And so we arrive at Part 2 of our saunter through the exciting landscape that is the Premier League shirts for 2008/09. Today we have five more teams to concentrate on, and this being an alphabetical list of sorts, we continue with...
Everton Say what you like about The Toffees - when it comes to their home shirts, they don't like to change things around too much. Consistency is everything. There again (as Oscar Wilde once said), consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative, and we happen to agree with him there.
So what will David Moyes' men be wearing this season? Well, apart from their new blue shirt which looks staggeringly reminiscent of the last one, there's also a more enlightening away shirt that's white with a navy blue and grey band across the top of the chest.
Even this, however, can't really be treated as being anything bordering on unique or a one-off as this 'double stripe' motif of Umbro's can be seen everywhere from the England away shirt to the West Ham away shirt - more of which in Part 4 of our Premier League Kit Parade.
But let's not be too harsh. Both shirts look smart, neat and in the case of that away shirt, quite stylish. Not bad, but come on Everton... why not go for something more interesting next season, eh?
Fulham The club from Craven Cottage scored big points with us (and indeed most of you) for their new Nike kits last season, and here we are again with another couple that should meet with your approval.
In the home shirt, Nike have reintroduced a little more black around the collar and cuffs which, given that last years equivalent was completely white, may or may not be a good thing depending on your opinion. Other than that, it's as you were.
On the away shirt, however, Fulham have (much like Barcelona this year) gone from stripes to halves in red and black, and we think this is excellent - so much so that Fulham should stick with it in the future. We really do like it that much.
Once again, Nike have produced a couple of designs that are very simple but retain a very stylish and attractive look. Well done them, we say.
Hull City Ah, welcome aboard the good ship Prosperity, Hull. We're pleased to see you and we'll have difficulty missing you in your new home shirt which sees a return to those amber and black stripes you've worn so much throughout your history.
Yes, Hull are back in the big time and Umbro have given them a strip to be proud of. The thing you have to know about Hull City is that they regularly alternate between striped shirts and plain amber ones, and having had plain last year, Umbro have returned to the stripes for 2008/09. They've made a good job of it too, with a sleek, no-nonsense garment that should catch the eye without any trouble.
Away from home, The Tigers have got a more sombre dark grey shirt to wear. Hmmm... grey shirts... problematic, no? Perhaps. They can be somewhat less than inspiring (as we'll be seeing shortly), but this one's saved by its dark, brooding tone which should make it easy for the players to pick each other out on the pitch.
All in all then, a pretty good effort from Umbro, if our opinion's anything to go by. And at least they've avoided the obvious pitfall of basing a new shirt design on the team's nickname which, frankly, is unforgivable.
Liverpool When Adidas replaced Reebok as The Reds' kit supplier in 2006, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Most of those Reebok strips from the previous ten years were, it has to be said, decidedly poor, so it was no surprise to find us rubbing our hands with glee when that run came to an end.
Sadly Adidas' first offering was, well, inadequate to say the least. That floppy collar and the wavy white piping did nothing for us, and so it's our great pleasure to welcome a much smarter replacement that proves that sometimes less is more. Very nice.
Unfortunately, the new away shirt undoes all that building anticipation by being light grey, and as if that's not bad enough, they've even incorporated a shadow checkerboard pattern that subscribes to the 1984 school of football shirt design.
There's no nice way to put this - it looks cheap, boring and unoriginal. At least Hull's grey away shirt has a slight air of panache about it, but this, this... needs to be replaced as soon as possible. Liverpool have brought out a third shirt for this season - a pretty good green one - but it'll only be seen in their European away games. Shame, that. It would have been a far better away shirt full stop.
Manchester City And finally to Man City who've had the dubious honour of having Le Coq Sportif as their kit manufacturers since 1999. For this season, they've produced a home shirt that improves on the rather bland pinstriped affair of 2007/08, and though it lacks a little excitement, we think it's a step back in the right direction.
Out go those pinstripes which proved such a talking point last season, and in comes a plain light blue shirt with a white stripe running across one shoulder and a thin navy blue stripe running across the other. With a nice navy blue v-neck collar, it doesn't look at all bad in our book.
A little more troubling, however, is City's away shirt. It sees a return to the old red-and-black-stripe arrangement, and we think it looks OK... but we're not sure.
What's causing the confusion are those white pinstripes that flank the red and black bands. If it weren't for those, we think this'd be an almost perfect design. Sadly those thin white lines take the edge off it and that means the best we can call it is 'good' and/or 'interesting'.
So there it is, another five sets of shirts for you to judge and assess. We'd love to hear whether you agree or disagree with our rather presumptuous views, so why not drop us a comment and give us your thoughts on any or all of the shirts above.
Our thanks go to Football Shirt Culture and Historical Kits for their help with our research, and don't forget to join us again soon for Part 3 of our report on the new shirts for the 2008/09 Premier League season.
It's that time of the year when lots of new football kits are being released in readiness for the new season, and SPAOTP will be bringing them all to you very, very soon - never fear.
In the meantime, we'd like to conduct a short interactive survey on a not dissimilar topic - that of football kits. More specifically, we'd like to unearth your personal shameful memories on those football kits you wanted to own when you were a kid - the ones belonging to teams other than that which you supported.
The more shameful your secrets are, the more we want to hear them! Did you always want that Man United home strip in 1984 despite being an ardent Liverpool supporter? Was it always your ambition to get your hands on that silver Newcastle away kit even though you were a Sunderland fan?
Step into the SPAOTP confessional and tell us all! We promise to keep your identity secret (if you pay us enough money) and you'll be making the rest of us feel less guilty about those hoped-for (or even paid-for) purchases we had when we were young and carefree.
Speaking personally (as a West Ham fan), I always secretly hoped to get the Norwich City home kit for my birthday or Christmas when I was about eleven years old. Adidas were just starting to bring out their new wave of pinstripe designs, and that yellow and green one (above) worn by The Canaries had a certain 'je ne sais pas' about it to my mind.
