Welcome to another edition of Fantasy Five Hundred, a 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…
Today’s guest is These Football Shirts (@thesefootyshirt on Twitter) who is a man after my own heart. Liverpool fan and shirt collector with impeccable taste, he’s sure to have some stone cold classics lined up for us, let’s take a look…
LIVERPOOL AWAY 86/87
TFS: “This is taking a huge chunk out of my budget but it’s a classic. When I think of a traditional Liverpool away this ticks all the boxes. The white shirt with red and yellow v-neck collar and matching cuffs is just classic. The subtle stripes with the alternating Adidas ‘trefoil’ logo and Liver-bird is stunning. This is the perfect Liverpool away shirt and rightly so takes the majority of my budget.”
Cost: £299.95, Total so far: £299.95
Woah! These Football Shirts is not playing around here, straight out of the gate with the biggest individual spend we’ve had so far and it couldn’t be a more worthy shirt. This was the beginning of the Adidas era at Liverpool, their first away shirt for the club but the second season for the shirt, the earlier one having a slightly different sponsor. These are becoming rare and sought after items and it’s easy to see why. Best Liverpool away ever? Prove us wrong…
RIVER PLATE AWAY 17/18
TFS: “This is a stunner. Boca often get the plaudits for all the excellent shirts but city rivals River can shout about some excellent shirts as well. This is one of my favourite takes on the classic ‘bruised banana’ template. It just works so well with the different shades of red and grey and the classic Adidas three stripes running down each side.”
Cost: £89.99, Total so far: £389.94
Look familiar? That’s because a few years before Adidas started doing official re-releases of the Bruised Banana, they were sneaking the sublimated pattern in on shirts like this beautiful River Plate away shirt. Based on their 93/94 third shirt, which was red-on-white rather than the red-on-red that you see here it blends the throwback pattern seamlessly with a modern cut.
BAYERN MUNICH THIRD 20/21
TFS: “Few clubs can boast as many good shirts as Bayern they rarely fail to deliver. I love the design of this third shirt from last season. It incorporates the clubs crest wonderfully in the design and I love black and red combination.”
Cost: £29.40, Total so far: £419.34
There’s a lot to unpack with this shirt. Is the pattern based on the club crest, the Allianz Arena or the digital shirt produced FIFA videogame a few years previously? The answer is somewhere in all three, but the design can be enjoyed no matter where it came from. In theory it can also be counted as a sash shirt, with the brighter diamonds form a diagonal across the torso.
LIVERPOOL HOME 21/22
TFS: “A Bold design by Nike for the Liverpool home shirt going away from the traditional secondary colours and going for a bright crimson collar and cuffs. It’s a shirt that has grown on me and the match version has some excellent details.”
Cost: £79 (Kitbag discount at the time), Grand Total: £498.34
Anyone who’s been following the saga of Liverpool’s third shirt this season will know that the Nike/LFC relationship has been rocky so far. This shirt was released to a collective “Is that pink or orange?” about the collar and cuffs. However it’s definitely a grower, the ‘Bright Crimson’ looks almost fluorescent in real life and contrasts nicely with the darker red body. The ‘authentic’ version has been picked here which means he’ll get those lovely heat pressed badges and the dri-fit ADV texture in the fabric.
What a rollercoaster, our most expensive shirt so far too! Big thanks to These Football Shirts for taking part, make sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@thesefootyshirt). Do you have a favourite? How would you spend differently? Head over to Twitter to discuss! The next Fantasy Five Hundred will be coming soon!
Kit For Brains 
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