Great Tracksuits of Our Time: No.5

Our good friend Rich Nelson from the always excellent 'Escape To Suomi') provides us with this contribution to our 'Great Tracksuits' series:

Arsenal (1989/90):

"With a design most associated with the West German team that were victorious at Italia '90, this top was assumed to be just another standard Adidas template. But amongst fans of Arsenal, it’s a memorable item, a signature Adidas piece, which is amongst the holy grail for Gunners fans of a certain age.

"A recent re-release (minus the cannon) flew off the shelves, and will be associated with the great team of Adams, Rocastle, Merson, Smith and Thomas. P.S. I have the re-issue, and a very, very small original…"

Special thanks to Rich for his suggestion, and to prove Arsenal weren't the only team wearing this tracksuit, here's Got, Not Got with proof of some other teams wearing a similar design...

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Match Magazine - August 30th 1997

1997 might not seem all that distant (to some of us anyway), but as you'll see in this excellent guest article from Luke constable of the awesomely named Ruud Gullit Sitting On A Shed (@RGSOAS), going back just 15 years, football still looks very different...

p.s. I've just found out where the name comes from... 



In August 1997 I was just starting secondary school. I would spend that summer mourning the loss of my junior school life, trying on ill-fitting blazers, and buying Match magazine every week.

A recent spring-clean unearthed a copy of the magazine dated August 30, 1997, and I have since been transfixed by its pages. Littered with nostalgic references, each turned page wafted the smell of pubescent hormones as it seized me with the inverse effect of Marty McFly's Gray's Sports Almanac from Back To The Future 2.

Hundreds of pounds' worth of hard-earned pocket money was spent on this magazine by my 9-14-year-old self, but every penny was worth it. I would read each one cover to cover, even forcing my impressionable eyes through the rigours of such dull features as 'Chris Armstrong's Secret Diary'.

Share my experience as the memories dazzle my retinas and scorch my fingertips. Come sit awhile as I read to you, and laugh at pictures that have dated horribly, much like Premiership footballers have after first discovering what Rohypnol is…

Look at this cover: Ryan Giggs innocently grinning before his stunning reinvention as a pilates-fuelled sex maniac. Appreciate the irony of a caption for a ‘LEEDS UNITED MEGA POSTER' directly above 'ESCAPE FROM DIVISION 1'.  Gasp at Dennis Bergkamp correctly predicting a league title win for Arsenal.  Marvel at Gianfranco Zola’s formerly bouffant hair.

Inside, I'm welcomed by the familiar visage of 'Matchman', spokesgit for a generation of youngsters raised on Britpop and incongruous references to Peter Fear. After Match, the imaginatively-titled mascot would later carve out a successful acting career under the name Joel McKinnon Miller.

There is also this image of a certain someone to inform me that this very article is the culmination of a destiny some 15 years in the making. It bought to mind the moment in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, when a time-travelling Ted urges himself to “remember a trashcan” to scupper his Dad's meddling. Ruud Gullit, my spiritual father, there to welcome me home, after so long.

The fun begins with Route One, a loose form introduction consisting of mostly ridiculous garbage, which was always hugely entertaining nonetheless. Even now, as a man that has read more than 12 (twelve) books, I can appreciate just how much fun this section was. With its combination of musical references (Kula Shaker! Way Out West! Sneaker Pimps!), puerile comedy features (Giggsy's Gig Guide! The Flash-o-Meter! Strange But False!) and colloquial anarchy, it is to the shame of many that the pages read like some vague blueprint for Soccer AM. But I digress, and to keep doing so would be to detract from the surreal comic devices that would make perfectly retweetable Tumblr pages today - 'Wot if Peter Fear was...(SOMETHING RANDOM)','Collyoaks', 'Broken Nose Corner'

A small boy is pictured with Arsenal's David Platt, who talks of his aborted summer move to Middlesbrough. Absolutely no explanation is offered for this, but paedophilia had not yet been invented anyway, so no problem there. ARE YOU THIS SMALL BOY? Can you find him? Why did you have your picture taken with David Platt? Please help.

Here is a review of the Bolton Wanderers website, from way back when Twitter was but a mere figment in the twee eye of Stephen Fry. “It looks a bit bland when you log-on” is something nobody ever says now, and probably didn’t say then, even if it was true. “Blimey, get a load of that browser!” < That’s how people talk about the internet. The article proffers the bored suggestion that you might want to design your own Bolton Wanderers website, when more truthful padding would’ve been a picture of the editor’s yawning face.