Sadly, my local sports shop didn't have it in stock at the time, so I had to make do with my second choice instead - the Liverpool home kit made by Umbro around the same time (right).
(You can see I had a thing for pinstripes, can't you?)
My parents duly bought it for me with what little money they had at the time, and I felt suitably grateful. The fact that I was arguably showing turncoat tendencies against my beloved West Ham didn't enter my head back then - it was all about wearing a kit that looked resplendent in its 'cutting edge' design.
So there it is - I admit: I once owned and proudly wore a Liverpool home strip back in 1983 despite being an ardent fan of The Hammers. Forgive me, Mooro, for I have sinned.
Care to own up to any of your own fleeting childhood desires (in terms of football kits only, please)? Leave us a comment and get it off your chest - you'll feel a lot better for it…
The concluding part of our series looking at the First Divison title race of 1988/89.
January 1989 It was a new year but old rivalries remained the same. Arsenal and Liverpool were striving for top spot in the First Division, but The Gunners had a nine point lead over The Reds and you'd be excused for thinking Kenny Dalglish's side were loosening their grip on the League Championship trophy.
Time, then, for a little distraction to test the powers of concentration. Enter the FA Cup Third Round... Arsenal were drawn away to West Ham while Liverpool had the considerably easier task of taking on Fourth Division Carlisle United. What could be easier than that? Going off to play non-league Sutton United, perhaps? Not if you're Coventry City. The part-timers dumped out the 1987 winners 2-1 to join a rare band of clubs from outside the Football League to get one over on their professional rivals in the competition.
As it was, Liverpool made far lighter work of their tie, beating Carlisle 3-0, but Arsenal slipped up. After a 2-2 draw at Upton Park, a replay back at Highbury saw them lose 1-0 to West Ham. The Gunners were now out of both Cup competitions, but at least their league form was more promising. They reached the end of January with two wins and a draw under their belt and were able to claim their second win of the season over Tottenham in the process.
Liverpool, for all their new-found Cup form, were still struggling in the league and ended January with two wins, a draw and their biggest defeat of the season so far, 3-1 away to Manchester United.
At the end of January 1989: Arsenal: PL 21 W 13 D 5 L 3 F 48 A 22 PTS 44 GD +26 Liverpool: PL 22 W 9 D 8 L 5 F 28 A 18 PTS 35 GD +10
February 1989 There was a marked difference in the activity of our two clubs during February. Though it was a busy time for Arsenal, playing six league fixtures, Liverpool's players only took to the field once in a 2-2 draw with Newcastle. That said, they did also play their Fourth and Fifth Round FA Cup ties which, for once, didn't involve a replay. A 2-0 win away to Millwall and a 3-2 win at Hull City was enough to take them into the quarter finals.
Arsenal entered the month with a league game in hand over Liverpool, but they made up for that and more with a near unbeaten run which began with a 2-1 revenge win over West Ham. What followed was a double header against Millwall that brought them four points out of six and a defeat away to Coventry City, so come the end of February George Graham's Arsenal side could boast a massive 19 point lead over Liverpool (albeit having played four games more).
The Reds would get their chance to play their own glut of fixtures during March, but the stats going into it must have given them something to think about...
At the end of February 1989: Arsenal: PL 27 W 16 D 7 L 4 F 54 A 25 PTS 55 GD +29 Liverpool: PL 23 W 9 D 9 L 5 F 30 A 20 PTS 36 GD +10
March 1989 If Liverpool's fans were starting to despair of their side's chances in the league at the beginning of March, their worries would be just distant memories at the end of it. This was where Kenny Dalglish's side finally clicked as everything suddenly went right for them.
While Arsenal hit an indifferent patch that saw them draw against Charlton, lose to Nottingham Forest and win against Southampton, Liverpool were in sublime form. During March they beat Charlton 2-0, Middlesbrough 4-0, Luton 5-0, Coventry 3-1, Tottenham 2-1 and Derby 1-0. It meant a maximum eighteen points were taken from six games in which they scored seventeen goals and conceded just two.
This blistering sequence of wins meant the gap between themselves and Arsenal was back down to just five points. The title race, it seemed, was back on again.
Oh, and Liverpool also beat Brentford 4-0 to reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup, too. Did we mention that?
At the end of March 1989: Arsenal: PL 30 W 17 D 8 L 5 F 60 A 31 PTS 59 GD +29 Liverpool: PL 29 W 15 D 9 L 5 F 47 A 22 PTS 54 GD +25
April 1989 Though Liverpool's form continued in much the same vein, their achievements and those of every other club would be totally overshadowed by the events that happened at Hillsborough on April 15th 1989.
Liverpool's semi-final clash against Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's ground was abandoned after just six minutes when it became clear that many supporters at the Leppings Lane end of the stadium were being crushed. Around 5,000 people were waiting outside to get into the ground just before kick-off, prompting the police to open a set of gates that would allow them to quickly enter the stadium.
The ensuing crush resulted in 95 people losing their lives and many more being injured. It was one of the darkest days in the history of English football and no games were played for more than two weeks as the nation took stock of the harrowing scenes it saw.
As the month ended, Liverpool could at least look back on the three league wins they'd picked up prior to the events at Hillsborough that brought their run of consecutive victories to nine. Arsenal were able to boast an unbeaten run of their own too. A draw against a below-par Manchester United side and wins over Everton and Newcastle meant that when play resumed once again in May, the First Division title would be hanging delicately in the balance.
At the end of April 1989: Arsenal: PL 33 W 19 D 9 L 5 F 64 A 32 PTS 66 GD +32 Liverpool: PL 32 W 18 D 9 L 5 F 55 A 24 PTS 63 GD +31
May 1989 All eyes were on Liverpool and Arsenal as the First Division campaign reached its nail-biting finale. The gap between the two sides was now down to just three points but Arsenal had played a game more, and that became two when George Graham's side started the month with a convincing 5-0 win over Norwich.
