Season 2011-12 - The Kits
The Home Kit
...you know about.As white as it comes apart from the black pin-stripe - allegedly originally only to allow the names of season ticket holders to be included in the white sections. That never happened but more later as to where those names ended up. However, there is no doubt the controversial kit must be deemed a success because it sold out so quickly and easily. This site expects that future sales of secondhand replicas will be as good as those of the 2005 season which is closest in design and also, if you can remember that far back, the very popular Adidas shirt of the 1970's.
As regards the availability of player's shirts however, they continued to be hard to come by. This is largely because the market was now more interested in them. Their value had soared with the arrival of Ebay and sponsors now wanted their man's shirt on the office wall. There was no chance then, that any would become commercially available although some spares were sold off or auctioned - often fetching exorbitant prices. Players were allowed to keep one each - although some took more and others none at all. Although the club had introduced fines for unauthorised and random chucking into the crowd or giving to mates, there's no doubt that shirts went walkabouts during the season. As shop stock dwindled, the player's replacement top could have an increasingly large size - like the Torquay game of the Championship winning season where only the unsold double X stock was left to play the last game in. This constant changing of shirts from the original two issued at the start of the season makes identifying a genuine player-worn practically impossible on home shirts.Both long and short-sleeved were sold in the club shop as were the N Power epaulettes.
The home shirt of loanee Johnathan Forte whose time with the club began a revival of its fortunes as he started finishing off the great moves Allen's team had been creating all season. Note the Lorien Resourcing advert above the name which was different on the home shirt worn away.
The Away Kit
There were two of them. At the start of the season, the players were issued with two each of the change colour - the blue striped one that you can see here (left). After that, the same rules applied for replacements as with the homes. Not being as popular as them, it's unlikely as many were given away during the season meaning oversized player issues are probably not going to crop up. There remained a reasonable number of each size in the club shop for most replacements for nearly all of the season. Again there is little difference between the players and the replicas so distinquishing genuine ones could be very hard. The club did sell off a few privately so there may be some about but others went to sponsors or the players themselves. If you have a matchworn therefore, you need a history that includes one of those sources for authenticity.
A word about the Juventus game that took place to open the Italian side's new ground on September 8th 2011. The shirts worn were these away colours which bore both the N Power league epaulettes and the away sponsor's name - in this case, Vision Express. In addition they had a gold block added above the sponsor's name on the front making them unique. These shirts haven't appeared anywhere before or since. They stayed with the players or, more likely, were swopped on the night with the Italian stars.
The shirt of Lloyd Sam, another loanee who helped revive the fortunes of Allen's team in the new Curle era. His habit of coming inside from the wing to take on defenders brought rich picking at league one level including a great hatrick against Yeovil.
The Other Away Kit
After initially starting away games in their change colours, the Pies also began using an away version of their home kit. Exactly the same in design but with the away sponsor's name on, the addition means there's a fifty percent rise in the number of player's shirts available. Having originally hung onto the shirts at the end of the season, some appeared for sale at auction and some werre disposed of privately. As the replicas never had the away sponsor's name on, if you have a Vision Express home shirt, you definitely have a player issue.
The distinctive sponsors name on the front and back mark out this shirt as player worn as neither of these sponsor's names made it onto the replica.
The Other Away Kit
So the elusive third shirt was designed to incorporate the idea of commemorating the 150th anniversary of the club and referencing every season ticket holder as well. The chance to get hold of the shirt would be by pre-order at the beginning of the season.At the time it was thought that it would be possible to get it when it came out anyway so there was some despondancy when it was found to be in very short supply on issue. The spare stock was sold by lottery and everyone else had to wait to see their name in lights - or at least in material, until the genuine 150th anniversary season. The design was to be the home season kit for that campaign - reverting again to the tried and trusted black and white stripes. On the face of it, early examination of that shirt showed only the location of the season ticket holders' names differentiated the design however there are likely to be alterations elsewhere. Remember though, when there are millions of these flying about as replicas, only the 2011 early editions from this season will have no 3663 sponsor on the front.
The third short was never worn in a match so there are no player issues of this that we know of. Designed as the first team shirt for the 150th anniversary season of 2012-13 though, the style can be sure of success. Stick with the black and white stripes boys. Always a winner !
A close up on the first 150th anniversary replica design. Some nice stitching there and you can just make out, in the black stripe, the list of all the season ticket holders finally getting their name check !
The third shirt badge came with an additional embroidery.- see the close-up for more detail.
A rare but welcome reappearence for the matchworn shirts of the previous season in the club shop.Priced at a modest £60, the homes were worn only away in the latter half of the season but the presence of the away sponsors logo makes them unique as they were never issued as replicas.All these shirts were left over from the two each issued to the players and some were signed at the end of the season to make them more valuable.
