Comments on: Some People Are On The Pitch – Shirt Vote

By: John Devlin

John Devlin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:40:36 +0000

I still think D was the best for me – the first adidas kit. It was such a major event for Liverpool to leave Umbro that the whole kit was given extra oomph in my view. Such a departure to leave the yellow logos on the shirt as well. I loved the truncated 3-stripe trim and the shadow pattern which I remember admiring on the tube the way home after purchasing my own replica. I also had a great poster of all three kits cut out from Match shortly after the kits were launched.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:26:33 +0000

Growing up as a Liverpool fan in the 80’s and 90’s I had many of these shirts, some were good and some were, let’s say, rather awful!

Shirt B had to be the winner, an absolute classic which was worn when the great team of the late 70’s/early 80’s won numerous domestic honours and three European cups – so good that Reebok even paid homage to it in 2001 when they returned to the Champions League. Shirt C was a classic too, though I doubt pinstripes would ever make a reappearance on a Liverpool shirt again.

Worst by far, comfort-wise was shirt I and that hideous oversized collar – it wasn’t helped by what I thought was a strange feel to the fabric of the shirt. Shirt H was another one which felt odd and the collar was uncomfortable – and the inclusion of green on it made it look like a shirt my country would have looked just at home in if they’d stayed with Adidas!

This season’s shirt is their best in a while, nice combination of modern day and classic old style.

By: Rich Johnson

Rich Johnson — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:45:29 +0000

Nine? You’re making me feel old now ;o) I’d just finished my first yeat at Uni when I first saw that German shirt (in the opener against Bolivia). Unique is definitely the word…can’t quite decide if it was better or worse than their 92 version, which after the brilliant shirt they had at Euro 88 / Italia 90, seemed such a let down.

By: Denis Hurley

Denis Hurley — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:45:17 +0000

I know France didn’t count Rich, I can still remember as a nine-year-old seeing the highlights of Bulgaria beating them in the qualifier and Houllier blaming GInola for the winner, meaning he never played for France again!

Forgot to mention Germany’s kit at WC94, a unique design with diamonds in black red and yellow at the top of the shirt

By: Ned

Ned — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:09:22 +0000

John – glad you’re coming round to my way of thinking about G! However, H remains a monstrosity. I think I is probably my favourite, even though they didn’t get that collar right (the clever v-neck on G is another plus point for me), as it represents a resurgence on the pitch and just looked so smart, especially with long sleeves.

I found Reebok’s efforts rather uninspiring, although the ‘treble’ kit still looks good. It was let down for me by the red being a very washed out shade. This year’s adidas effort works well, although it’s spoilt for me by another slightly clumsy collar. I’m a little surprised that the pinstripes haven’t made a reappearance yet, perhaps on an away kit.

By: Rich Johnson

Rich Johnson — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:48:04 +0000

Bizarre…only 3 teams…maybe it felt like more as I disliked the kit so much! Argentina’s away kit also sported the 3 diamond stripe design (though France doesn’t technically count as they weren’t there). Ireland’s away kit was great. Especially when worn by an expletive hurling John Aldridge!

By: Denis Hurley

Denis Hurley — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:05:36 +0000

Not all and sundry Rich!

Ireland didn’t sport template kits at WC94 – Sweden, Romania and Bulgaria all had that design. Spain had three lines of diamonds, a design that was only worn by France and them.

Ireland’s away kit was white with three green stripes fading to white – a design that Stockport had two years later, interestingly Ireland only had three stripes on their socks in America.

By: Rich Johnson

Rich Johnson — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:07:53 +0000

Agree with you on the green away kit Graeme. Awful. I think I dislike G so much because it seemed to lack any inspiration and just followed Adidas’ lazy template approach to kits it seems to have developed in the last decade or so. A variation of it was sported by all and sundry at the 94 world cup.

By: Graeme

Graeme — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:28:05 +0000

I’m going to go against the flow and state that I actually loved kit G – Rangers had home and away kits in a similar style around about that time, except the Adidas (type? Can’t remember if they actually manufactured the kit) flashes were slightly shorter, and on both shoulders rather than on just the one. I also remember a few European away kits of that time that drew upon the same style – PSV wore a natty all-blue affair away from home, while IFK Gothenburg’s away kit was (like Spartak Moscow’s home kit) almost the same as Liverpool’s!

Still, the style didn’t work in some colours – I hated the dark green Liverpool away kit. It was vile.

By: Rich Johnson

Rich Johnson — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:27:28 +0000

I remember when that came out…I couldn’t work out if the neck was supposed to be like that or the designers had confused mm with inches. And it looked even more ridiculous on my 7 year old cousin! I still think the worst feature of any liverpool kit these days is the smallness of the Liver Bird on the badge. It should stand proud. While I understand the wish to incorporate the Hillsborough memorial, they should scrap the ‘Liverpool FC’ wording and make the bird bigger. They shouldn’t need to say who they are!