From 1974-93, the two years from 1986-88 was the only period where Aston Villa did not wear light-blue socks with their first strip.
Asics’ two-year stint saw the club in white socks and then, when Reebok succeeded them in 1995, claret primary socks returned for the first time since 1970.
For the American firm’s second home offering, launched in 1997 – the beginning of one-year cycles, Villa one of the earliest top-flight adopters after Middlesbrough – blue returned as the main sock colour, albeit complemented with claret hoops and white tops.
The v-necked shirt and the shorts featured a zig-zag pattern running through it, while the new change strip was an unusual but quite nice style, a mainly blue shirt having a white panel and claret bar across the lower midriff.
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The shorts for that kit were also white with claret and blue trim, but arranged differently to the home set.
In the first two seasons with Reebok, Villa had used the shorts from their away kit with the home shirt when required – sky-blue incongruously trimmed with navy and red in 1995-96 and then claret for 1996-97.
Obviously, such a practice was not possible for 1997-98 and so there was a bespoke set of blue shorts that were worn when clashes arose. For the FA Cup third-round game away to Portsmouth, the blue shorts and the white away socks saw action together.
The blue shorts were also paired with the away shirt away to the likes of Barnsley, Manchester United and West Ham United, while the blue shorts and the home socks appeared at Arsenal and Crystal Palace.
One might have expected that the latter fixture would be a cause for a third kit but Villa did not use one in any of their domestic fixtures that season as they finished seventh in the FA Carling Premiership. However, for five of their eight Uefa Cup games, the previous season’s away jerseys were worn.
Drawn against Bordeaux of France in the opening round, they wore the white shirts and claret shorts with the new away socks – modified versions to comply with Uefa rules on logos and team markings – in a scoreless draw in France (the only game in which the shorts were seen) and the home kit was used in 1-0 extra-time home triumph.
The next round was against Athletic Club of Bilbao, with both clubs in their usual kits for both legs as Villa prevailed 2-1 on aggregate.
Then, for both the third-round defeat of Steaua Bucharest and the quarter-final loss against Atlético Madrid, Villa wore all-white in both legs, with the home shorts chosen.