Liverpool were next to play two days later, but their trip to bitter rivals Everton ended goalless. On May 6th, Arsenal took to the field again to face Middlesbrough, and once again, they emerged victorious - 1-0 winners away from home. Liverpool were now five points adrift with a game in hand.
The following day, May 7th 1989, saw the replayed FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, a game fuelled with emotion which Dalglish's side won 3-1 - two of the goals being scored by John Aldridge. They'd made it through to their third Cup Final in four years, and their opponents, fittingly, would be near neighbours Everton.
The Reds were back in action again just three days later when they played and beat Nottingham Forest again, this time 1-0 in the league. The following Saturday, a full card of First Division fixtures was played, and in it Liverpool won 2-1 away to Wimbledon while Arsenal lost 2-1 at home to Derby. This catastrophically-timed defeat by The Gunners meant that their lead over Liverpool was now just two points, and Liverpool still had to play their game in hand.
The following Tuesday at Anfield, Liverpool played host to Queens Park Rangers. A win would put them top of the First Division with just two games remaining, and they duly got it by two goals to nil. There was more drama to come when the following evening, Arsenal could only manage a 2-2 draw at home to Wimbledon. That meant both Arsenal and Liverpool were level on 73 points with The Gunners' goal difference better off by just two.
Before the last two fixtures could be played there was the small matter of the FA Cup Final to deal with, but a resurgent Liverpool proved there was little they couldn't handle when they won an entertaining match 3-2 after extra time. It was an incredible achievement on the part of the Liverpool players near the end of a season that had left them physically and emotionally drained. Could they last out to the end of the league competition and win the double?
Tuesday 23rd May 1989. The pressure was now building. With an incredible sense of coincidence, the last game of 1988-89 was to be played at Anfield between Arsenal and Liverpool, but before that, Dalglish's men had one extra game to squeeze in - a home tie against West Ham. With the goal difference situation being so close, Liverpool not only had to win, but win by as many goals as possible. The final score was Liverpool 5, West Ham 1.
Friday 26th May 1989. The last game of the season - Liverpool v Arsenal. Winner takes all. Having staged a monumental comeback since the start of March that had seen them win thirteen of their fourteen league matches, Liverpool were now on top of the table. They were three points ahead of Arsenal, but crucially their goal difference was +39 compared to +37 for The Gunners.
The stage was set. A 1-0 win for Arsenal would not be enough - they would have to defeat Liverpool by two clear goals to reclaim the First Division title, and only then because Arsenal had a better 'Goals Scored' figure than their opponents. Liverpool only needed a draw.
The match began, and the first half was a tense affair, ending goalless. Liverpool remained in the driving seat, but shortly after the restart, Alan Smith headed in from a Nigel Winterburn free kick to give Arsenal a 1-0 lead.
The visitors had found renewed hope, but their efforts throughout the remainder of the second half were coming to nothing. The elusive second goal they wanted so badly looked unlikely to come, but then in injury time Arsenal's Michael Thomas took up an Alan Smith pass inside the Liverpool half, got past Steve Nicol who tried and failed to win the ball from him, and with the last kick of the game and indeed the season, Thomas slotted the ball past Bruce Grobelaar in the Liverpool goal.
The visiting supporters went wild, the referee blew his whistle and that was that. Liverpool's hopes of retaining the title after an incredible late-season surge had been dashed as George Graham's side won the league when many thought their chance had gone.
End of May 1989: Arsenal: PL 38 W 22 D 10 L 6 F 73 A 36 PTS 76 GD +37 Liverpool: PL 38 W 22 D 10 L 6 F 65 A 28 PTS 76 GD +37
Number of points gained by Arsenal and Liverpool during the 1988/89 season.
It was Arsenal's first league championship win for eighteen years and the victory was made all the sweeter by the way it had been attained. The narrowest possible margin was what came between Arsenal and Liverpool at the end of the 1988-89 season, and it's doubtless we'll ever see such a remarkable finish to the season again.
It beggars belief but despite what a lot of people would have you believe, this season's Premier League title race is still wide open. No really.
Man United are only three points ahead of second-placed Chelsea, and though Arsenal are a further four points behind Avram Grant's men, they can look forward to games against Derby and Sunderland which should garner six points if all goes to plan.
So in general then, it's a three-horse-race for the title (come on you miserable lot - where's your sense of imagination?) but despite the excitement this is likely to generate, nothing beats the climax to the 1988/89 First Division campaign for sheer pant-wetting exhilaration.
Chances are you already know the end to this story, but what about the beginning and the middle? Let SPAOTP tell you how it all happened in this two-part tale of tears, cheers and Michael Thomas putting on over on his future employers…
August and September 1988 The start of a new football season. Liverpool were the reigning champions having won the previous First Division championship by nine points. They'd only lost two games in the whole shooting match, so The Reds entered the 1988/89 season as red-hot favourites to do it again (no pun intended).
Millwall were in the top flight for the first time having picked up the Division Two title, and joining them up among the big boys were Graham Taylor's Aston Villa and a Middlesbrough side that had inflicted relegation on Chelsea via the new end-of-season play-offs.
Elsewhere, Wimbledon were still basking in the dying glow of a victory in the FA Cup Final over Liverpool while Luton were the League Cup champions after beating Arsenal (to the surprise of many) at Wembley.
Among the top stars of the day were Newcastle's Paul Gascoigne, voted Young Player of the Year, and Liverpool's John Barnes who won the grown-up version of the top award while on the England front, a pall of gloom hung over the country following a distinctly dismal trio of performances in Euro 88. Bobby Robson's men had been eliminated at the end of the First Round, leading to many calls for his resignation.