'10 Brain-Bustin' facts about Chelsea' mentions how Graeme Le Saux is the club's record signing at £5million. Unfortunately I've been too busy to check whether or not this is still the case. If anyone can inform me of the answer, I will pick a lucky winner at random to win a very special prize - a lock of Gianluca Vialli's scalp!

I’m sure I’m not the only misguided kid that ever convinced himself he could draw because he could copy Russ Carvell’s football caricatures. This was always on the first page of the Match Stats pull-out. Here, then-Leeds manager George Graham mocks Carlton Palmer for being tall and rubbish, a comic staple that survives to this day. According to his website (www.russcarvellcartoons.com) Russ now lives in Italy and I was genuinely delighted to check out some artwork of contemporary footballers, in that style of his I remember so well. He can be found on Twitter too (@Russ_Carvell),if people who post three times then disappear forever is your sort of thing.

Behold! The original Adidas Predator boot! For men of a certain age, this is like seeing the pictures that prompted the first awkward fumblings in the discipline of onanism. Ah, what a boot! Those leathery fins genuinely made the ball defy gravity, as I’m sure we all remember. During a school football match I recall seeing someone wearing Predators hit the ball with such force that they recreated precisely the same geothermic dynamics in order to create gems. The game was postponed while the referee swept opals from the six-yard box. I’m sure we all have similar stories.

These boots, however, are not so magical. Sportswear firm Apta bravely commissioned these boots, which were designed by a tab of LSD. To think that manufacturers were allowed to do this in the 1990s! Crazy times.

This advert showcases Ronaldo, back in the days when we didn't have to specify which one we were talking about. "The athlete and the shirt are made of the same stuff" proudly claims Nike. Of course, by next summer's World Cup, the only thing the two would have in common is their shared dislike of uncomfortable fits.

Colin Hendry takes us on a visit to his house. The highlight is the picture of him wearing a hat, looking very much like a man that has never worn a hat before. He also reveals a shocking secret: "When I get the chance I like to sit on one of the sofas in the archway above the front door and have a think." I do hope today's generation of children are provided with a similar level of insight in their football magazines.

Finding this magazine reminded me of the innocent pleasure of cutting posters out to hang on my wall. I'm sure everyone remembers their first ever football posters. When I was roughly seven years old and had no team to call my own, I adorned my wall with the first posters available in the first football magazine I ever bought. This would explain why the first posters I would ever hang on my wall would be of Eddie Newton and Jan-Aage Fjortoft. I have kept up this fine tradition for uninspiring decor with this thrilling image of Arsenal’s Gilles Grimandi, which I'm clearly enjoying.

The last page would always be the Ultimate Challenge, which would pit two Premiership players against each other in a trivia quiz. Get a load of this scintillating 10-10 draw between Liverpool's Dominic Matteo and Wimbledon's Dean Holdsworth, both experiencing perhaps the most exciting game they'd ever been involved in.

I leave you with the familiar sense of a magazine well read, that peculiar blend of satisfaction and disappointment that it's all over. That bereft sense that there is only one thing to do - reluctantly go back and read Chris Armstrong's Secret Diary.

Our sincere thanks go to Luke for this. If you'd like to write something for the Attic, please get in touch at admin [at] thefootballattic [dot] com or find us on twitter or facebook.

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Ed Carter's Top 5... World Cup Shirts

The kits keep on coming as today we welcome Ed Carter's choice of his favourite five World Cup shirts...

1. West Germany (1970, home)

(West) Germany have a virtually unblemished record of brilliant, tasteful football kits. Even when they went completely insane (1990 and 1994) they did so with such panache and style that it was brilliant and the world and Jeff Banks rejoiced. However, for me it's always the plainer the better and the 1970 West German kit is perhaps the most beautiful ever seen in the World Cup finals. Two-tone with simple collar and cuff trim and a brilliant black German eagle badge in a thick black circle. Dutch people would go to their child's wedding wearing this kit.



2. Peru (1982, home)

No top five World Cup kits would be complete without a Peru entry. This is because sashes are the best and Peru therefore has the best international football kit. My favourite of the four Peruvian World Cup efforts is their most recent one. It dispenses with the flappy collar and has a v-neck instead. New York dockers everywhere rejoiced. Finally they could support Peru whilst on shift. Also, for anyone who reckons a good kit can make your team play better: 1982 represents Peru's most disappointing World Cup finals performance to date.

