Obscure Kits From British Football History #8

Tottenham Hotspur (away)
1977 - 1980

As the title suggests, this occasional series plucks the most obscure football kit designs from the history of the sport and puts them under the microscope for all to see (and indeed laugh at).

One trend we've noticed since we started this series is that many of these long-forgotten obscurities were originally made by Admiral. This seemingly harmless company based in Leicester were responsible for some of the most peculiar and outlandish designs seen throughout the 1970's and 80's, and today's offering is no different.

For part 8 of our 'Obscure British Kits' series, we give you the Tottenham away strip from 1977 to 1980.

What's the first thing you notice about it? Come to think about it, what's the only thing you'll notice about it? That's right - it's that strange over-the-shoulder thing going on either side of the big flappy collar.

Be honest, have you ever seen a feature like that on a football kit before or since? We'll take it as read that your answer was 'No'.

What would be an otherwise perfectly harmless pale yellow and navy blue strip is somewhat overshadowed by that odd band hanging over the shoulders.

It's neither a stripe or a panel - it's just a thing. Did Admiral apply it to anyone else's kit, we wonder? If you know, please get in touch with us in the usual fashion.

Meantime, all we can do is stand back and admire it (if indeed 'admire' is the word we're looking for) and to rack our brains as to where we've seen something similar in the past.

Wait a minute - perhaps this is the answer...



(Our thanks go to John Devlin at True Colours Football Kits for giving us kind permission to use the above kit design image.)

Premier League Kit Parade (Part 4)

It's time for the thrilling climax to our look at the new Premier League shirts of 2008/09. Today, we survey the last five teams in alphabetical order, so let's begin with...

Sunderland
Another case of Umbro tidying up the over-proliferation of diamonds here as they give the Black Cats a much cleaner-looking and rather swish home shirt. A nice use of black around the v-neck and at the top of the arms makes this a rather decent design, mirrored in black and blue for the away shirt.

And here once again we see that black-and-blue-stripe combo that Middlesbrough have used for their own away shirt. Which is the better? It's difficult to say. Umbro have certainly done a decent job with their version for Sunderland and it's fair to say it's a nice contrast with the all-white affair that was used last season. Well done, Umbro.

Tottenham
Once again, there's a trilogy of new shirts to check out for The Lilywhites, thereby maximising those all important takings in the club shop. Yes, we are being cynical, but we're sure we must be speaking on behalf of some Spurs supporters out there...

So what do we have here? For a start, Tottenham's featureless but very stylish all-white home shirt from last year is replaced with one that has navy blue panels under the arms and a navy blue v-neck collar. It's not at all bad, we think, but somehow that plain white one was just a little bit special. Good, but not as good, if you see what we mean.

Then there's the new away shirt which this year is sky blue. It has to be acknowledged that Spurs have one of those constant talking points in place about which colours work best for the away shirt. For them, the debate is 'yellow or sky blue?' and though it will no doubt divide Tottenham fans in equal measures, we think yellow's better, but this blue edition looks really nice. It reminds us of those heady days when Clive Allen was banging in the goals at White Hart Lane, and that can be no bad thing.

And finally onto the third shirt which is a little bit odd. Where Spurs have recently resorted to a dark brown and gold outfit, this is black and gold. Does that suggest the brown colourscheme was a little bit too controversial to keep in place, we wonder? Whatever - this is again a nice shirt with a flappy collar just like the sky blue shirt, but what are those little white stripes on the left shoulder? We think it's a gesture of some sort relating to the Puma King range of boots and styling, but we're not sure. All we know is that it shouldn't be there, and that's an end to the matter.

All in all, three nice shirts from Puma, but don't expect them to be worn by the team next season as they won't be. The modern age of football kit design is a ruthless one, and it's best that we tell you the news now before you're hurt further down the line.

West Bromwich Albion
The Baggies are back! Not only that, but there's a new incarnation of those famous navy blue and white stripes from Umbro. This season, they've tried to invigorate that design with something original by incorporating an extra pinstripe either side of those navy blue bands. You might not be able to see it on our picture, but trust us it's there and it looks... er... not overly remarkable.

Add that to the lack of any significant sort of collar and what you end up with is a fairly featureless design that looks a little boring to us. Sorry Baggies fans, but there it is. We'd even go so far as to say their home shirt from last season was actually better, despite all those Umbro diamonds littered all over the shoulders.