Back to the new First Division season though, and the two teams who were to be the fiercest of arch-rivals and main title contenders, Arsenal and Liverpool, both began with opening day wins at the end of August, but September would force some early daylight between them.
While Liverpool picked up two wins (including one over Manchester United) and two draws, Arsenal looked decidedly shaky. Only a 3-2 win away to Tottenham provided any hope for Gunners fans as they also saw their side lose 3-2 at home to Aston Villa, 2-1 away to Sheffield Wednesday and draw 2-2 with Southampton at Highbury.
At the end of September 1988: Liverpool: PL 5 W 3 D 2 L 0 F 9 A 3 PTS 11 GD +6 Arsenal: PL 5 W 2 D 1 L 2 F 13 A 10 PTS 7 GD +3
October 1988 Arsenal finally managed to reverse their faltering start to the season by going unbeaten throughout October '88, thanks to three wins against West Ham, QPR and Coventry and a draw against Luton Town.
Liverpool, however, were going in the opposite direction. Only one win (also against West Ham) and a draw against Coventry was all Kenny Dalglish's men had to show for their efforts. Defeats at the hands of Newcastle, Luton and Nottingham Forest meant they were now two points behind Arsenal at the end of the month having played an extra game.
Having lost only two games throughout the whole of the 1987/88 season, Liverpool had now lost three before the end of October. Was this the start of a catastrophe for the Anfield club?
At the end of October 1988: Arsenal: PL 9 W 5 D 2 L 2 F 22 A 13 PTS 17 GD +9 Liverpool: PL 10 W 4 D 3 L 3 F 13 A 8 PTS 15 GD +5
November 1988 Both teams came through November largely unscathed with Liverpool unbeaten thanks to two wins and two draws and Arsenal picking up three wins before a 2-1 defeat at Derby blotted their copy book.
Elsewhere, there was the League Cup to be considered and ironically both teams faced each other in a Third Round tie at the start of the month. Arsenal had already beaten Hull City 5-1 on aggregate and Liverpool had disposed of Walsall 4-1 over their two Second Round legs, but this would prove an altogether tougher tie to settle.
When Arsenal travelled to Anfield on November 2nd, the match ended a 1-1 draw. Back the two teams went to Highbury a week later, but the score there was 0-0. A second replay was therefore required, and when the two sides met again at Anfield it was the home side that finally broke the deadlock, winning the match 2-1. Arsenal were out, but would the early exit save tired legs for later battles at the end of the season?
At the end of November 1988: Arsenal: PL 13 W 8 D 2 L 3 F 31 A 16 PTS 26 GD +15 Liverpool: PL 14 W 6 D 5 L 3 F 19 A 10 PTS 23 GD +9
December 1988 Arsenal went from strength to strength as the year came to an end with another unbeaten month safely sown up, thanks to wins against Man United, Charlton and Aston Villa along with two draws, one of which was at home to Liverpool. It meant the two teams had faced each other four times in just over a month.
The Reds' form was rather more ordinary-looking and their supply of goals was also drying up. Following the 1-1 draw with Arsenal was another at home to Everton, followed by a 1-0 home defeat to Norwich and a 1-0 away win at Derby. Even their place in the League Cup which they'd fought so hard for in November had now been taken away from them by West Ham, who knocked Liverpool out 4-1 in the Fourth Round.
At the end of December 1988: Arsenal:PL 18 W 11 D 4 L 3 F 42 A 20 PTS 37 GD +22 Liverpool: PL 18 W 7 D 7 L 4 F 22 A 13 PTS 28 GD +9
With a nine point lead over the reigning champions at the end of 1988, Arsenal appeared to be pulling further and further away from Liverpool and the chasing pack in the race for the title, but for how much longer? Come back soon for the second and final thrilling instalment of 'Now That's What I Call A Title Race'...
You'll have to excuse me for a moment. I'm going to get rather nostalgic.
A number of other blog sites have recently been talking about a programme currently being shown on the ITV4 channel here in the UK called 'The Big Match Revisited'. Ours is about to join them, if a little belatedly.
The reason why so many people have brought up the subject of 'The Big Match Revisited' is because it pulls the curtain back on a period in British football history that people like me remember fondly but very rarely see these days.
That period is the early-1980's, a time when football was a very different animal from what we know today, yet for all its foibles, people of a certain age like myself (i.e. 30 years or older) have largely forgotten all the good and bad things that made it what it was. Until now, that is.
What ITV4 are doing is showing a series of programmes which were originally broadcast exactly 25 years ago. In London, that programme would have been 'The Big Match', a Saturday night show featuring highlights of two or three football matches that had taken place earlier that day. There were, however, equivalent programmes shown in different regions of the UK, but they all did the same thing - give viewers their first and probably only chance to watch the best bits from a small selection of the latest football games 'de la jour'.
It's proven to be real appointment-to-view TV for us thirty-somethings. Only yesterday I sat down to watch this week's show - a re-run of the North of England version of 'The Big Match' called 'Match Time' presented by former ITV anchorman Elton Welsby and co-host Denis Law.
Now herein lies the first point of curiosity. I never knew the former Manchester United legend had ever been employed by someone as a TV front-man, and to be fair, he didn't make a bad job of reading out the football news headlines on the show. What was more difficult to understand was what in god's name possessed him to settle on that hairstyle. It looked like he was balancing a stuffed cat on his head. Never mind... more of Denis later.
It was then time for highlights of the first featured game between Liverpool and Stoke City. The Reds, of course were rampant at the time, winning the First Divison title year in, year out, and the 1982-83 season was no different. Here, however, is Curiosity number 2: Stoke City playing in the First Division. Not a regular occurrence in the early-80's or at any time since, but luckily the ITV cameras were there to capture this rare event on film.