3. Portugal (1966, home)

I'm a terrible old purist when it comes to football kit design. The simpler and plainer the better. The 1966 and 1970 World Cups were the golden age for this sort of thing: earlier than that and everyone was still wearing home-knits and boots that would get you bullied by Billy Dane; after it and it was all corporate branding and lousy "design" bits. The Portuguese kit is one of my favourite ones of the bunch. I particularly like it for the deepness of the red and the green trim on the shirt's contrast with the white shorts. Portugal memorably made it all the way to the semi-final wearing this outfit, giving important evidence for anyone who reckons a good kit can make your team play better (it can't).

4. France (1986, away)

Another from the Adidas '86 stockpile of brilliant things. I love this one for the uniquely patriotic take on the Adidas corporate stripes - one in red and two in blue, c'est magnifique - but especially for the trim. The audacious brilliance of the thing. Who the hell ever thought this up? The thicker horizontal stripe in red is delicious enough, but to follow it up with three more thin ones in blue? It's a very special moment in the history of kit design. The only way you could improve it? An oversized yellow cockerel emblem. But wait, there's one right there!

5. Soviet Union (1986, away)

I am a complete sucker for international football kits with stuff written on them. I'm too young to remember a world before shirt sponsorship, television and Alan Hansen ruined football forever, so the international football shirt's lack of verbal signifiers seems daring in the extreme. However, just as a club team pitching up without a shirt sponsor on their jersey remains a rare treat, so does an international team showing up with monikers emblazoned on their chest. Algeria's 1982 effort is a particular favourite, written in Arabic script for extra bonus points. Brazil have a splendid tradition of writing BRASIL on the front of their goalkeeper's jerseys - presumably so that the team can remember at a glance which way they are attacking. But let's face it, the great masters of this are the old CCCP. Just typing those letters give me a giddy thrill. It was a simpler time, the cold war. Ah, the nostalgia.

The 1986 variant is my favourite one. Adidas' kit templates for the Mexico 86 tournament were a design classic worthy of any museum and this is one of my favourite of the bunch. And only in Gorbachev's Soviet Union would the national team wear such an extravagantly decorated kit, with a shiny shadow pattern woven into the otherwise clean and plain white kit. It's an outfit that says, "we admit we killed the Tsar but we're not giving up our nukes just yet".

Our thanks to Ed for his superb selections. If you want to follow Ed on Twitter, check out @Dotmund or visit his blogsite here. 

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Rich Nelson's Top 5... World Cup Shirts

Rich Nelson from Nelson's Column and Escape To Suomi has kindly sent us his Top 5 World Cup shirts...

France (1986, Home)

A more refined version of the Euro 84 effort, yet to be replicated (unlike 1998’s copy of '84). The perfect shade of blue, matching with the shorts and socks to complete the Tricolore. Unfortunately this was the beginning of the end of the great French team, along with some really dreadful threads.

Zaire (1974, Home)

Worn in West Germany in 1974, this announced Zaire on the world stage. While they have become a parody as a result of THAT free kick, this shirt was simple yet different. The fact that the picture of the Leopard needed a caption is such a humble, understated notion. Plus that free kick was hilarious.

West Germany (1990, Away)

While it feels wrong to appreciate the battle garments of certain rivals (Argentina, Scotland, Germany), this one belongs in the history books. Taking the classic late '80s Adidas template and running with it, it also made light green work - so much so that an Adidas re-release this year sold out within days (according to a reputable online store). Let’s just forget the penalties…

Cameroon (1990, Home)

Beating the world champions in the San Siro is the stuff of dreams. Wearing what looks like a hand-me-down, they made it work by adding an indomitable lion and a striker of questionable age and gyrating hips. The shirt’s oversized crest worked. Future attempts by Puma to remove sleeves and add rips down the sides just took it too far.

Holland (1974, Home)

The premiere of Total Football on the world stage, and subject of a petty contractual dispute. Another shirt to spawn retro knock-offs, it was a simple design to allow the football to do the talking... except for Johan Cruyff and his contract with Puma, leading to him removing a stripe from each sleeve. Great colouring, and a reminder of the tempremental Dutch we all love to hate.

