earlyshirts

Included in this section are some of the shirts you might find still around from the pre-2000 era. Please let us know if there's anything we've missed - particularly if you have a photograph. We don't suggest this is definitive, its only what we've come across.

1989-1991 - Home Bitter shirt

And what a great one to start with ! One of most famous of all replicas as it was the one worn during the Division 2 promotion campaign and Wembley final.This particular shirt is matchworn as can be seen from the league epaulettes - one of which is visible on the sleeve

The McEwans deal continued on the away as you can see below with the 'Barcode Battlers' and the team had an alternative McEwans stripe when on their travels (see Craig Smith collection below)

1993-1994 Home shirt

the small football league epaulettes are clearly visible as this is a match worn shirt - see the number on the back

1994-1996 home shirt - again you can tell by the epaulettes that this is matchworn (mind you, the number on the back is a bit of a giveaway as well)

1995-1996 Away shirt

The rise in popularity of the replica as leisurewear meant the players had to go around in THIS as an away shirt.....

1997-1999 Home shirt

Notts escaped the fourth division in this... a straightforward but ever-popular design.The box on the back of this one shows you its not a replica but player worn - probably by Matt Redmile during the record-breaking Championship season.

Later version of the same away shirt showing 'Champions 1998' embroidery - a testimony to that huge points total that the Mighty Pies accrued

In these days of retro, several shirts that are perennial favourites have been recreated by Toffs (two are also at clubshop). The all white top pictured here was used between 1948-52. The more traditional stripes were worn from 1964 up until the end of the decade (apart from one season when they reverted to all white). Without making any cheap cracks about matchworn etc, if you DO see one with 'T.Lawton' in biro on the label at the back, we would be interested to hear about it.......

For some reason, when exact replicas of football kits first started to be sold, manufacturers seemed to think they would be aiming at the childrens market. As if ! As a result, if you are ever lucky enough to see any genuine period replica shirts from the seventies and eighties, they tend to be in youth size only. There were adult shirts but not many. For this reason, they tend to go for a small fortune when they do appear.Remember, this is the era before mass merchandising so if you have a shirt number on the back and a big adult size, you have to start thinking about having genuine player issue or worn.......

Towards the end of the eighties, the idea of the replica shirt caught on big time. Have we forgotten how shocked we were when we found out our team was going to change its kit every couple of years ? Here are the last generation of shirts before the American idea of attaching player names caught on.

The pictures on the left are match issue/worn versions of the championship shirt that came up for sale by a sports company in 2006. Grossly underpriced when they appeared on the internet, the whole batch were all sold to appreciative fans in five hours ! Note the long sleeves and numbers with the Nationwide logo on the sleeve. These are all signs of the shirts authenticity as genuine player worn. Oddly enough, a few years later, a long-sleeved no.11 and short sleeved no. 9 were sold, still mint in their bags. Although obviously intended for club use, they were still on the shelf at Avec when it closed.

The No 6 shirt of Phil Robinson as worn during the play-off final of 1990 against Bradford - note the eppaulettes and embroidery. This shirt was sold on Ebay for a nice sum !