By Jonny Payne.
Arsenal have launched their new home kit and a rather fetching 1970s retro red and white design it is too. The red body with white sleeves is immediately recognisable as an Arsenal shirt, – something Gunners fans have been craving for a number of years.
It seems, therefore, the perfect time to have a look at our home jerseys from the past 20 years, including the likes of the red and black striped sleeves in the early nineties to the redcurrant kit for the last season at Highbury.
1990-1992:
This kit is a typical early nineties design with the shiny, mottled fabric. The Adidas stripes on the plain white shoulders and the JVC sponsorship emblazoned across the front. It is a classic shirt still worn by many fans and brings back good memories of a successful (yet sometimes boring) George Graham era.
Make: Adidas
Sponsor: JVC
Players who wore the shirt: Anders Limpar, Andy Linighan and Tony Adams.
Rating: 8/10
1992-1994:
The 1992-94 kit is another iconic Arsenal shirt. Adidas moved the club badge into the centre of the shirt above the JVC logo and added red-black-red stripes across the sleeves. It’s a simple yet stylish design and was loved by the Gunners faithful, particularly as this was the shirt in which we won the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
Make: Adidas
Sponsor: JVC
Players to wear the shirt: Ian Wright, Kevin Campbell and John Jensen.
Rating: 7/10
1994-1996:
Nike was given the responsibility of designing the Arsenal shirt from the 1994 season onwards, and their first attempt included half-red and half-white sleeves. There was also a zigzag lightning design within the red fabric, a precursor to the two-colour blue ‘lightning strike’ away kit the following season. It was the first Arsenal shirt, legendary No.10, Dennis Bergkamp, wore.
Make: Nike
Sponsor: JVC
Players to wear the shirt: Dennis Bergkamp, David Platt and Steve Bould.
Rating: 5/10
1996-1998:
Nike had seemingly bowed to pressure for all white sleeves with the simple yet stylish 1996 design. From 1996 onwards, Arsenal took to the field under their new, relatively unknown manager Arsene Wenger – some Frenchman from Japan. A classic shirt made even better by our double win in 1997/98.
Make: Nike
Sponsor: JVC
Players to wear the shirt: Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Marc Overmars.
Rating: 8/10
1998-2000:
After winning the double, Arsenal took to the field with a new shirt at the start of the 1998-98 season. The new design included white sides as well as sleeves and a blue stripe separating the white from the red. For some reason seeing this shirt always reminds me of Kanu’s incredible hat-trick at Stamford Bridge. The shirt did not change for the following season but the sponsor did, with SEGA Dreamcast taking over. It was not a typical Arsenal shirt and looked far too much like Ajax.
Make: Nike
Sponsor: JVC and Dreamcast
Players to wear the shirt: Nwankwo Kanu, Davor Suker and Thierry Henry.
Rating: 6/10
2000-2002:
The 2000-2002 kit was fairly similar to the one for the previous two seasons. This time there was no white under the arms, the blue stripe moved to the shoulders and the collar changed from white to red. A good but not classic design.
Make: Nike
Sponsor: Dreamcast
Players to wear the shirt: Robert Pires, Sylvain Wiltord and Freddie Ljungberg.
Rating: 7/10
2002-2004:
The new shirt for the 2002-03 season included a new sponsor, 02 and a white band around the back of the shirt. The blue stripe had been scrapped and the shirt looked more like a traditional red and white Arsenal shirt. This shirt will always be synonymous with the Invincibles, which went for the whole of 2003-04 unbeaten.
Make: Nike
Sponsor: O2
Players to wear the shirt: Ashley Cole, Kolo Toure and Lauren.
Rating: 8/10
2004-2005:
This shirt only lasted a year, and it was the last one Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira would wear at the club before his long-awaited move to Italy finally materialised. A collarless shirt with yellow piping and white sections on the back, it was liked but not necessarily loved by most Gooners.
Make: Nike
Sponsor: O2
Players to wear the shirt: Robin van Persie, Jose Antonio Reyes and Cesc Fabregas.
Rating: 6/10
2005-2006:
Arsenal went back to their original colours with a redcurrant design for their last season at Highbury. A single colour shirt with a gold sponsor’s logo, names and numbers, the shirt was a celebration of the club’s history. Some would say the shirt was a marketing gimmick, but it is a nice memento of the last season at our beloved old ground.
Make: Nike
Sponsor: O2
Players to wear the shirt: Emmanuel Eboue, Gilberto and Gael Clichy.
Rating: 8/10
2006-2008:
A new stadium, a new sponsor and a new shirt for the 2006-07 season. The red and white colours returned in a traditional-style shirt with a gold vertical band under the arms. Nike were almost there but not quite with this design. The less than convincing performances in the shirt also didn’t help much.
Make: Nike
Sponsor: Fly Emirates
Players to wear the shirt: Emmanuel Adebayor, Aleksandr Hleb and Theo Walcott.
Rating: 7/10
2008-2010:
After returning to all white sleeves, Nike then opted for a change for the next shirt, with a white band running through red sleeves. The shirt was met with little enthusiasm among Arsenal fans who thought it looked too much like Middlesbrough or Charlton.
Make: Nike
Sponsor: Fly Emirates
Players to wear the shirt: Thomas Vermaelen, Jack Wilshere and Andrey Arshavin.
Rating: 5/10
2010-present:
The new design is arguably the most traditional for the last twenty years. Made partly from recycled bottles, the new design is supposedly 13 per cent lighter than previous kits – lets hope it can give Sol Campbell an extra few yards of pace.
Make: Nike
Sponsor: Fly Emirates
Players to wear the shirt: We’ll have to wait to see, but Lionel Messi, Mesut Ozil and Lucio would definitely look good in the new kit.
Rating: 8/10
To see the new Arsenal shirt click here.
What do you think of the new shirt? Have your say below:
