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Tottenham Hotspur '81 And The 10 Greatest Football Kits Of All Time
The new England kit was revealed yesterday, borrowing heavily from the Germany '66 World Cup strip. The real golden decade of football kits however was the '80s. Here are 10 reasons why.
Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, Napoli, Inter away and seven other brilliant football kits…
It all started to go wrong towards the latter half of 1989. Strange detail started to sully the shirts of England’s old First Division – expressionistic flecks on Liverpool’s Candy sponsored jersey; a terrible zigzag effect making a mess of Manchester City’s; a strange bark-like pattern upon Everton’s; and a geometric mash-up staining Chelsea’s. Tottenham Hotspur went from beautiful plain white to go faster stripes.
Abroad there were similar crimes of fashion as Adidas, Umbro and their lesser rivals all went a little mad, churning out sartorial atrocities replete with excessively silky fabrics, ultra wide v-neck collars, and thick misplaced stripes.
Football shirts began to resemble something you’d wear to a Happy Mondays gig.
Prior to such abominations we were treated to classic templates that flattered the most incongruous of club colours; simple collars, minimal trim, and pared down club crests that adorned shirts that actually flattered the physique.
Whilst the eighties was the decade that taste forgot in football the opposite applied, as pitches were graced with some of our finest ever creations. It was our golden era for kit design and I make no apologies for including ten of the very best in this all-time list.
Tottenham Hotspur 1980-82
Not only a huge improvement on the preceding Admiral kit but as pure and unadulterated as a football kit gets. All white, blue trim and a lone cockerel on the chest. Thee greatest Tottenham Hotspur kit ever.
Brazil: 1980s
You can take your pick form a number of Brazilian shirts, but 1982 just about edges it over both 1970 and 1986. Is their a finer footballing image than the sight of a bearded Socrates resplendent in yellow, blue and white? I’m not sure there is.
England: 1984 -1987
Forget 1966 – get up close to that and it will remind anyone of a certain age of their unforgiving PE fatigues – 1986 is where it’s at. The qualifying version was best because it had elasticated sleeves that matched the v-neck. At that year’s World Cup itself England wore an ‘airtex’ version with loose sleeves to aid with the climate, but still with the same dark navy blue shorts.
Never before has the traditional blue shirt/white short combo worked so well
Internazionale Away: 1988-1991
As if the home effort wasn’t breathtaking enough, the Germans at Uhlsport came up with this beauty. Emblazoned first with Inter’s short-lived Serpent logo during their victorious Serie A campaign of 1988-89, the Scudetto to commemorate the aforementioned triumph for 1989-90, before returning to Inter’s now familiar original signature for the 1990-91 season, it is a football shirt of rare simplicity.
Ajax/Arsenal: 1970-80s
Both these teams looked great in 70s and 80s, only for them to fall foul of the 1990s football shirt apocalypse. Arsenal showed admirable signs of recovery last season, wearing what was probably the best English shirt of 2010/2011. It remains to be seen whether this proves to a mere flash in fashion’s pan. Meanwhile, the sight of Johan Cruyff in his Ajax pomp poses a serious threat to Socrates’ reputation as one of the coolest footballers going.
Barcelona: 1982 – 1989
Enough said.
The Netherlands: 1978 & 1988
The Netherlands had been wearing quality kits for years when in 1988 Adidas forced this strange configuration upon them, but, oddly, it worked. In retrospect we can see this shirt as a harbinger of the experimentation that was to come – it’s no coincidence that Adidas was responsible. (West) Germany got to wear a green version as their away strip, and the Soviet Union a red one for their home.
Everton 1984-86
Never before has the traditional blue shirt/white short combo worked so well – it’s the predominance of white that does it. This was the heyday of the British football strip with Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal all making worthwhile contributions to the trend. Everton edge it, though, for their subtle reworking of the colour blue – these things matter.
