Category Archives: Midweek Mashup

Midweek Mashup – Ireland at the US Cup, 1992

28 Wednesday Jun 2017

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While the Republic of Ireland didn’t make it to Euro 92,  they were involved in another tournament that summer.

Along with hosts USA, Italy and Portugal, Ireland were involved in the inaugural US Cup at the end of May and start of June 1992, each side playing each other once. While Ireland wore their normal kit in losing their opener against the home side – who also had white shorts – Jack Charlton’s side went with mono-colour looks for their other two games.

While the shirts were effectively the same as those used at the World Cup in 1990, Ireland had changed their crest in 1991 and frontal numbers were used for the first time (though the numbers on the front of the shirts and the shorts differed from those on the back).

The first match was a 3-1 loss to the home side, with both in home kits. There was a shorts clash but Ireland hadn’t mixed and matched strips at Italia 90 and so this wasn’t surprising. However, all-green was worn against Italy, who were in their away kit.

Republic-of-Ireland-1992-adidas-home-jersey-US-Cup-Italy-green-shorts-01

Incidentally, it wasn’t the first time Ireland had changed shorts against them, having done so in a friendly in 1985, too. The Italians didn’t have a maker’s logo on their shirts at the time, so they placed the front number on the right breast.

A 2-0 loss ended any hopes Ireland had of winning, though a win was achieved in the final match against Portugal, also 2-0. This time, Ireland were in all-white.

Republic-of-Ireland-1992-adidas-away-jersey-US-Cup-Portugal-white-shorts-01-01

Midweek Mashup – Liverpool, 1976

21 Wednesday Jun 2017

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As far back as the early 1970s – when the FA mandated that sock-clashes should be solved – Liverpool tended to alter the elements of their away kit as and when required.

In 1970-71, for example, they wore the usual white shirts, black shorts and white socks, but also used change white shorts and the red home socks as and when the opposition’s home kit required them to change.

Another variation seen was white shirts, white shorts and red socks, usually against Southampton, who tended to wear black shorts and white socks.

When the Saints were relegated in 1974, they still had a ‘normal’ striped shirt, but the clubs’ next meeting, in the 1976 Charity Shield, saw them in a different outfit.

Having won that year’s FA Cup final against Manchester United in a brand-new yellow and blue Admiral away kit, the Charity Shield was to be the first outing for their first Admiral home.

Southampton-1976-1977-Admiral-home-kit-shirt-Charity-Shield-Liverpool

Presumably unaware of the addition of predominantly white sleeves to the Southampton shirt, Liverpool opted for white-white-red:

Liverpool-1976-Umbro-away-alternative-white-shorts-Charity-Shield-Southampton

It wasn’t an egregious clash, but a case could have been made that the normal all-red Liverpool home would have provided better differentiation:

 

Southampton wouldn’t be back in Division 1 until 1978-79, and in the clubs’ meeting at the Dell in April ’79, Liverpool wore the yellow third kit they had premiered in the draw FA Cup semi-final and replay against Manchester United (when cup rules forced both teams to change).

Midweek Mashup – France, 1998

07 Wednesday Jun 2017

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Another two-parter today, albeit with the same side at the same tournament.

In hosting the World Cup in 1998, France wore their classic tricolore look – paying homage to the 1984 European Championship-winning kit. This kit was used in qualifying from a group which included Denmark, Saudi Arabia and South Africa as well as the last-16 golden-goal win over Paraguay (which was a little bit overall-clashy).

That meant a quarter-final tie with Italy, and an early example of what we have to know as FIFA’s preference for one-colour kits. Though France were the hosts, Italy were the home team for the game but, rather than having blue-white-blue v white-blue-white, instead the Italians changed shorts to make an all-blue look while France wore their home shorts with their away shirts and socks.

It’s  difficult to make out from here, but a nice touch was that, instead of ‘F.F.F.’, the crest featured individual match details, in this instance ‘France Italie 03-07-98’.

adidas-1998-France-away-maillot-shirt-World-Cup-white-shorts-Italy

One penalty shootout win later and France were in the semi-finals, with surprise package Croatia the opposition after they had beaten Germany 3-0.