Sadly for them, they were beaten 5-1 by one of the all-time great Liverpool line-ups who, in my opinion, played rather poorly. All the stars were there to see - Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, Alan Hansen, Mark Lawrenson (not just with a moustache but with a beard, too) and Bruce Grobelaar (sporting a beautifully cut mullet) - yet the passing was at times lacking in accuracy and overall the interplay between them left a lot to be desired. Stoke must have wondered what the score would have been if Liverpool had played better.
Really though, for me a programme like this isn't so much about judging football performances - it's in the fine detail that one gains the greatest enjoyment. Neither team's kit featured any shirt advertising - it was banned on TV back then. Ironic in a way, considering Liverpool weren't allowed to have 'Crown Paints' on their uniform, yet it loomed large on the three 20-foot advertising board that were regularly in full view of the cameras (see left).
And that kit - the one with the white pinstripes. What a classic. I absolutely adored any kit with pinstripes back then. It seemed like the ultimate in football design... an interesting reflection on what goes through the mind of a 12-year-old boy, I suppose.
Even the pitchside advertising hoardings provide a rich harvest for the ardent nostalgist. These days they're all about electronic moving imagery promoting worldwide brands such as Nike or Mastercard. What did Liverpool have back in 1983? Wooden advertising boards promoting KP Nuts, John West tinned salmon and Slalom Lager (Slalom LAGER?!?!?)
Anfield still had its crash barriers in place on the terraces back then, a reminder that crowd trouble was far more of a sinister threat than it has been in recent memory. And the crowd - just over 30,000, we were told. It sounds quite low by today's standards and perhaps it is, but for a game against Stoke (no offence) at a time when Liverpool were 14 points clear at the top of Division One, it was a fair effort on the part of the crowd in attendance that day.
Still, it was all good to see a quarter of a century on, as were the highlights of the Everton v Sunderland match and the Notts County v Spurs match, too (Notts County AND Stoke City in the top flight at the same time?!? We must have been dreaming...)
All that was left to complete a perfect 45 minutes of escapism was a round-up of the day's news from the aforementioned 'Law Man'. Were all used to seeing the goals and action from any match that ever takes place in this modern era, but back then TV cameras weren't so omnipresent, so programmes like 'The Big Match' had to make do with black and white stills photographs taken by the Daily Mirror or some other tabloid newspaper to illustrate any exciting events. Cheap, but effective, you might say.
And finally, a look at the league tables... well the top and bottom bits, anyway. Just looking at the names of the teams and the levels they were playing at is enough to make your mind boggle. There was Nottingham Forest and Coventry City near the top of Division One, Arsenal in 15th and Swansea and Brighton propping them up at the bottom. Derby and Middlesbrough were stuck at the bottom of Division Two and in Division Three the leaders were Portsmouth. How things have changed.
How they've changed indeed, but that's why we like our football history so much. It's wonderful to step back from the here-and-now that sometimes lacks so much in the way of imagination to gaze through the looking glass into the Never-Never-Land of our youth. We probably thought it was all a bit humdrum back then in all fairness, but we should thank ITV4 for giving us a chance to see it all again. It's what helps keep us young, after all.
The Fourth Round of this season's FA Cup (sponsored by E.On) gave us an absolute corker of a match when our team, Havant and Waterlooville, met the might of Liverpool at Anfield. Heavily expected to be pulverised to within an inch of their lives, non-league Havant and Waterlooville took the fight to Rafa's men and were in the lead twice in the first half before eventually losing out 5-2 at the final whistle.
Havant and Waterlooville did us proud on the day and rightly earned plaudits from all quarters for the way they refused to be overshadowed and outclassed for much of that tie. Sadly though, we must bid them farewell as we progress to Round Five along our Road to Wembley and for the first time we give our support to a Premier League team for the first time. For the less observant amongst you, we today follow Liverpool as they play host to Championship side Barnsley at Anfield.
Now at this point we'd normally tell you stuff about our featured team that you didn't already know, i.e. some of the players in their squad, their season so far, their manager and so on, but we figure you already know a lot about The Reds, so let's look at their track record in the FA Cup over the last twenty seasons.
The first thing that strikes you is that Liverpool are a team that have had more success than most in the competition over the past two decades, particularly towards the beginning of that period. Between the 1987/88 and 1991/92 seasons, Liverpool won the trophy twice, were runners-up once and reached the semi-finals once. Liverpool were a team riding high back then, but decent Cup runs were to become less regular with each passing season after that.
1993 and 1994 saw The Reds exit at the first hurdle, losing out to lowly Bolton and a slightly-less-lowly Bristol City in each case before a return to the Final came around again in 1996. On that occasion, a late Eric Cantona goal put paid to Liverpool's chances signalling another return to numerous Third and Fourth Round runs before 2001 when the Anfield side tasted glory once again.
It was the first time since 1922 that the FA Cup Final had been played somewhere other than Wembley, but Liverpool didn't seem to mind as they took on Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. Though the Final itself was largely forgettable - particularly the first half, Liverpool sprang into life after conceding a goal with 18 minutes left through Freddie Ljungberg. Michael Owen became the hero of the day when he popped up with two goals to give Liverpool their first FA Cup win since their 1992 win over Sunderland.
In typical fashion, this peak in their recent Cup history would precede a fall that lasted for four long seasons including a Third Round defeat to Burnley in 2005. They needn't have worried for The Reds returned again victorious in (ironically) the last Final to be played in Cardiff in 2006.
It was a classic, roundly regarded as one of the greatest Cup Finals ever. Liverpool faced West Ham who, themselves, had enjoyed a good season, finishing just six places below Liverpool who ended their Premier League campaign in third spot.
Much like Liverpool's previous Cup Final in 2001, they found themselves going behind but this time they conceded a goal early on and not just once, but twice. With half an hour of the game gone, Liverpool were 2-0 down, but Djibril Cisse was on hand to volley a goal back shortly after and when Steven Gerrard volleyed in an equaliser after 55 minutes, the Final was set for a tense ending.