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Rich J's Favourite 5... World Cup Shirts

Following on from Chris' Top 5 World Cup Shirts, I present my choices. Just missing out were Denmark '86 (Home) as Chris had chosen the away so I thought I'd find an alternative and West Germany 1990 (Away). A great shirt from a classic design, but just didn't quite make the cut... so, here they are:

1. Argentina (1986, Home)

It’s obvious Mexico 86 would rear its (none too) ugly head with anything I do, but this kit has been more than just a shirt to me - it’s been a lifelong quest. In the same way I spent most of my youth and adulthood trying to track down a Subbuteo World Cup Trophy, a parallel quest was to own this, or more likely, a replica of this shirt – a quest that has mostly been achieved.

There are several things about this shirt that set it above all other Argentina outfits. The centre stripe is white... big deal you say, but Argentina always have the centre stripe blue (I am deliberately ignoring Adidas’ shameless attempt to ape this iconic design at the 2010 World Cup). Big deal, I hear you repeat, but that’s me - I like the small details of these things.



Secondly, the shirt was made in that tea-bag material so common at the time and reminiscent of the airtex shirts worn by England in 1970, both times brought about by the stifling Mexican heat and the need to play games at midday for European TV audiences.
Last, but not least, it just looked so good in the blazing sunshine, with the contrasting black shorts and white socks... a fine ensemble.

As a final point: I nearly went for the change shirt worn against England, which could almost be referred to as a 3rd shirt, given it was a one off, but the home shirt just edged it as it made the final look so colourful with West Germany in their green away shirts.

2. Italy (2006, Home)

I’ll say it here and now: despite blue being my favourite colour, I have just never liked Italy shirts. Not quite sure why, but they’ve just never done it for me. That all changed however, in 2006. The gorgeous blue, contrasting with the dark side panels just seemed to really work. Add in the gold numbering / logos and that was it... SOLD! And sold it was as it was the first ‘new’ football kit I’d bought for years (I’d been buying mostly older ones off eBay until then) and one which sparked an avalanche of kit buying.

One huge downside of this shirt was that, when worn in matches, because of the design which was supposed to wick sweat away from the players, within seconds of the match starting, the players all looked like they were in a wet t-shirt contest...only one where they were doused with sweat...men’s sweat. Grim.

Italy went on to have another great shirt combining blue and gold at Euro 2008, a fascinating light blue one with brown shirts at the 2009 Confederations Cup, then ruined it with the robot face abomination at WC2010. Their Euro 2012 shirt was also rubbish. So there.

3. Argentina (1998, Away)

Though this is one of my favourite kits of all time, I was originally going to go for the Yugoslavia home kit from the same world cup as it’s in the same style and I was trying to avoid two kits from the same country, but when I saw this one again, I just had to choose it.

Again it’s the details I like with this one. Argentina have long worn blue away shirts and these have mostly been in a dark shade, which can often lead to them being rather drab looking with some bordering on black. This one however is lightened by its two key features:

1) A classic v-neck. For me, there’s no better neck on a shirt than a good old V. Crossover V’s are good, but just a classic, joined in the middle is better and this one sets off the dark blue of the shirt perfectly, finished in sky blue with white trim.

2) The side panels. White side panels with two sky blue stripes (oh wait, it’s an Adidas shirt so that’s basically light blue side panels with three white stripes) running from the base of the shirt to the sleeves.

This was worn of course, in the match against England in which two stars effectively showed two different career paths with Owen shining brightly only to fade away and Beckham going from effigy No.1 to all time great (and then fading out as well). Oh, and Ian Wright sulked on national TV afterwards...

4. Ireland (1994, Away)

One cannot see this shirt without also picturing a furious John Aldridge threatening to take on the whole of the USA if he wasn’t allowed on that ‘damn’ pitch, Jackie Charlton having handbags with the 4th official alongside him. The shirt itself was a masterpiece in away design in that it retained the usual colour scheme of the away shirt, thereby not straying too far from tradition, but did something interesting with them instead. Three stripes (on an Adidas shirt???) in green with orange pinstripe borders that faded out halfway down the shirt.

I’m sure this will be a controversial choice, but may I also remind you that this was a World Cup when approximately 97.3% of the teams present had the same identikit Adidas design with the three truncated stripes rising diagonally from either side of the kit, so to see something with a touch of originality was rather refreshing.

