Welcome to another 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…
I can hardly contain myself, it’s Rob Fletcher! (@rob_fletcher_ on Twitter) Rob is a Boro fan living in Liverpool, you may have seen his complete collection of Champions League winners shirts on the socials. So how do you add to collection like that? We’re about to find out:
AJAX DRILL TOP 89/91
Rob: “First choice is an amazing Umbro Ajax windbreaker. I love all things Ajax thanks to playing as them on Champ Man in the 90s. This one is amazing and absolute peak Umbro.”
Cost: £124, Total so far: £124
Now although this is primarily a football shirt based website, the fine print on the Fantasy Five Hundred contract does not specifically state it has to be spent exclusively on shirts. Rob has exploited that here and bought this beautiful Ajax windbreaker. Training wear is a market that looks set to boom in years to come, so this could be a good investment.
AJAX AWAY 93/94
Rob: “Next on the list keeps the theme going with another Ajax shirt, an away one this time. Back in the era of laces on collars. This is a beauty and the colours really make it stand out.”
Cost: £100, Total so far: £224
I personally think laces on collars never look good (maybe one for Kit Room 101?) but there is so much more to love about this shirt, like the central badge and the offset vertical sponsor placement.
MONACO HOME 90/91
Rob: “Moving onto number three and it’s an early 90s one again. Nike weren’t a big player in the shirt market but this one features the Futura logo and doesn’t get much better. A classic design for Monaco that looks great whoever designs it.”
Cost: £149, Total so far: £373
Speaking of offset sponsors, Robs next choice is Monaco.
VALENCIA HOME 00/01
Rob: “Can you believe Gaizka Mendieta played for Boro? Neither can we! A player who was genuinely world class in the early 00s as captain of Valencia before his career hit a stumbling block and landed at the Riverside.”
Cost: £66, Total so far: £439
This shirt is nice, standard Nike fare from around this era but let’s talk about that sponsor. Terra Mitica is a theme park in Benidorm that opened in 2000. Despite visitor numbers, it took six years for them to start turning a profit, the average losses in that time were around €8 million per year. Unbelievable. Visit if you get the chance, it looks nice.
LIVERPOOL HOME 95/96
Rob: “I thought, as Liverpool resident, I better put a Liverpool shirt in the mix. This one has all the hallmarks of a 90s staple. Heavy fabric, chunky collar and massive badge. It’s a bit good. Collymore closing in…”
Cost: £60, Grand total: £499
The balls. The absolute balls on the designer that took this into the pitch meeting at Adidas. The last home shirt that Adidas would produce for Liverpool before Reebok took over and they whack a ginormous knitted cricket jumper style collar on it. And here’s the thing: it worked. We all remember it, even without this classic match (voted best Premier League match of the first 10 years no less).
Each of these shirts is a classic in its own right, worthy of being side by side with Champions League winning shirts. Big thanks to Rob for taking part, make sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@rob_fletcher_). Do you have a favourite? How would you spend differently? Head over to Twitter to discuss! Although if you like lace collars, you can keep that to yourself. The next Fantasy Five Hundred will be coming soon!
Kit For Brains 
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