This season's Premier League shirts: retro chic or walking billboards?
It's twelve years now since Douglas Hall was caught by a tabloid sting scoffing at Geordies for paying £50 for replica shirts worth £5. Fans were outraged, and politicians attacked club greed and "exploitation". Twelve years on, and Newcastle's new 2010-11 shirt has gone on sale – yours for £50.
What the lack of change shows is that, deep down, fans don't really mind paying mark-ups for club branding. What has improved in the last decade, though, is the quality.
This year's new launches are a well-made, pretty good-looking bunch. They are almost all retro-themed, and, disappointingly, there's nothing properly ugly like Tottenham's 2009 urine-in-the-snow-themed yellow streaked top. The only one that comes close is Everton's fluorescent pink away outfit – "a brave design", says Leon Osman.
In fact, the only consistent negative about this season's home tops isn't the designers' fault. The problem is the new range of sponsors' logos: uglier and seemingly larger than ever.
Take Liverpool's shirt (£44.99 from Kitbag.com). It's a classic Adidas design – a modern version of the 1989-90 title-winning top. It feels classy: neat gold piping and quality, breathable fabric. But that's not what you see first. What you see first is what Standard Chartered Bank paid £80m to make you see first. And it's not a logo of beauty.
Likewise Spurs. Replacing the urine stains there's a retro blue shoulder bar: a good-looking 80s-themed Puma top, spoiled by an ugly "A" motif, promoting a software infrastructure company.
And Manchester United's top, billed as a tribute to the 1980-81 side, is actually all about Aon. (Although inside United's shirt there's a bonus: a chance to test your gag-reflex by finding the word "Believe" printed on the reverse of the club badge – positioned, says the PR blurb, "right next to your heart".)
Arsenal's 70s-style top, meanwhile, screams Emirates just as loudly as last season's shirt – but at least there is a welcome return to white sleeves.
Maybe the best new shirt this year, though, is Blackpool's – a top which proves they've already grasped the ethics of Premier League economics. On offer: a chance for fans to spend £40 on a top advertising their new club sponsor Wonga.com. Wonga's line of business: selling short-term loans at 2689% APR.
It's twelve years now since Douglas Hall was caught by a tabloid sting scoffing at Geordies for paying £50 for replica shirts worth £5. Fans were outraged, and politicians attacked club greed and "exploitation". Twelve years on, and Newcastle's new 2010-11 shirt has gone on sale – yours for £50.
What the lack of change shows is that, deep down, fans don't really mind paying mark-ups for club branding. What has improved in the last decade, though, is the quality.
This year's new launches are a well-made, pretty good-looking bunch. They are almost all retro-themed, and, disappointingly, there's nothing properly ugly like Tottenham's 2009 urine-in-the-snow-themed yellow streaked top. The only one that comes close is Everton's fluorescent pink away outfit – "a brave design", says Leon Osman.
In fact, the only consistent negative about this season's home tops isn't the designers' fault. The problem is the new range of sponsors' logos: uglier and seemingly larger than ever.
Take Liverpool's shirt (£44.99 from Kitbag.com). It's a classic Adidas design – a modern version of the 1989-90 title-winning top. It feels classy: neat gold piping and quality, breathable fabric. But that's not what you see first. What you see first is what Standard Chartered Bank paid £80m to make you see first. And it's not a logo of beauty.
Likewise Spurs. Replacing the urine stains there's a retro blue shoulder bar: a good-looking 80s-themed Puma top, spoiled by an ugly "A" motif, promoting a software infrastructure company.
And Manchester United's top, billed as a tribute to the 1980-81 side, is actually all about Aon. (Although inside United's shirt there's a bonus: a chance to test your gag-reflex by finding the word "Believe" printed on the reverse of the club badge – positioned, says the PR blurb, "right next to your heart".)
Arsenal's 70s-style top, meanwhile, screams Emirates just as loudly as last season's shirt – but at least there is a welcome return to white sleeves.
Maybe the best new shirt this year, though, is Blackpool's – a top which proves they've already grasped the ethics of Premier League economics. On offer: a chance for fans to spend £40 on a top advertising their new club sponsor Wonga.com. Wonga's line of business: selling short-term loans at 2689% APR.