Nine minutes on from Gerrard's effort, Paul Konchesky's floating cross caught out Reina and went in to give The Hammers the lead again but with seconds remaining Gerrard arrived once more to smash home another equaliser to finish normal time at 3-3.
Extra time came and went without much incident and penalties were called for. It was here that West Ham showed a lack of experience that Liverpool used to their advantage. Bobby Zamora and Konchesky missed with their efforts either side of a Teddy Sheringham goal, and with only Sami Hyppia having missed from the first three kicks for Liverpool it was left to John Arne Riise to score the decisive third goal before Reina saved from Anton Ferdinand.
The Reds were handed the FA Cup for the seventh time, thereby meaning only three clubs have won the trophy more than them - Man United, Arsenal and Tottenham. They look set to be a major player in the future of the competition for many years to come just as they have been for many years, but just as last season they're also highly susceptible to early exits and even defeats to lesser teams.
Will they overcome Barnsley today? We shall see...
So let's see - we're four or five games into the Premier League season and what seems to be happening? Well according to Jose Mourinho the title race is wide open. That maybe true, but what's apparent already is that out of the 'big four' that most of us had pencilled in to finish near the top, it's Arsenal and Liverpool that are leading the way, not Man United and Chelsea.
I don’t know about you but when I heard that Arsenal were 1-0 down to Fulham with six minutes to go on the opening day of the season, I feared the worst. No Thierry Henry, no ruthless front man to put the goals in the net. The writing was on the wall until Van Persie and Hleb cropped up with a couple of winners, but from that point onwards they’ve barely looked back. The only points they’ve dropped so far have been against Blackburn where they drew 1-1.
The Reds have been even more convincing. Like Arsenal, they've only dropped two points up to now, but they were against Chelsea. Yet what makes Liverpool a real eye-opening title challenger this season is the way Rafa Benitez has managed to bring in new players and get them playing to their strengths. No longer are they relying on wing-play and crosses into the box . Now a more direct approach is the order of the day. Players like Torres and Voronin are being given the ball and told to do what they do best: take on defenders and shoot on sight.
It's a method that's paid dividends so far. For a start they were able to beat Aston Villa 2-1 away (something that Chelsea failed to do yesterday) and most notably they demolished Derby County 6-0. OK, so Derby aren’t exactly the toughest opponents anyone will play all year, but they'll doubtless trip someone up before the season's over.
The absence of Thierry Henry seems to have had a strange effect on Arsenal. Instead of contemplating a future without a world-class striker, many of the players now look relieved to have thrown off the shackles of being just another one of Henry's support team. Individuals are now finding a chance to shine in their own right. A look at Arsenal's scoresheets from the first three weeks of the season backs this up: names like Van Persie, Adebayor, Rosicky, Fabregas and Hleb show that goals are now coming from a variety of sources, rather than the one that now plays for Barcelona.
It's remarkably similar to the way Man United used to play but may have now lost. If one player was off form, someone else in the team could step in to provide the goals but without a main striker of note until this weekend, United suddenly found that the supply chain had broken down. Think of Man U teams in the recent past and practically anyone could have scored in any match. Giggs, Scholes, Solskjaer, Keane, Beckham, Butt, Cole, Sheringham, Yorke - even defenders like O'Shea and Ferdinand might have chipped in with the odd one here or there. This season it's been a different story.
After United's Carling Cup Final victory in 2005/06, they went on to score 23 goals in 12 games but in the five they've played since August 12th this year, they've managed just three.
Now before I go on, yes I know it's early days so far and that anything can happen between now and May 11th 2008 but it has to be said that Sir Alex Ferguson's team appears to lack the strength in depth they once had. Never more has this been apparent since Ronaldo and Rooney took their leave of absence, but what of Tevez? Wasn't he the one that was going to give United some flair and plenty of goals? Sadly I think he's the victim of United's new playing style - too much passing and too little in the way of impulsive shooting from anywhere on the pitch.
All of which leaves Chelsea. Their only defeat of the season so far was rather mind-boggling in that Aston Villa's 2-0 win wasn't a fair reflection of who the superior team was. Martin O'Neill's men certainly defended well, but it was more a case of Mourinho's team having a 'bad day at the office.' Yet even there it's interesting to see Chelsea's 'goals scored' column for their first five games: three, two, one, one, zero.
So was it a case of 'too much talent, not enough end product' or were Aston Villa just playing out of their skins yesterday? Looking at Villa's results this season, perhaps the former. Villa have only lost once in their first four games and that was to Liverpool, so maybe Chelsea's title challenge isn't the stuff of major catastrophe after all. My guess it was just a blip, but their next game against Blackburn will prove or deny that.
On reflection then, the race for the title has started with no team taking maximum points from their first four games. No one team has laid down the gauntlet to the rest of the league, so is this Liverpool's best chance to finally get their name on the trophy? Watch this space…
It's time we took a look at the shirt Liverpool will be wearing on their travels next season and if you're a fan of Liverpool's yellow away kits, you're out of luck. Adidas have decided to bring back white again in the following form:
In case you're wondering, it'll be worn with black shorts (also adorned with that rather peculiar red trim), but this is the important bit you may or may not be wearing in 2007/08.
It's available to buy right now from the Liverpool website and if you're an adult you can expect to part company with £39.99 of your hard-earned.
Not a bad effort, one might think - especially given the fluctuating quality of Adidas in recent years. Now it's over to you, though: is it a winner or a ringer? Leave us a comment or vote in our online poll below...
And before we go, an update on how the votes are going in our other 'New Shirt' polls (see menu on right).
The Man City home shirt has been the most popular in terms of the overall number of votes cast - a whopping 177 - however it's the most unpopular in terms of the way you voted. Just 34% of you thought it was 'Excellent' or 'Good' while 47% said it was either 'Poor' or 'Terrible'.
Contrast that with the Tottenham home shirt which is the one most of you like so far. 70% say it's 'Excellent' or 'Good' whereas only 18% said it was 'Poor' or 'Terrible'.