And then there's the away shirt. How can we put this... it looks like something a referee would wear. It's yellow, with incredibly minimal styling and harsh though this sounds, it looks rubbish. Quite what Umbro were thinking when they produced this is beyond us - let alone what West Brom were thinking when they gave it the thumbs-up. This is arguably the worst shirt anyone will set eyes on this season, and that's all we can say about it. It's only our opinion, you understand, but we think it'll tally up with a lot of people. Sorry and all that.

West Ham United
While we're on the subject of Umbro, here's what they've come up with for West Ham this season. At home, they've put together a shirt that we think is OK but we're not sure why.

It looks not unlike Aston Villa's home shirt and seems smart enough in many respects, and yet it isn't a wholehearted nod towards something either traditional or particularly interesting. Basically we're saying it's neat and inoffensive but it won't win any design awards either.

Away from home, West Ham have bought into the Umbro template for this season - a plain shirt with two contrasting stripes across the upper part of the chest (see Everton away, England away, etc). This one's a pleasant summery blue with white and claret coloured bands and is really rather good.

A welcome return to the all-pale blue West Ham away outfit, but what we really want to see is the revival of those two horizontal claret stripes around the middle like Bobby Moore and Clyde Best used to wear circa 1970. No chance of that any time soon, we suppose...

Wigan Athletic
And so we reach the end of the road with Wigan and here we save a small surprise for last because The Latics have joined up with Champion as their new kit supplier. As far as we can remember, Champion haven't really had much to do with football kit production in the recent past, but they've got their foot in the door now and have even secured a contract with the Welsh FA.

All that aside, Wigan's new shirts look really good and are a credit to Champion as a new name on the scene. The home shirt has a crisp, clean look with bold blue and white stripes (take note Umbro/WBA) with some interesting little bits of business going on around the shoulder area too. Nothing too showy or distracting, mind - this is all good stuff and hits the spot nicely, in our opinion.

Then there's the away shirt which perhaps isn't so cut and dried by virtue of the fact that it's that controversial luminous yellow in colour. When Chelsea tried the same trick last season, Adidas' found themselves universally ridiculed for their efforts, but somehow this one looks less 'in your face' (if that's possible for a luminous yellow shirt).

Wigan's version simply uses some bold black piping around the shoulders and down the sides to create a look that's easy on the eye while being bold and, of course, highly visible on the pitch. Jolly good, we think - well done, Champion.

The end...?
So that's it - the end of our 20-team survey of all the new shirts for 2008/09, except for one shirt which has been launched in the last couple of weeks since Part 2 of our guide. It's Manchester City's new third shirt and it's already been worn in the club's opening Premier League fixture against Aston Villa.

It's predominantly Flame Orange with a navy blue sleeve and collar. The colourscheme is distinctive and works well, but ironically its effectiveness is almost undone by that totally unnecessary bit of yellow piping down the left shoulder. What's that there for, for crying out loud?!? We're sorry, Le Coq Sportif, but that bit of yellow you've included there cheapens the overall look and smacks of a designer who didn't know when to quit while they were ahead.

Still, let's not be too harsh. This has some elements of originality to it, like the asymmetrical sleeves and the use of colours, so it's not all bad. A reasonable try on behalf of LCS, but a note for future reference - don't get too fussy during the design stage. Keep it simple and the fans will be happy.

Here endeth the lecture.

Haven't we been here before?

For those of you waking up today after a six-week coma, tonight sees one of those once-in-a-lifetime occurrences that heightens the senses and gets every football fan watching in eager anticipation - a Champions League Final between two English clubs.

Over in Moscow, Chelsea and Manchester United will do battle for that ludicrously large piece of silverware resembling one of Liberace's ashtrays as well as the title of 'Champions of Europe'.

But all this business about an all-English Final is actually old hat. There's been an all-English European Final before, and it was so successful that we haven't had one for 36 years. It all happened back in 1972 when no-one had heard of Johan Cruyff and the height of new football kit design meant having a stripe running down the sleeves of your shirt.

Such was the football landscape back then, and in it were two teams intent on being the first to win the brand-new UEFA Cup - Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur. Along with Southampton and Leeds United, they set out to capture the trophy for England, but little did they know they'd be facing each other in the two-legged Final later that season.

