Richo's Big Day - The Shirts |
Barry Fry's '98 Maggies ! 1. Saul Deeney 2. Ian Hendon 3. Dennis Pearce 4. Ian Barraclough 5. Gary Strodder 6. Ian Richardson 7. Steve Finnan 8. Phil Robinson 9. Sean Farrell 10. Gary Jones 11. Mark Robson 12. Justin Jackson 13. Richard Liburd 14. Gary Martindale 15. Peter Kennedy 16. Alex Dyer 17. Mark Warren 18. Darren Caskey 19. Ian McParland 20. Mike Whitlow |
The club soon cottoned onto a way of making a bit of extra cash during the testimonial. They decided to print up shirts with the names of all the players on to be worn during the game and then sold off by auction afterwards.It was an unusual move but an imaginative one as most of the players had their most successful seasons for the Pies in the years leading upto the naming of shirts so to own a matchworn with Jones or Strodder on the back would be pretty neat. The kits themselves were the current seasons, drawn from the remaining stock on the shelves of the shop. This meant the sizes were all the large ones that hadn't sold - XXXL etc. The lettering was the new football league style for the year. As it wasn't an 'official' match, there were no epaulettes attached. Because they were made up from replica kits there was no 'swirl' design on the Paragon logo on the front. Every player was issued one each with instructions they couldn't go home in it ! There were two made up for competition winners that played, with numbers but no names. Immediately after the game, the kit was removed from the dressing room after each player had signed their shirt. They were taken to the shop where Colin Slater auctioned off each one. The cheapest to go was Justin Jackon's - a snip at £35. The most expensive, not suprisingly, was Richardson's which raised an excellent £170 ! |
Careful with that shirt Richo - its worth a small fortune ! |
Fans' favourite Richard Liburd was one of four 'Great Escape' squad members to appear on the day. |
The shirts were not washed before selling as can be seen by a bit of Meadow Lane mud on this one. Each one was also signed |
The shirts were taken from replicas sold in the shop hence there is no swirl above the Paragon name. |
Uncle Colin auctions off another rare (but slightly soiled) shirt |