As far as positive feedback is concerned, the Fulham home shirt is currently second with a 67% positive vote and Arsenal's new away shirt is third with 63%. At the other end of the scale, Reading's new grey away shirt is already second worst for negative feedback with 35% and West Ham and Birmingham's home shirts are next with 28%.
Speaking of West Ham, the online vote for their new home shirt has had the quickest and most prolific response so far, slightly edging out the Man City home shirt. Sadly, no-one's been much bothered to vote on the new Wigan and Birmingham home shirts. They can't be that bad, surely?
And finally, if you haven't already done so, please cast your vote on the greatest England home shirt of all time. It's a much tougher choice but see which one you think's best and make your voice heard.
Thanks to everyone for the hundreds of votes cast and the dozens of comments registered so far. You've made this feature a great success! :-)
Liverpool fan and architect Paul Gregory, along with two friends, spent nearly £2,500 on flights, accommodation and tickets to see the Champions League Final 2007. As we know, many fans holding genuine tickets were refused entry to the ground whilst many with forged or no tickets got in to see the game.
Paul has since written to UEFA president Michel Platini seeking compensation. His letter makes interesting reading :
"I would like this to be reimbursed by Uefa. It's the least you can do for putting our lives at risk. If this is not forthcoming we intend to take action against Uefa through the British judicial system, and through the European Courts if necessary. It was only through good luck that Uefa avoided deaths.
"As a former shareholder in Liverpool FC I am the recipient of three €140 tickets for the Champions League final. All are still unused as we were refused entry into the stadium. I was herded, tear-gassed, kicked and baton-charged by riot police outside the stadium for the hour leading up to kick-off and way beyond.
"As the organising body, Uefa has a duty of care towards its legitimate ticket-holders in just the same way as any corporate body has towards its customers. This duty of care extends to having systems in place to deny entry to the stadium to non-ticket holders. Demonstrably these systems were not in place.
"While unsavoury elements of the Liverpool fans must take responsibility for their actions, so must Uefa take responsibility for its shortcomings. Uefa appears to have planned for a genteel corporate networking event. It took its eye off the ball and forgot about a football match between two of Europe's largest and most passionately supported football clubs, despite warnings weeks ahead forged tickets were likely to be in circulation.
"Not only did thousands gain entry to the stadium with amateurish, photo-copied forgeries (some not even bothering to print the reverse side of the ticket!) but, incredibly, some fans simply walked into the stadium with no ticket at all - forged or legitimate! Others waved a stadium map and gained entry. One fan gained entry to the press box with a photo-copied press pass.''
His journal of what happened that night makes interesting reading too :
"I can't even be accused of naivety as this was my sixth European Cup final and I arrived at the stadium an hour and a half before kick-off. Plenty of time to negotiate 'security', I thought.
"8.15pm: Arrived at stadium complex entrance arch. Everyone relaxed. Fans funnelled by railings into several entry points. It became apparent fairly quickly very few people were being let through. It also became apparent this was a holding operation.
"8.45: Crushing begins as fans see little progress. Panic beginning. Children lifted up and crying. Pushing from behind. Police respond by pushing back and forming an impenetrable barrier.
"9.00: I finally make it to the front. Extruded like toothpaste out of a tube into police line; 100m further on, a line of police buses with a bus-sized gap and riot police blocking it. Fans backing up here. It becomes apparent this is a similar holding operation. It looks like one or two are allowed through at a time to give the appearance of a checkpoint. Totally inadequate again. We hold up our tickets, to no avail.
"9.30: No one is getting through now. Police drive a bus in to close gap off completely. Crowd of 2,000-5,000 backing up. Panic, crushing. My feet aren't touching the ground. Kids crying. Pressure increases to dangerous levels. This prompts police to let crowd know over hand-held Tannoy that 'the stadium is full! You can't get in'. No one can believe it. The charade is over. The crowd realise they haven't been policed; they've been conned, corralled, herded and contained for the last hour. A surge from the back and now it's confrontational. The police get more vocal and counter-surge with shields, batons, helmets, visors and boots, pushing us back a few metres.
"The police fire a huge cloud of tear gas and panic ensues. Police batter their way forward. Crowd retreats, choking and eyes streaming.
"9.45: We assume the match will not kick off. Surprised to find it has.
"10.00: Some fans regroup and storm staircases to our right. Running skirmishes. Beaten back by police. Tear gas again, kickings. Some fans try to crawl under parked buses. This goes on until about 10.30. We make our way back.''
Paul concludes by asking Platini :
"1) At what time was the stadium declared closed? And by whom? 2) What security arrangements did you have in place, particularly in regard to forged tickets that Uefa had been warned about weeks in advance? 3) Why are corporate 'partners' allowed to sell tickets at hugely inflated rates to fans?'
Finally, if you want a solution to this perennial problem the answer (apart from security that actually works) is easy: license clubs to show the match live on screens at their home stadium when the live venue is sold out.''
Paul Gregory states his case very well, and although you suspect he won't get anywhere with his case, you do hope he is ultimately successful.
If he does succeed, Platini can expect a flood of compensation letters heading his way.
And so we enter the second and final part of our special You Bet double-header having missed out on the chance to win some money from the FA Cup Final.
All the more reason, then, to think carefully about what we should be betting our £5 on this time around. Once again, we give you three choices - A, B or C - and all you have to do is tell us which bet we should put our money on.
In case you've joined us late and wonder what on earth's going on, any money we win goes to our chosen charity, The Alzheimer's Society and if we don't win any money at all, they'll just have to wait until our next You Bet when they'll almost certainly win something (it says here).
No money is required from you whatsoever - we just want you to tell us where to stick it. So here for you below are the three Champions League Final selections to choose from:
Bet A First goalscorer: Kaka (Milan) Potential winnings: £30.00 The skilful Brazilian is the top scorer in the Champions League this season, but will he be the first to get on the scoresheet in the Final?