Tottenham entered the competition having finished third in the old First Division in 1971 while Wolves, undoubtedly reaching a peak they hadn't experienced since the 1950's, had ended the campaign in fourth.

Both were bursting with talent that typified the hard but often skilful game played in England at the time. For Spurs there was Pat Jennings in goal, future Premier League manager Joe Kinnear, England international Alan Mullery, Welsh international Mike England, a young Steve Perryman, Martin Chivers and a member of the 1966 World Cup winning team in Martin Peters.

Wolves line-up had less in the way of big name stars, but there was still plenty to give Spurs something to think about. The late, great Derek Dougan led the way up front, backed up by people such as Kenny Hibbitt, John Richards and captain Jim McCalliog.

The UEFA Cup would prove to be a memorable one for both clubs with some impressive results along the way. Tottenham cruised through Round One with a 15-1 aggregate victory over Icelandic side Keflavik while Wolves' 7-1 aggregate victory over Academica of Portugal preceded a 7-0 aggregate win over Den Haag in the next. Spurs nearly met their match when Nantes held them to a narrow 1-0 win over both legs, but from there on in both teams were in unstoppable form.

Tottenham managed to eliminate Rapid Bucharest and AC Milan before reaching the Final but Wolves were determined not to be outdone by brushing aside Carl Zeiss Jena and Juventus in the build-up to the grand finale against their English foes.

And so to that two-legged Final. On May 3rd 1972 it was off to Molineux but it was the away team, Tottenham, that gained a numerical advantage to take back to White Hart Lane. Star Player for the Lilywhites that night was undoubtedly Martin Chivers who bagged a brace either side of a McCalliog goal in the 72nd minute. Chivers ended the game with a total of eight goals from his eleven UEFA Cup matches that season as his club sought to defend their narrow 2-1 lead in the second leg.

Two weeks later, Tottenham did just that. A goal by Alan Mullery in the 29th minute put the home side at ease, and though Wolves' David Wagstaffe got an equaliser five minutes before half time, they were still left to find another goal to level the tie on aggregate. They didn't, and so it was that at the end of the night Tottenham's Alan Mullery lifted the trophy that they'd win again some twelve years later.

An older and wiser Steve Perryman would raise the cup that night, but on May 17th 1972, he was just another member of the victorious Tottenham team that outplayed another English team in the Final, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Football in England was fast approaching such a peak back then that it was acceptable to believe there might be a few more all-English finals, yet we've had to wait all this time for another.

Could it happen again? Quite possibly, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm sitting here writing the next similar article in 2044. Matches like the one taking place tonight don't happen every year, you know...

I could see Jimmy Greaves wearing this...

[...although he's size XL now]

We love new kits at SPAOTP and we love them even more if they're nice!

Over the summer we will be showcasing any new kits we like, plus some that we don't. We aren't biased... much.

Our first offering is the new Tottenham Hotspur home kit, which, as you can see from the badge, celebrates 125 years of one of British football's finest clubs, playing football as the way was meant to be.

I read that on the promotional blurb. Anyway, here it is: if you want to see a bigger version, click on the picture, and if you want to tell us what you think of the kit, take part in our online vote below:

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VOTING HAS NOW CLOSED FOR THIS SHIRT
The final results were as follows:

Excellent: 66 (55%)
Good: 22 (18%)
OK: 12 (10%)
Poor: 10 (8%)
Terrible: 9 (8%)

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Yes Sir, No Sir...

Great Britain is a funny old place. We have a head of state, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who, when her mood takes her, gives a knighthood to a small selection of people born within her Commonwealth.

In modern-day terms, being made a Knight is a sign that you have achieved something extra-special - that you have done something few other people have done to elevate the stature of the Queen's realm.

If you're a male and you've been given a knighthood, you're allowed to put the word 'Sir' in front of your name, like 'Sir Paul McCartney', 'Sir Elton John' or 'Sir Robbie Williams'. (OK, so that last one was made up...) It's therefore a title that demands great respect among those people that know you or know of you, but you don't have to be alive to qualify for one. If you're unfortunate enough to have died at any given time in the past, those that survive you can apply for a posthumous title to be decreed as a belated way of showing how important you were to Queen and Country.