Napoli: 1986 – 1992
To be honest, you could pick any number of Italian kits from this era – Fiorentina, Torino, Juventus, AC Milan – but there’s something about Maradona that pushes this kit into a higher realm. Regardless of what you think of the man, he was a colossus.
Vasco de Gama: 1988
White with a black diagonal sash, a huge red ‘Order of Christ’ cross acting as the club’s badge, and – on the classic Adidas 1988 contribution that has forced its inclusion here, at least – Coca Cola writ large as more of an emblem than a sponsor. Actually, Brazilian club shirts are generally of a very high standard, and it wouldn’t be hard to make a case for Flamengo’s inclusion in my top ten too.
France: 1980s
It’s 1986: France are 1-0 down to Brazil and it’s approaching half time, when suddenly Michel Platini pounces upon a deflected Rochetaeu cross, side foots it into the net before peeling away to celebrate his equaliser. On his birthday no less. I swear he’s wearing a St. Christopher around his neck, but photographic evidence proves inconclusive. It’s another fine French shirt he’s wearing, but take your pick: Mexico 86, Espania 82, Euro 84… be it made by Le Coq Sportif or Adidas, as they invariably have been, it’s a kit with a fine pedigree.
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COMMENTS
everton's bib kit from 85/6 is their worst of that decade id say. the real kiddy was 84/5's 'secret', almost mythical 3rd kit. it was grey, the team played in it once if at all and you couldnt buy it anywhere. everton's commercial dept - setting the standards
The current design of the cockerel is the best ever, even taking into account the ancient football on which the beautiful bird stands. This links the past with the present perfectly. In my opinion, every sponsor's badge is an eyesore, but this is the world we live in. The current sponsor, Aurasma, sounds to much like Orgasma for my liking.
The greatest two kits ever to meet in a final were perhaps the Man City v Spurs kits of the classic '81 Final. I'd argue that Man City kit is perhaps even better than the legendary Spurs kit. Interesting that these two teams never play games against eachother now in their home strips even though City have been wearing white shorts for 25 of the last 26 seasons. In '81, both sides wore different shades of blue shorts yet neither saw the need to wear their away strips. How times change. Everton thing is wrong. The 85-86 kit - which Biff Bifferson picks up on - was widely loathed by their fans for the massive white panel on the blue short. I'm guessing the writer meant the home kit of '83-85, during which Everton won three trophies. Liverpool's pin striped kit of '82-85 was a huge backwards step on the classic '76-82 home kit, so not sure the mid-80s was the era it's cracked up to be for kits.
I'd also argue strongly for the Forest home and maybe even yellow and blue trimming away kit of their '77-80 glory years. Forest's kit looked even more iconic with the red shorts they frequently wore away from home.
forests late 70s efforts were superb. i think one of those shirts was back in the shops recently
Mate, that Everton kit is awful.
You've kind of undermined your own argument by including that repulsive Netherlands strip.
Holland's 1990 kit was far superior.
No mention of Huddersfield's bruised banana kit? Saw them wear it & get tonked 10-1 at Maine Rd in 1987
BB - re: the "mythical" Everton grey kit worn at Chelsea August 1984 (1-0 Richardson) You wouldn't have seen anyone wearing it in the away end that night for a reason that had fuck all to do with Everton's marketing department ..... ;-)
Dukla Prague away kit?
Best kit ever? Easy, Leeds Utd circa 1973-76. Made by Admiral with Smiley badge...sock tags optional! Classic.
Oh, & have to give grudging respect to that white ManU away shirt from late 1970's?, the one made by admiral with the three black stripes.