Technically, there was only a shorts clash to deal with, but Croatia’s first-choice socks were blue. A sensible compromise was reached in that France switched shorts while Croatia wore white socks, creating plenty of distinction.

adidas-1998-France-maillot-shirt-World-Cup-blue-shorts-Croatia

Though Croatia went ahead, Lilian Thuram scored his only two France goals as they advanced and they were back in their traditional kit for the 3-0 win over Brazil in the final.

Two years later, France would go on to hold the European Championship as well as the World Cup, beating Italy 2-1 in the final, wearing blue-blue-red as the Italians wore white.

It was a look seen at Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006 too, but at Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010, they opted to bring blue change socks instead. Let’s just say they got what they deserved.

Midweek Mashup – Manchester United v Watford, 1984

31 Wednesday May 2017

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  • As ever, any interesting information on Manchester United kits comes from the experts at UnitedKits.com.

A two-for-one today, featuring looks common to both clubs, but a match-up born of a mix-up.

On the opening day of the 1984-85 season, Watford came to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United. Unlike the season just gone, when the Hornets preferred to wear their away kit at every available opportunity, back then they preferred to mix and match their home and away kits as necessary.

Manchester United’s home combination of red shirts, white shorts and black socks meant that the usual Watford home kit of yellow shirts with red shorts and socks could be worn at Old Trafford.

However, as Peter Jordan discovered, the Football League handbook for 84-85 listed United’s home kit as having red and white hooped socks. Watford, ever conscientious, brought their black away socks with them, replicating the look they appeared in at Highbury, the City Ground and other red-socked sides.

1983-1985-Watford-Umbro-home-kit-black-socks-Manchester-United

Watford had done nothing wrong and so referee David Hutchinson insisted United wear the socks detailed by the handbook, but of course they didn’t exist. As a compromise, they agreed to find alternative socks.

With the new adidas kits having only been launched a few days before the start of the season, the white socks from the away strip weren’t available – that kit wouldn’t be worn until October – and so a quick dash to a sports shop was necessary to buy 13 pairs of white socks.

1984-1986-adidas-Manchester-United-home-kit-shirt-white-change-socks-Watford

Kick-off was delayed slightly as a result, and a late Nigel Callaghan equaliser earned Watford a 1-1 draw. Incidentally, the return fixture wouldn’t be until the final day of the season, with United wearing their home white shorts with the away shirt and socks in losing 5-1 at Vicarage Road.

Midweek Mashup – Tottenham Hotspur, 1981

24 Wednesday May 2017

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  • Another suggestion by Lee Hermitage – read about Tottenham’s drink problems in the 1987 FA Cup final here

Next season will see Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League for the first time, the club back in the top flight for the first time since 1983.

The Seagulls will be in their customary blue and white stripes, so when Tottenham go there they will wear a change kit in what will be an all-Nike match-up. This is what happened when the clubs met in Division 2 in 1978, for instance.

Having been promoted in 1979, Brighton opted for a change in their second season in Division 1, 1980-81, going with an all-blue adidas kit. This meant that Spurs could wear their home shirts at the Goldstone Ground, though a shorts change was required .

This was Tottenham’s first season with Le Coq Sportif and, while they would produce white shorts for the following season’s European Cup Winners’ Cup campaign, their only option here was to wear the yellow away set.

Tottenham-Hotspur-Spurs-Le-Coq-Sportif-1980-1981-kit-yellow-shorts-Brighton

The concept of using yellow elements with the home kit wasn’t that new – they had worn yellow socks in the 1971 League Cup final, for example – but this look was certainly out of the ordinary.

We’re not fans of yellow shirts with white shorts, but this wasn’t totally horrific. It didn’t affect performance either, as Spurs won 2-0.

As to whether blue shorts against navy is actually clash, that seems to be a subjective matter – in 1983, Spurs didn’t have to change.

Midweek Mashup – Southampton, 1986

17 Wednesday May 2017

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Southampton don’t tend to ‘do’ change shorts with their home kit all that much.