And it's exactly that process which is capturing the imagination of a few large pockets of football fans in Britain as we speak. It all started a few years ago when a bunch of Tottenham Hotspur supporters began a campaign to get an honorary knighthood awarded to Bill Nicholson, Tottenham's manager between 1958 and 1974.

Nicholson's achievements at the North London club are many. He helped them win the FA Cup three times, the League Championship once, the European Cup Winners' Cup once and the UEFA Cup once and also re-wrote the record books as Spurs became the first team of the modern era to win the English 'double' of FA Cup and League in one season in 1961.

It was arguably the greatest period in Spurs' history, and yet despite a long campaign to make him 'Sir Bill Nicholson' posthumously, its objective is yet to be reached. Knighthoods, it seems, are not so easy to come by.

Despite such a frustrating trend being set by this exercise, two more campaigns have begun recently to give other iconic British football managers from the past their rightful place in British history.

Bob Paisley led Liverpool football club for nine years from 1974 and in that time steered them to six League titles, three League Cups, one UEFA Cup, one European Super Cup and most significantly of all, three European Cups. Many British MPs have signed a House of Commons motion to gain Paisley a knighthood eleven years after his death, and a government e-petition has seen almost 45,000 members of the public support them in a similar vein.

North of the border, Jock Stein, the man who helped Celtic become the first British team to win the European Cup in 1967, is also being recommended for the same honour by two Labour MPs. As well as the European Cup, Jock Stein's Celtic side also won ten Scottish league titles, nine Scottish Cups and six Scottish League Cups, but are his achievements likely to be overlooked just as Bill Nicholson's have been thus far? Will fans of Bob Paisley become the latest in a long line of disappointed football fans who just want to repay the happiness their idol gave them so many years ago?

And as another government e-petition is launched to gain Brian Clough, European Cup-winning manager of Nottingham Forest, a posthumous knighthood, are campaigns like this being cheapened by their sheer proliferation?

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was awarded a knighthood thanks to the abundance of silverware he brought to the club, including one European Cup, one European Cup Winners' Cup, eight FA Premiership titles and five FA Cups. Maybe it takes this much to earn a football manager in Britain a knighthood, but why not treat each club and their successes in proportion accordingly?

The answer: there'd be a tidal wave of petitions flying around from supporters everywhere asking for their hero to be given the royal seal of approval, and that's simply counter-productive whichever way you look at it.

There is, however, another way - another method that can be used to ensure the managerial greats from your team's history are locked in the hearts and the minds of its fans forever.

We're not talking about entry into a football Hall of Fame. We're not talking about a bronze statue outside your team's stadium.

All you need to do is to tell your children about the Paisleys, the Steins, the Nicholsons and the Cloughs that your team played under, and if you have no children, tell somebody else's children. Tell them about the joy they gave you and the way your team played when they were in charge. Tell them how much of a difference they made to your team and the transformation they brought about while they were there.

Those children will grow up with a great respect for the icons you enthused about, and they'll go on to tell their children and their children's children. Legends don't have to be knighted, just remembered, so forget signing petitions - just keep their memory alive when you support your team.

SPAOTP Recommends... White Hart Lane Legends Vol.1

In the first of what we hope will be a regular feature, ‘Some People Are On The Pitch’ brings you a selection of interesting extracts from football-related books that we think are worthy of a mention.

Our first piece is from the book ‘White Hart Lane Legends - Volume 1’. The book, published in August 2005, includes interviews with some huge names from Tottenham Hotspur's illustrious history, including Graham Roberts, Steve Perryman, Cliff Jones, Pat Jennings, Ron Henry, Keith Burkinshaw and many more. Every Spurs fan will love this book, it captures what the club and the fans meant to some of the biggest names in the club’s history.

In this extract, journalist Keith Palmer talks to former Spurs, Arsenal and Northern Ireland goalkeeping legend, Pat Jennings:

KP: You played in dangerous times. Did the terrace trouble ever affect your game, especially being the closest player to the action?

PJ: Not really, although over the years I’ve been hit with almost everything. At Tottenham the crowd were right on top of you, although as far as personal insults are concerned, you probably heard worse at reserve games because the sparse crowds made it easier to pick out individual comments.

