The jury still seems to be out on England’s latest official kit: we like it, many have called it a glorified PE kit, and most of you don’t want to buy it.
With this in mind, The Spoiler has compiled our top five national strips of all time, and no, that rubbish grey Euro 96 strip didn’t make the cut….
The 1997-1999 home shirt
Shifting the crest and manufacturer’s logo to the centre was a gamble that paid off for this strip, even if it looked a bit like Shearer and co were turning out for the People’s Republic of Umbro. It’s not remembered as fondly as the Euro ‘96 home shirt, but England had one of their highest success rates of the nineties sporting this design, winning thirteen out of twenty-two games.
The 1973 third shirt
Dismissing the idea of sporting any of the country’s usual trio of colours, this treason-tastic yellow kit with blue shorts was modelled during a spate of friendlies in the summer of 1973. An homage to South America’s recently crowned world-champions, the team was nothing like watching Brazil: our boys managed one draw and two defeats in the shirt, before angrily consigning it to the bottom of the FA wardrobe.
New strip is as plain as Capello’s brand of football
After Bayern Munich ruined the conventional kit launch with their sexy interpretative dance routine, England decided to reveal their latest strip on the pitch this weekend before steamrollering Slovakia. Anyone with an internet connection had already seen leaked pictures of the old school effort, but the modest plain white was shocking enough for Five Live’s Alan Green to label it “grotesque”. Which, of course, it isn’t.
We at The Spoiler thoroughly approve of the new design, but we might wait until Mike Ashley’s shop slashes the £39.99 price tag before purchasing.
Will you be getting one?
Let us know with a vote and comment below…
Spoiler bonus: The kit is available for purchase on Wednesday. Pre-order it here
Will JT and Lampsie wear this thing in South Africa?
Official England kit manufacturer UMBRO were keen to reveal the new 2009-11 home strip at the Slovakia friendly on March 28. According to our hombres at Off the Post, however, these pictures show the strip that will soon be piled high in Soccer World shops all over the country.
As you can see, they’ve forsaken the traditional blue trim and opted for an aesthetic feel that may be described as “rubbish” or “crap”.
Hopefully, this is just a training top, and not the kit that our boys will be wearing while they fail to meet our ludicrously high expectations next summer.
Spoiler bonus quiz question: Usually, the home strip of a national side is a colour featured on their national flag. Can you name four international sides whose shirt colour does not feature on their flag? Answers after the jump…
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