They did occasionally don white shorts at Tottenham in the late 80s, while the interchangeable nature of their kits in 2001-02 and 2002-03 meant that it was done then too, most notably in the FA Cup semi-final against Watford.

As far as we can ascertain, this year’s Europa League clash away to Inter Milan was the first time since 2003 that they wore stripes with anything other than black shorts, as their away would have clashed with the Italian side too.

Primarily red shirts in 2012-13 and 2013-14 were paired with red shorts as first-choice, but it was not a completely new look for the club.

Southampton spent seven years with Patrick from 1980, and the French firm seemed keen to deviate away from the famous stripes. Their first shirt for the Saints, which lasted five years, was technically stripes, but just one white one between two red.

In 1985, they continued the move away, with just white and black shoulder panels taking from red’s dominance, while the only stripes were shadow ones in the fabric.

The classic black shorts and white socks remained, meaning a change was needed when Southampton travelled to face white-socked Everton in the penultimate game of the season.

Everton were still chasing a second successive title, but were two points behind rivals Liverpool and, perhaps seeking to spook them, Southampton opted for red shorts as well as the change socks.

Southampton-1985-1987-Patick-home-kit-shirt-red-shorts-socks-Everton

If it was mind-games, it was not a successful ploy – Everton won 6-1, and would also beat West Ham the following week, but Liverpool’s final-day win at Chelsea ensured they regained the title and they would also beat Everton in the FA Cup final.

Midweek Mashup – Everton, 2007

10 Wednesday May 2017

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It seems like it shouldn’t work, Everton wearing blue shirts, white shorts and white socks playing away to Sheffield Wednesday.

Everton-Umbro-2007-2007-navy-third-white-short-socks-Sheffield Wednesday

In the summer of 2007, the Toffees launched a new all-navy third kit with royal blue and white trim, joining the classic home style and a white and black away – though a white and navy away, or all-black third, would have allowed interchangeability of the away and third shorts and socks.

While the logic of two blue shirts might have been called into question, the overall look was closer to black than blue, with no problems against teams in royal and white.

In the third round of the Carling Cup, Everton were drawn away to Sheffield Wednesday, who had black shorts and socks that season, necessitating a change on Everton’s part, with home shorts and socks mixed with the third shirt.

A slight hint of an overall clash, perhaps, but the blue sleeves on the Wednesday home meant the white didn’t show up as much and the Everton shorts and socks didn’t add to the confusion.

Midweek Mashup – Netherlands, 1988

26 Wednesday Apr 2017

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We all remember the game between the Netherlands and the USSR at Euro 88, don’t  we?

 

The fact that it’s Vasily Rats of the Soviet Union scoring a goal rather than Ruud Gullit or Marco van Basten should be enough of a giveaway that this was the group game between the countries.

Kit-nerds will, of course, have spotted another difference from the final – both teams were in white shorts.

Successful kits tends to be remembered with extra fondness – would, for example, plain red England change shirts be so popular if the country had won the toss for colours in the 1966 World Cup final? Such emotions are amplified when it’s a strip with a shorter lifespan, as was the case with the Dutch.

Netherlands-adidas-1988-European-Championship-final-USSR-Van-Basten-01-01

The kit above was of course the one worn in the final as the Netherlands beat the USSR 2-0, the first and still only time the country has won major silverware.

The shirt is rightly lauded – The Football Attic ranked it as the third-best of all-time – but it was in fact only worn in the five games at Euro 88 in West Germany. Holland’s last match before the finals was a friendly against Romania and the first after the success was a World Cup qualifier at home to Wales, with a plain orange shirt with white v-neck worn in both. Incidentally, Wales were forced to come up with a one-off white third kit as their red home and yellow away both clashed with the orange.

While the Netherlands have primarily worn white or black shorts with orange shirts, the outfit in the final featured the orange shorts of the away kit mixed with the home shirts and socks.

Presumably the rationale was that this was better than a white shorts-clash or the Soviets switching to red shorts – the Euro 92 semi-final between the Netherlands and Denmark proved that such a match-up wasn’t great on the eyes in terms of an overall clash.