I’ve been hit by door handles, snooker balls, ball-bearings, and filed down coins. I remember once being bombarded with wire staples in a home game against West Ham. But the worst incident was when I was playing at Forest one year with Arsenal, where a missile came flying out of the crowd. I didn’t see it but suddenly felt a pain surge through my upper forearm. I glanced down to see a dart sticking in me. It had penetrated all the way up to the hilt.

KP: What was your first reaction?

PJ: I remember pulling it out of my arm, then placing it in the back of the net with my other belongings. I recall a policeman rummaging around trying to take it out but I didn’t know whether he was checking the evidence or trying to hide it. The match was still in progress so I didn’t have time to dwell on it there and then.

KP: What happened then?

PJ: Don [Howe] immediately flew in to Cloughie’s office asking him what kind of place Forest was for allowing that kind of behaviour. Brian reassured us that something would be done and responded by apologising in a personal letter the following week.

[Laughs] It was addressed to ‘’the Big, soft Irishman’’ and signed, ‘’Love, Brian’’. The thrower actually got caught and served six months in jail, so Brian kept true to his word.

Taken from the book “White Hart Lane Legends – Volume 1”.
Published by Legends Publishing

ISBN: 0-9543682-5-8
Published: November 2005
Binding: Hardback
Price: £19.99

"There is nothing like a Game..."

[“...Nothing in the world...”]

Tottenham Hotspur 2 – 0 Sheffield United
Written by Smart

So the first home game of the season has been and gone – and there is simply nothing like it.

But before the match, some tough decisions had to be made – Chips or a Donkey Burger? The queue out of the chip shop door meant only one thing – Burger. Besides, what man can resist the aroma of fried onions that seems to hang in the air?

Near the ground, a coach carrying the travelling away supporters has taken a wrong turn and beached itself across one of the low kerb like barriers across the road. In an attempt to raise the coach a bit, the coach is emptied of its passengers. No luck.

After the burger, its into the pub to see some old faces that I haven’t seen since the end of last season – so that’s two months. Spirits are high, optimism is low. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this game...” was the over used phrase of the evening. I myself predicted a 1-1 draw.

Then the magnetic pull of the referees whistle empties the pub in a matter of moments – its time to take your seats, ladies and gentleman.

The anticipation is growing, the tension is mounting. Walking up the steps from the confines of the under stadium food area, then its out into the daylight. The muffled audio tape sound in an instant flicks into Dolby surround 5.1. Through the clouds of smoke – “Tonight Matthew, I’m going to be…” Hopefully not ‘Disappointed’.

However, that cannot beat seeing rest of the stadium, the thousands of expectant fans, and the players coming out onto the billiard table of a surface. Its a sensory overload - Im buzzing with excitement already.

The opening games of the season are also usually complimented with fine summer-like weather. Not tonight however. Dark clouds gather overhead, fuelling the pessimism around.

After losing your opening game of the Premiership campaign, the best thing to do is get an early goal. Step up, Dimitar Berbatov. After some magical ball skills by the young apprentice Aaron Lennon (I swear the ball was up his sleeve at one point), he pulls a low cross out of the hat, putting the goal on a plate for Berbatov. One-nil after 7 minutes – you could sense the relief around the ground.

Robbie Keane is in a class of his own, Lennon assisting him admirably, Tainio and Berbatov are enjoying themselves – the second goal is coming. Berbatov heads a ball down into the path of the on-running Jenas, who lifts the ball over Kenny’s hand to make it 2 goals with only 17 minutes on the clock. Game over already.

Sheffield United pleasantly surprised me. We were expecting a bruising encounter with fouls galore. To their credit, that wasn’t the game plan at all. Some nice touches, moments of pressure and some good moves were also nice to watch, and only added to the entertainment of the match. It takes two to Tango. Apparently.

It would be nice however, with all the replica shirts about, if Sheffield United could give the latest kit to Keith Gillespie, who for some reason was playing in last seasons strip. Perhaps he isn’t one of those people who ‘must have’ the latest fashions? Perhaps he picked it up cheap in the club sale?

On leaving the ground, comments such as “Business as usual” and “That’s more like it” fill the air. The dark clouds above have dispersed. It didn’t rain. The pessimism has gone.

For now.

Going home, I go past the travelling away coach. It isn’t stuck on the kerb barrier anymore. Its now jacked up onto a huge recovery vehicle, with people looking rather concerned at the underside.

I hope they had AA Relay Plus.