As the 30th edition of the Premier League rolls around, it’s fair to say we’ve been treated to a generally pretty decent selection of kits.
Alright, there’s clearly a few stinkers. Another potentially decent Newcastle kit ruined by an awful sponsor, Watford’s awful home kit and Brentford’s underwhelming offerings standing out.
There are winners though, away kits in particular have taken a step-up this year with Arsenal, Palace, United and Spurs’ polarising effort all set to shine.
Time will tell if any will be remembered, for better or worse, among the most iconic kits the Premier League has seen.
What they definitely don’t do, however, is make it into our absolutely definitive, (you can’t possibly disagree with us) list of the five best and worst kits to have featured since the dawn of the Premier League.
We’re gonna start with the worst, because that’s more fun.
Worst
Man City 19/20 third
With the advancement of clarity and vividness in television broadcasting, City’s 2019 third kit should have been classed as an assault and the masterminds tried court.
Liverpool 13/14 away
If you really want an exercise in self torture try and rank the warrior era change kits from worst to least worst.
Middlesbrough 96/97 away
It’s so bad.
City 94/95 away
One of the all time great Prem home kits was pared with this monstrosity. The only real question here is, why the jarring grey armpits?
Everton 2010/11 away
There’s a nice way to do a pink kit, Palermo have been doing it for a century. It’s got the pit entail to be subtle, classy. Every damn time Premier League kit makers insist on making kits in this garish nightmare of a pink instead and they frankly have a lot of explaining to do.
(Why are Premier league kits in this shade of pink 90% of the time?)
Best
Arsenal 05/06 home
The classiest Premier League kit of all time. The shirt, released in honour of the final season at Highbury stadium, marked the first time since September 1967 that Arsenal hadn’t played their home matches in the iconic red body and white sleeves. The colour, redcurrant apparently, mirrored that worn in the very first season at Highbury in 1913, which is quite lovely. We’ll ignore the fact that the original photograph that inspired the design was a probably a badly colourised photo and they actually just played in red back then as well.
Leeds 95/96 home
Years before Kappa changed the course of football kit design when they introduced their skin tight, high necked, Kombat shirts to the world of football with Italy at Euro 2000, Tony Yeboah was smashing in volleys in this beauty. It looked so alien at the time and still looks great. Even if most of the players chose to wear XXL’s.
Manchester United 1993/94 away
Black, Royal Blue and Yellow. All on the finest poly money could buy. A 2009 poll of ex United players picked the 1993/95 away kit the best worn by the side and we completely agree. The yellow tone of the Sharp Viewcam sponsor against the deep black, the hints of rich blue peeking out all over the place, it’s an absolute delight to look at.
Newcastle 95/97 home
There has been no greater fall in the world of football kits as that of Newcastle United. No one looked better in the 90’s. And it’s not hard to see why, black and white stripes just look good on a football kit. And when that kit carried the logo of local brewery, Newcastle Brown Ale, the companies logo complete with city skyline, it made for the quite possibly the best kit the Premier League has ever seen.
Manchester United 07/08 home
One of the great Manchester United home kits. It’s simple design, in a beautiful, deep, red looked absolutely incredible under Old Trafford’s lights. Even the less than iconic AIG sponsor did little to detract from the overall effect. The kits iconic status was cemented when United breezed past opponents on their way to winning the Premier League and Champions League double.
Checkout the new kit releases from the Prem, La Liga, Serie A and many more, here.
Words by Andy Gallagher
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