The all-orange look – and the shirt itself – are certainly rare, but the association with such a big success means that they have a lasting legacy.

Midweek Mashup – Arsenal, 1991-92

19 Wednesday Apr 2017

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In recent years, Arsenal have been more than happy to adjust elements of their change kits.

This graphic was one we compiled on another of our sites showing all of the one-off combinations up to the end of 2012-13, while since then we have seen a quasi-Brazil look as well as an awful choice at Sheffield Wednesday, among others.

It wasn’t always like that, though. Until 1991, when the shorts of their away kit would cause a clash with their hosts, Arsenal would wear the white shorts of the home kit, a look first seen at Anfield, oddly enough, in 1977 (thanks to The Arsenal Shirt on Twitter for drawing our attention to that).

The yellow-white-yellow persisted throughout the 80s and up until the 1990-91 title-winning season, mainly at Southampton and sometimes at Sunderland and Sheffield United – incidentally, we have yet to ascertain if the home shorts were worn with the green away shirt at the Dell in 1982-83.

That all changed in 1991-92, though. Since arriving in 1986, the only deviation in the classic Arsenal home and away colourways that adidas had provided was the white socks worn at Watford but now, for the first time, yellow shorts were available.

adidas-Arsenal-1991-1992-away-shirt-kit-bruised-banana-alternative-yellow-shorts-Wright-hat-trick-Southampton

With new signing Ian Wright having scored on his debut away to Leicester City in the Rumbelows Cup on September 25 (wearing number 9, for the only time in his Arsenal career), he made his league bow away to The Saints on September 28 and scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 win.

Incidentally, Wright would also bag three goals at home to Southampton in a 5-1 win on the final day of the season, securing fourth place, with the yellow shorts having been worn away to Sheffield United in the fourth-last game too.

As mentioned in a recent article, when the Premier League was established, shorts-clashes were no longer required to be dealt with, and so Arsenal dispensed with the yellow shorts, wearing the normal away kit at Southampton (Sheffield United had switched to white home shorts for 92-93).

The next time they would wear yellow shorts would be against Mallorca on September 11, 2001, while the all-yellow look wouldn’t return until the 2010-11 season.

Midweek Mashup – AC Milan, 2007

12 Wednesday Apr 2017

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We’ve written recently about AC Milan’s preference for all-white kits in European Cup and Champions League finals, so much so that they created bespoke outfits in 1989, 1990, 1994 and 1995.

The last time that the rossoneri were continental kingpins was a decade ago, when the all-white worked its magic against Liverpool in the final, unlike two years previously. Earlier in that campaign though, they appeared in a look that was quite unusual for them.

While shorts and socks clashes continued to be allowed in Serie A until the early 90s, in Europe Milan had begun to wear black shorts and socks with their home shirts when the need arose, with white socks having replaced black as the first choice in the late 80s – some attribute this to Ruud Gullit but we haven’t yet found proof.

The change kit remained sacrosanct, and a series of third and fourth kits were worn rather than sullying it with dark shorts, while a meeting with Paris St-Germain in 2001 provided the only example of socks being swapped.

When Milan were drawn with Manchester United in the Champions League in 2005, they wore all-white in the away leg as their hosts switched to black shorts and socks, despite the fact that they had a gold third kit available.

Two years later, however, they were paired with United again and, though they were in third of what would prove to be eight straight seasons with a black third kit, this time they modified the away, mixing it with the third kit shorts and home socks.

AC-Milan-2007-adidas-white-away-kit-black-shorts-Manchester-United-Old-Trafford-Kaka

After Cristiano Ronaldo put United ahead with an early goal, a brace from Kaká gave the visitors the lead. Even though Wayne Rooney equalised and then got an injury-time winner, a 3-2 defeat was far from a bad result for Milan and they triumphed 3-0 at home.

As luck would have it, the following season they would don a similar look in England, away to Arsenal in the last 16, drawing 0-0 at the Emirates Stadium before losing 2-0 at home.

In more recent times, games at Bologna have seen changes at Bologna, initially red shorts and white socks but more recently black shorts.