5. Brazil (1986, Home)

Brazil’s kits never really used to change, did they, save for a slightly different collar. Nowadays, there’s all manner of crap invading what is essentially an all time classic shirt, the low points of this being Umbro’s 94 shirt with large shadow pattern badges across the thing and 2002’s craptacular Nike effort with thin triangles of green forming some kind of frame... ugh!

But back in 1986, there were still all about the classic look. Made by Topper it was, as stated, a simple affair. Plain yellow, no shadow patterns, no flashes of green, just plain yellow. Dark green cuffs and matching collar, but not a round one like '70 and '82, a v-neck with collar flaps.

Finishing this all off nicely was their badge, which had replaced the usual CBF crest with one featuring the Jules Rimet Trophy, celebrating the three World Cup wins. Showcased in the quarter final against France, one of the best matches at a World Cup Finals, this shirt is a true classic. Also, Socrates wore it and he was a dude!

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Chris O's Favourite 5... World Cup Shirts

1. South Africa (1998, home)

I know my taste in virtually everything represents the minority view, but I absolutely loved this kit when it appeared in the 1998 World Cup. Kappa, the manufacturers, showed brilliant originality in weaving together four colours into a mad tapestry the like of which has rarely ever been seen.

Rather than go for an intricate pattern, South Africa’s white home shirt featured large stripes of yellow and black with a splash of green on the collar and sides. The colour scheme extended further onto the green and black shorts and white socks. A fabulously inventive creation, but one that admittedly will generate more negative comments than positive ones.

2. Scotland (1990, change)

In a not dissimilar way, Scotland’s change shirt for the 1990 World Cup also made virtue of yellow stripes on a white background. Even as an England fan, I loved it – so much so that my 18-year-old self went out and bought it.

There was something about the simplicity of those lemon-coloured bars evenly spaced from top to bottom, broken in sequence only by two in navy blue straddling the team badge and the Umbro logo. Throw in a navy blue button-up collar and you had a shirt that was bordering on perfection to my mind, especially when worn with the navy blue shorts and socks that went with it. It’s just a shame it was only worn the once in the 1990 tournament – a lamentable 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica.

3. Nigeria (1994, change)

Yet another white strip, but this was a complete one-off. Nigeria made their World Cup debut in 1994 and did so in eye-raising fashion by wearing a kit so distinctive as to be utterly unique.

Against Bulgaria and Greece, Nigeria had the opportunity to show off arguably their most distinctive shirt ever. It was white and decorated all over in a regular pattern of ethnic African symbols coloured black. It remains one of the finest Adidas strips ever seen in a World Cup and shows how, with a little imagination, a shirt can break all the rules and still attract worldwide admiration.

4. West Germany (1990, home)

How often have you seen a stripe wandering across a shirt of its own free will in a seemingly random direction? That’s what you got with the shirt West Germany wore in the 1990 World Cup. Upon yet another white background, the colours of the German flag – black, red and yellow – meandered their way from one arm across to the other. The shirts worn by the West German national team hadn’t featured much red and yellow prior to the 1990 World Cup, but this signalled a turning point the effect of which lasts to this very day.

The design was very nicely executed. Each of the three coloured tapes were punctuated by white diamonds in two places which, through a cynics eye, could have been seen as an accidental nod towards Umbro on this Adidas shirt. As it is, they helped to prevent the coloured bands from being too bold on the eye and, like the overall design, looked entirely appropriate and stylish to boot.

5. Denmark (1986, change)

Football shirts with a ‘half-and-half’ design have been commonplace since the origins of the game. Think of Feyenoord and Blackburn Rovers and you’ll soon get the picture. Denmark, however, are not famous for wearing such a distinctive design, but that didn’t stop them donning a fabulous first-choice shirt during the 1986 World Cup.

Hummel were the company that added a fresh twist to an old look by representing one half of the Danish away shirt as a series of red pinstripes to complement the other half in white. With Hummel’s distinctive chevrons running down both sleeves (one of which had red pinstripes, the other in white) this design looked wonderful in the glorious sun-baked hues of Mexico. Worn with red shorts against Scotland and white shorts against Spain, this was a shirt that looked good in any colour, be it two-tone red for Denmark’s home strip, claret and blue for Aston Villa or sky blue for Coventry.

What would be your favourite five World Cup shirts? Leave us a comment below, or better still, explain your choices in a guest post on The Football Attic. Drop us an email at admin [at] thefootballattic [dot] com and we’ll do the rest.

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