If you are following me on Twitter, then you will know that I’ve developed a serious eBay problem! It started as collecting a couple of my all-time favourite shirts, but has since spiralled out of control, and I have no intention of putting the breaks on! I am now on a self-indulgent journey to collect all the home shirts since my first kit in 1989/90. I thought it would be cool to bring you all along with me.
As it goes, my first Villa shirt was the away shirt from the 1989/90 season. A classic from the Hummel range, white and black with a purple trim on the collar – it was a beauty! Through my youth, I was always nagging the old man for the new shirt on its release. In August you’d find me on best behaviour, bedroom spotless, cracking on with the dishes – ‘another cup of tea dad?’ I had a real fascination with kits when I was a youngster, I used to love the quirkier versions like the ‘muller yoghurt’ when we were live on Sky, the tweaking of the Asics logo when we played in Europe, and the different kit mash-ups when we were playing away.
Up to my early twenties, I had most of these shirts, which either got worn to death playing football or thrown away (I KNOW!). Since then, I only bought the odd one or two, like the 2015 FA Cup Final, and one bought for my 30th Birthday. However, I regained the buzz for shirts when I was gifted the now-iconic Luke Roper shirt for my birthday – game changer! The shirt vibes were back!
I started tentatively looking through eBay for some of the rarer classics, my first purchase being the away shirt from 1990. I’d go on to get this signed by Paul McGrath at a Q&A in Digbeth. I added the 1990 and 1993 home shirts and I was content. Cue Global Pandemic and multiple Lockdowns…Well, what else is there to do, right? I’m now deeply invested in collecting the lot. I’ve even created a spreadsheet, with a little help from avfckitgeek!
The plan is, as my collection grows, I’ll do a kit and season review on each shirt. It would be great to get some interaction going as well, because everyone loves chatting about Villa shirts. I will run some polls as we go along and we’ll try and find out our ultimate fan favourite.
Thanks for reading and look out for my first review coming soon – 1989/90.
Ryan.
UP. THE. VILLA.
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