip had white shorts and socks.
Black sets would soon become available – and become the de facto choice for the away kit – but for the Liverpool game they had to take to the field in a yellow-white-white look.
The away shirts had a tiny change in that the new Umbro logo, featuring an uppercase wordmark, was added while the Liverpool home strip also underwent some alterations from 1991-92.
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The most notable were Carlsberg replacing Candy as sponsors and a
special centenary crest but a different, shinier material was used, the adidas stripes were stitched on rather than sublimated and the construction of the shirt included traditional armscye sleeves rather than a batwing design.
One other knock-on effect of the yellow visitors’ shirt was that it caused a very unusual sight in the Liverpool goal. Like most clubs, they had a green first-choice shirt but were caught on the hop by the decision of the Premier League to dress match officials in green.
Yellow had been worn by David James against Nottingham Forest in the first game of the season – when Liverpool wore green and the referee and linesmen were in black – but obviously a third option was needed. So it was that James wore a blue shirt, the same as the Arsenal first-choice GK top.
It proved to be the only outing for that particular piece, with a grey shirt coming to prominence thereafter.
Sheffield United, who had beaten Manchester United in their opener at Bramall Lane four days earlier, went ahead through Brian Deane – his third goal in two games – but Liverpool came back through Paul Stewart and Mark Walters to get the win.
Further Reading
