Welcome to the debut edition of Fantasy Five Hundred, a new feature where we give a guest an imaginary £500 budget to spend on football shirts! What will they choose, new or old, quantity or quality, club or country? Let’s find out…
Todays guest is Tom (@TomsFootyKits) who is sharing his picks. He’s gone for two 90s classics and two shirts from this season that have the potential to become future classics. Over to you, Tom:
ARSENAL THIRD 21/22
First shirt, Arsenal’s third from this season. I’m a massive fan of long sleeves so its a no brainer for me. Want to get Thomas Partey on the back because not only am I a massive fan of him but my real first name is also Thomas so it works out perfectly. Not a massive fan of Arsenal but this shirt is something else, the pattern is beautiful and I see this being a future classic if Arsenal do well this season. Going to wait for it to drop in price before I purchase it but currently it’s £90 and if I had that sort of money to spend I would have bought it already!
Cost: £90 (Long sleeve w/ nameset), Total so far: £90
This shirt, in long sleeves? How could you afford *not* to buy! It has instant classic written all over it…although it’s first competitive outing was a loss to Brentford so it might become famous for all the wrong reasons!
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY AWAY 93/95
Second shirt is one I always see and I absolutely love it. I love all of the Sheffield shirts from ‘93 all the way up to ‘96 but this one is just a step above the rest. The Sanderson sponsor is pretty iconic and I love the vertical yellow stripes with the black background. TSPN Calcio have one for sale in my size at £100. Going to wait for a discount code from them and then probably pulling the trigger if it hasn’t already sold.
Cost: £100, Total so far: £190
When we talk about the greatest ever shirt manufacturers, Puma tend to get rudely overlooked. They’ve been killing it for decades, just look at the rich detail on this shirt, the shadow pattern in the fabric, the way the colours all wonderfully compliment each other.
CHELSEA AWAY 94/96
Ok, before you say anything, yes, this is massively overpriced but I don’t mind paying the extra price as I know it’s legit, Chelsea ‘94/96 away shirt with Gullit on the back. This is a grail that I hope to own someday. Only issue is there is so many fakes of this so I’m willing to pay the extra to secure it because I know the seller is legit. You just wouldn’t think that Chelsea of all teams would have a grey and orange away shirt but it just works so well and that Umbro nameset is otherworldly!
Cost: £250 (w/Gullit nameset), Total so far: £440
Whoa, a big boy purchase! £250 is a lot of money but is it worth it to make sure a shirt is genuine? I mean, not that these are cheap anyway, it was a divisive shirt on release so either people didn’t keep them or didn’t buy them in the first place making Chelsea’s tangerine dream is a rare beast. But with that Gullit nameset it’d look excellent in Tom’s collection.
BRISTOL CITY AWAY 21/22
Final shirt is a shirt from the club I support, Bristol City. I don’t know why I haven’t already bought this shirt but realized I had £60 left in my imaginary budget and this shirt is £50. Would definitely get it with the sleeve patches and probably Massengo on the back! I think Hummel smashed it with this one, the design on the bottom half of the shirt is way different to every other Championship team and I think it really helps us stick out of the crowd. Finally I always love a centralised badge so that gets a plus from me. Apart from the goalkeeper shirts last season, this has been my favourite Bristol City shirt since 2012!
Cost: £50 Final Total: £490
We go back to the future for the last pick, you’re right about a central badge! Bristol City have been treated well by Hummel, the past two seasons of shirts have been spectacular and this is no different. The colourful pattern on the shirt is inspired by the houses of Totterdown in the city, it’s that kind of local attention to detail that makes Hummel so beloved by fans.
So there we have it! Big thanks to Tom for taking part. He’s spent a total of £490 on four absolute stunners, worth every penny I’d say! Do you have a favourite? How would you spend differently? Head over to Twitter to discuss and make sure to follow Tom @TomsFootyKits! The next Fantasy Five Hundred will be coming soon!
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