The Palace home kit of the late 70s-early 80s, with the red and blue sash, made think first by Admiral and later by Adidas, was a beautiful strip. Why they have, for the last quarter of a century persisted in wearing their poor Barcelona imitation strip instead, except for one season, is beyond me. The white and black away strip with red trimmings, worn by Liverpool from '76-81, most famously worn in the '77 Cup Final loss to Man U and against West Ham in the '81 League Cup Final replay was beautiful, and I'd argue their original all-silver away strip with red trimmings, which unleashed the team of Barnes-Beardsley-Aldridge on an unsuspecting First Division back in the summer of '87 was as iconic as United's all black away strip (much imitated since then) of 93-95. Another contender - West Ham's adidas home strip of '80-83. Their '81 2nd Division title winning side remains the strongest non top flight side I've ever seen - Brooking, Goddard, Devonshire, Bonds, Parkes, Cross et al. And perhaps Villa, Southampton (when Keegan joined) and Ipswich home strips of '80-82 (80-81 in Villa's case) are also worth noting. All of these strips were superior to anything on show in today's overhyped Premiership.
Norwich's kits of the 80-82 (addidas), 84-84 (hummel), and 89-92 (asics) seasons were all gorgeous. Equal or better than any of the kits in the list above.
Nice list. Of current kits- the France away ‘marinière’ shirt is a cut above the rest.
Actually thought this article was being ironic, given you've chosen so many god awful kits. That Holland one is possibly their worst ever, ditto the Everton one from the Lineker "era". Southampton's sash kit from last year is the best one I've seen in recent times. Huddersfields next season looks neat too. Still, as we're constantly told "Football's all about opinions"...
ha ha ha some twat has put the everton kit in there?!?!?!?!?!
It's long staggered me that in this Premiership era of marketing and increasing brand awareness, clubs keep changing their strips every season. Obvious culprits Utd are by no means the worst offenders (their current home strip was bizarrely a tribute to the '80-81 side that finished 8th in the old First Division and cost Dave Sexton his job - tribue?). Villa and Middlesbrough change their home strips every other season, Boro have been doing this for years, as do Chelsea now. Look at the mess the Barca kit's become since 2005. ANd I'm not talking about the sponsorship thing - I'm talking about their actual kit and the messing around with the stripes and in particular the frequent abandoning of their classic dark blue shorts. Google pics of Lineker in his Barcelona pomp and see what a stunning strip the Barca home kit was for many years. But the days of classic kits are long gone, where the likes of Liverpool '76-82, Southampton '80-85, Arsenal throughout the 70s, and so on, kept their strips for a number of years. If you look at pictures of United's trophy successes over the last 21 years, how many different strips have their captains worn when lifting the trophy? How does that make sense? Sure, the new kits bring in money as mugs buy them and fat men in their forties get the name of some young millionaire printed onto their shirt, but there's nothing classic about those kits. A club will barely wear the same home strip for more than 60-70 games in its lifetime before discarding it. There will never be another classic/iconic strip again. They're simply not around long enough and any club establishing an era of domination will be picking up those trophies wearing various different strips, each design, more often than not, worse than the other. Where is the brand awareness here? How can the marketing people behind these multiple kit changes be football men? Can they not see the flaw in what they're doing? Who gives a fuck how many recycled bottles a kit's been made from when it looks like shit.
Italy 82 home. Beautiful.
No Fiorentina kit, no pionk Parma kit or Inter Milan white with red cross, and worst of all no Coventrry City brown kit circa 1982?
Everton are my second team but even I can see that that kit was godawful. Pushed close by the dreadful Holland shirt which looks cheap and nasty.
To not have any Sampdoria home kits, nor AC Milan home kit is more than an oversight.
Maybe I'm biased, but Scotland's '78 umbro kit takes some beating. Germany's 1990 kit is also class.
Agree with Mr Patrick re. Scotland's '78 kit with the umbro piping worn by many British sides at the time. Germany's 1990 kit though - I always find it troubling when a country has to splash its flag and ruin an otherwise quality kit. I'd argue for West Germany's 82 kit. The Argentina home strip of the 78 World Cup - forget the tiny home shorts - is a classic. Italy's all white away strip at Euro 2000 was as stunning as what was arguably the best international tournament since Euro '84.