Bet B Milan to beat Liverpool 2-1 (after 90 minutes) Potential winnings: £40.00 Milan enter the rematch with Liverpool a stronger side than in 2005... can they edge past The Reds this time?
Bet C Peter Crouch to score a header (in 90 minutes) Potential winnings: £55.00 The tallest man on the field, Peter Crouch is always the favourite to reach those high crosses. Can he convert one for his side?
Pick the bet you think will earn us lots of lovely cash for charity and watch this space to see how we do after the game finishes. (Closing date/time for voting: 7pm BST on Wednesday 23rd May 2007).
Voting has now closed. Keep visiting Some People Are On The Pitch for more You Bets soon!
Great Britain is a funny old place. We have a head of state, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who, when her mood takes her, gives a knighthood to a small selection of people born within her Commonwealth.
In modern-day terms, being made a Knight is a sign that you have achieved something extra-special - that you have done something few other people have done to elevate the stature of the Queen's realm.
If you're a male and you've been given a knighthood, you're allowed to put the word 'Sir' in front of your name, like 'Sir Paul McCartney', 'Sir Elton John' or 'Sir Robbie Williams'. (OK, so that last one was made up...) It's therefore a title that demands great respect among those people that know you or know of you, but you don't have to be alive to qualify for one. If you're unfortunate enough to have died at any given time in the past, those that survive you can apply for a posthumous title to be decreed as a belated way of showing how important you were to Queen and Country.
And it's exactly that process which is capturing the imagination of a few large pockets of football fans in Britain as we speak. It all started a few years ago when a bunch of Tottenham Hotspur supporters began a campaign to get an honorary knighthood awarded to Bill Nicholson, Tottenham's manager between 1958 and 1974.
Nicholson's achievements at the North London club are many. He helped them win the FA Cup three times, the League Championship once, the European Cup Winners' Cup once and the UEFA Cup once and also re-wrote the record books as Spurs became the first team of the modern era to win the English 'double' of FA Cup and League in one season in 1961.
It was arguably the greatest period in Spurs' history, and yet despite a long campaign to make him 'Sir Bill Nicholson' posthumously, its objective is yet to be reached. Knighthoods, it seems, are not so easy to come by.
Despite such a frustrating trend being set by this exercise, two more campaigns have begun recently to give other iconic British football managers from the past their rightful place in British history.
Bob Paisley led Liverpool football club for nine years from 1974 and in that time steered them to six League titles, three League Cups, one UEFA Cup, one European Super Cup and most significantly of all, three European Cups. Many British MPs have signed a House of Commons motion to gain Paisley a knighthood eleven years after his death, and a government e-petition has seen almost 45,000 members of the public support them in a similar vein.
North of the border, Jock Stein, the man who helped Celtic become the first British team to win the European Cup in 1967, is also being recommended for the same honour by two Labour MPs. As well as the European Cup, Jock Stein's Celtic side also won ten Scottish league titles, nine Scottish Cups and six Scottish League Cups, but are his achievements likely to be overlooked just as Bill Nicholson's have been thus far? Will fans of Bob Paisley become the latest in a long line of disappointed football fans who just want to repay the happiness their idol gave them so many years ago?
And as another government e-petition is launched to gain Brian Clough, European Cup-winning manager of Nottingham Forest, a posthumous knighthood, are campaigns like this being cheapened by their sheer proliferation?
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was awarded a knighthood thanks to the abundance of silverware he brought to the club, including one European Cup, one European Cup Winners' Cup, eight FA Premiership titles and five FA Cups. Maybe it takes this much to earn a football manager in Britain a knighthood, but why not treat each club and their successes in proportion accordingly?
The answer: there'd be a tidal wave of petitions flying around from supporters everywhere asking for their hero to be given the royal seal of approval, and that's simply counter-productive whichever way you look at it.
There is, however, another way - another method that can be used to ensure the managerial greats from your team's history are locked in the hearts and the minds of its fans forever.
We're not talking about entry into a football Hall of Fame. We're not talking about a bronze statue outside your team's stadium.
All you need to do is to tell your children about the Paisleys, the Steins, the Nicholsons and the Cloughs that your team played under, and if you have no children, tell somebody else's children. Tell them about the joy they gave you and the way your team played when they were in charge. Tell them how much of a difference they made to your team and the transformation they brought about while they were there.
Those children will grow up with a great respect for the icons you enthused about, and they'll go on to tell their children and their children's children. Legends don't have to be knighted, just remembered, so forget signing petitions - just keep their memory alive when you support your team.
...and if you've registered for our Fantasy League, you're half-way towards entering out great new score prediction league. The entry code for that is FCDA9-CUV...
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So what will David Moyes' men be wearing this season? Well, apart from their new blue shirt which looks staggeringly reminiscent of the last one, there's also a more enlightening away shirt that's white with a navy blue and grey band across the top of the chest.
In the home shirt, Nike have reintroduced a little more black around the collar and cuffs which, given that last years equivalent was completely white, may or may not be a good thing depending on your opinion. Other than that, it's as you were.
Yes, Hull are back in the big time and Umbro have given them a strip to be proud of. The thing you have to know about Hull City is that they regularly alternate between striped shirts and plain amber ones, and having had plain last year, Umbro have returned to the stripes for 2008/09. They've made a good job of it too, with a sleek, no-nonsense garment that should catch the eye without any trouble.
Sadly Adidas' first offering was, well, inadequate to say the least. That floppy collar and the wavy white piping did nothing for us, and so it's our great pleasure to welcome a much smarter replacement that proves that sometimes less is more. Very nice.
Out go those pinstripes which proved such a talking point last season, and in comes a plain light blue shirt with a white stripe running across one shoulder and a thin navy blue stripe running across the other. With a nice navy blue v-neck collar, it doesn't look at all bad in our book.
