Top XI Favourite Home Kits In Premier League History
By Chris Wright
For absolutely no reason other than we fancied compiling a good old fashioned list today, here’s Pies’ pick of the XI finest home footballing liveries to be sported in the Premier League since its inception in 1992 – and any clever gits out there who think this was originally supposed to be a ‘Top 10′ and we failed to count properly are WAY WRONG, capiche?
Are you ready Pop Pickers? Then let’s crack on…
11. Everton, 1995/97: Let’s start with an understated cracker from the Toffees (as modeled here by the late Gary Ablett) which, due to an abundance of jarring elements, shouldn’t really work yet still somehow does. Love the stripey Inter knock-off socks.
10. Leeds United, 1993/95: It took a real man to look good in knee-high yellow stockings. That man was Gary McAllister. Classic kit from back when Leeds were half-decent. Whatever happened to Asics?
9. Chelsea, 2001/03: Clean, uncluttered, sufficiently blue and one of the last couple of Chelsea kits to feature the club’s far superior old ‘CFC/lion’ badge.
8. Newcastle United, 1992/93: In our bloody important opinion, this is the greatest kit Newcastle have ever worn, though if memory serves the classy Newky Broon blue star disappeared not long after the start of the season to be replaced with the altogether less aesthetically pleasing McEwans lager logo (citation needed).
7. Sheffield Wednesday, 1992/93: Lovely kit, though why Chris Waddle insisted on wearing ‘Medium Boys’ size shorts is quite beyond us (and beyond Roland Nilsson if the look on his face is anything to go by!).
6. Middlesbrough, 1996/97: Never mind the glossy bubble perm – those my friends, are the shorts of champions.
5. Blackburn Rovers, 1992/93: After a brief flirtation with a dangerously pale blue half-and-half shirt the two seasons prior (as modeled here by Kevin Moran), Rovers returned to a more familiar deep blue hue for the first Premier League season and looked all the better for it.
4. Manchester United, 1994/96: United have definitely worn suaver strips over the past 20 years, but the fact that Umbro somehow got the image of Old Trafford into the fabric of the shirt was mesmerising to my young mind.
3. Arsenal, 2002/2004: Undoubtedly some of Arsenal’s slightly earlier strips hold much more sentimental value for Gooners, but this edition was a true beaut from a neutral perspective. The Arsenal kit formula is pretty steadfast, but the distilled elegance of the 2002 strip seemed to perfectly mirror the team it adorned at the time.
2. Tottenham, 2010/11: This was a bold kit that seemed to split people by and large at the time of it’s grand unveiling, but we really dug Puma’s subtle nod to the 1980s.
1. Nott’m Forest, 1992/93: Hardly surprising that your humble scribe’s all-time favourite kit should top the list, even if it does bring about memories of Cloughie’s booze-sozzled retirement and his Forest side’s dismal performance in the inaugural Premier League campaign.
Honourable mentions: Fulham 2007/08, Liverpool 2006/08, Queens Park Rangers 1994/95, Manchester City 2009/10, Southampton 1993/95, Leicester City 1994/95, etc, etc.
Hopefully, we’ll get round to doing away kits next week.
Agree/disagree? Feel free to share your personal favourite Premier League home kits with us…
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Not bad, but I reckon the current Fulham kit with the classy-as-f*ck pinstripes is much better than the one you mention (or most of the others on the list for that matter). I still have an 07/08 kit but always felt it made us look a bit League One (well, that and Lawrie Sanchez’s influx of mediocre Norn Irish cloggers).
Yes. That Forest kit was amazing. Almost as good as the yellow “Labatts” away strip.
Also, what happened to the Mitre Ultimatch. Best PL match ball ever.
Great shout on the Everton kit, first kit I ever owned that, Big Dunc looked slamming in it long sleeved.
Up the toffees.
Cheating a bit, but I love the kit Manchester United wore in memory of the 50th anniversary of the Munich disaster. http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/ronaldo%20united%20kit.jpg
If I remember correctly, Man City wore an alternate kit that day, but I can’t find any good pictures of that.
Come on… 04 of these kits really suck. Tottenham, 2010/11, Sheffield Wednesday, 1992/93
Are you kidding?
You’ve got shite taste mate
@Bruno and Ze: Care to proffer any less shite alternatives?
@George: Can’t beat a bit of weapons-grade retro appeal!
@Bakes: We don’t talk about that any more.
the ‘vimto’ purple bolton wanderers kit 97/98 was my favourite
Chelsea 2005! The Centenary kit is my favorite one
Chelsea 2005! The Centenary Kit is my favourite one!
Asics made some top class kits back then. I wish sponsors would forego the edginess and stick to a simple design that fits the club, slap a proper collar on, and leave it be. Newcastle in particular, as the attempts at unique portrayals of stripes have failed miserably in the past few years (possibly the exception being this year’s effort).
Chelsea 2005. The Centenary Kit is my favourite one!
A minor point; the NUFC top (as great as it is) was from the 93/94 season. We were promoted from the old Division 1 in 92/93.
Too many crappy collars, especially on the ASICS tops they just flopped around.
The Ipswich Fisons kit with the red laces was a classic.
NO! The current Chelsea badge is top-notch, and much better than the old ‘Millwall’ lion badge it replaced. Also, Chelsea’s current ‘classic’ badge stands in stark contrast to the dumbed-down, cartoony, Americanized logos of certain other teams, such as The Arse, Spurs, Villa, etc.
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Man city 09/10 pure class, and I hate City!!!
Newcastle 95-97.
Newcastle Brown Ale sponsor, button up collar, Adidas stripes. Top class
My two favourite Manchester United kits are their home shirt of 2006-07, magnificent, and their black away shirt of 1992-93. A kid in my class had that shirt with Giggs on the back, and the name and number were in yellow. It looked awesome.
I also like Arsenal’s home short of last season with the special badge (and because it was the last home shirt RVP wore).
Liverpool have had some superb away shirts. Like the yellow one of a couple seasons back, and the white/dark green one in which they beat Barcelona at Camp Nou.
i’m sure thats Tim Sherwood in the Blackburn kit …
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