By Chris Wright
With the news today that Umbro are wading in and taking over West Ham’s kit duties for the next five years, Pies thought we’d take a shufty at some of the very finest togs they’ve knocked out over the years.
10. Newcastle away, 1983-85
Silvery, sleek and positively reeking of the mid-1980s, even the kitschy badge can’t stop this Newcastle shirt from looking the dog’s danglies…
9. Napoli home, 1993
A blue million miles. The post-Maradona Napoli team of that era was hardly vintage, but by ‘eck did they dress well…
Just for the record, the corresponding away shirt didn’t look too shabby either.
8. Lille OSC third, 2012-13
Hands up, we’re complete suckers for an all-black strip here at Pies and this subtle little Gallic number don’t half rev our engine…
7. West Brom home, 1977-81
Cool, simple, elegant and the perfect vehicle for Cyrille Regis’ rippling thighs…
6. Scotland away, 1982-85
Never have the Auld Enemy looked quite so dashing…
5. Ajax home, 1994-95
While we’re sure the navy blue away shirt holds more nostalgic sway with Ajax fans seeing as they actually won the Champions League while wearing it, the home strip was the well-worn Ajax template done to perfection…
4. Inter Milan home, 1995-96
The Nerazzuri in its elemental form. Still stunning to this day…
3. England home, 1988
Narrowly pipping the Italia ’90 away shirt (the red one) past the post as our favourite Umbro England kit, this svelte little number from 1988 with the asymmetrical cuffs is a mainstay in our Top 5 favourite football shirts of all time.
It was made from a revolutionary miracle fabric called ‘Tactel’ which was basically just a fancy word for “shiny polyester”…
2. Brazil home, 1992-94
Perfect. Just perfect…
1. Nottingham Forest home, 1992-4
Did you expect anything other? Without a shadow of a doubt, the 92/94 Forest shirt (the Shipstones version, not the ever-so-slightly inferior Labbatts-sponsored one) is my favourite football shirt ever made. Nothing else comes close.
If you’re interested in find out why, then please step this way.
Well, what do you make of all that noise then Pies fans?
Any other fine Umbro efforts (either modern day or classic) that you’d like to pay homage to? Let us know in the comments below…