That Everton kit pictured isn't the one I refer to in the article (indeed, it seems that many unwanted details have been slipped in through the back door. I can't recall alluding to Tottenham; the editor must be a Spurs fan). In fact, AC Milan, Fioerentina and Juventus were all mentioned in my original contribution.
For the full article, please follow this link: http://exileonjamesstreet.blogspot.com/2011/06/decline-of-football-shirt.html
Wow - your article is way better than the version they've published; the guy who edited it must be some sort of egomaniac to piss all over that.
Agreed. You've been 'sub-otaged'.
I know - it kind of defeats the object of the whole piece, which was intended as a study of how the quality of kits slid throughout the 1990s. And the way he's self-indulgently shoe-horned Spurs into the piece beggar’s belief.
'sub-otaged' - I like it.
So what did you say when they ran the changes by you? Surely your culpable, simply for playing along with the whole charade?
That's the rub - they didn't run any changes by me. They just went ahead and published this Frankenstein’s monster of an article, assuming I would want to be associated with it.
That’s rough, man.
Got to add a vote for Leeds early 70's and Sampdoria (any era). Logos are a whole different category... Spurs and Forest come to mind in the UK with the hamburg shape in a rectangle and Dutch lion deserving credit.
dont agree with the list but a couple of classics
Lazy editing and the choice of pics/comments is unbelievable...Brazil 'Topper' kit from '86 when the classic (and even the picture tag) was '82, Platini in an adidas made France shirt that 'made a generation fall in love with le coq sportif'? A Napoli shirt that was 'possibly the greatest shirt ever' but hang on... where's the Mars logo? Really poor.
Having been in the thick of things working with both the Umbro and adidas brands in the 1970's through 1990's era this forum is of interest to me! Daniels comment on the pin striped Liverpool kit brings the memories flooding back....... Sometimes kits were approved by the Chairman, other times by management, and here is how the pin stripe strip was approved..... I visit Bob Paisley at his Anfield office and show him the pin stripe strip that Chairman John Smith had approved, but wanted Bob's final nod. Bob, wearing the famous green cardigan knitted by his wife pulls on the sample shirt, adjusts his tie and says " How does it look?" "Looks great Bob"' I respond!
Good to read that post, Umbro Charlie. That pin striped kit was by no means the worst kit Liverpool ever had. Pin striped kits were actually ok but they seemed to open the gate to more horrific designs as the 80s went on. I'm curious as to whether Kit guys like yourselves ever try to pitch a strip well aware that it is inferior to the kit that the team already has. For example, that pinstriped effort which Liverpool first wore against Spurs in the '82 Charity Shield was a vastly inferior product to the classic '76-82 home umbro strip. It never attained the same cult status among fans. And few kits over the last 25 years have done so simply because of how frequently they change them. It'd be good to read more from you.
Toon Kit mid-eighties to early nineties. Blue Star era. Carlisle United's strip early 70's to eighties. Blue with red-lined white centre panel with a gold embroidered leaping fox. Beautiful.
Cracking anecdote, Umbro Charlie.
Thanks for comments... Daniel......at Umbro the was back in that era a respect for each club's traditions and we were more likely to "push the boat out" for an away or third kit design. I never recall that we tried to impose something worse than the preceding kit, but beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder! Our design department was I think ahead of it's time and we enjoyed excellent relationships with fabric suppliers to develop new ideas. Contrast to adidas whose philosophy was, (and to a great extent still is), to promote/force feed the 3 stripes above all. When adidas signed Manchester United in c. 1982, the first shirt was basically their standard tee shirt with a club badge attached. I recall pointing this out to Kathe Dassler, (Adi Dassler's wife), and she was very unimpressed with my comment! Ensuing sales ratified my observation.
Charlie, I remember that first United adidas kit. You're right. It was essentially an adidas top with a Utd badge. Bizarrely, the nike home strip last year - assuming they're keeping it on this year - is meant to be a tribute to that Utd side - Sexton's last season 80-81, and the two kits, despite one being adidas and the other nike, are pretty similar.
Love Man Utd's white away kit of late 70s
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