What to wear - as a Premier League Champion

20 years of the Premier League. 5 winners. 4 brands.

The Premier League has evolved and improved year on year since it's inception in 1992-3.  The teams have got bigger and better as has their stadia.  The worldwide appeal of the English game has made it the most watched league in the world and television companies and sponsors all want a part of it.  Manchester City's win this weekend in unbelievably dramatic fashion made them only the 5th club to win the title joining Manchester United, Blackburn, Arsenal and Chelsea in this elite group.


During Sunday's final moments I noticed that Manchester City were wearing the decided brand of Champions in Premier League history, Umbro.  Although Umbro may not be seen as the biggest of football brands or kit suppliers these days with the emergence of Nike and Adidas in the Premier League era, it is still the most 'successful' in terms of teams wearing their kits and winning the league... 


Umbro was the biggest kit supplier to Premier League teams during the 1992-3 season with half of the teams wearing their distinctive logo,  11 of the 22 were Umbro.  Some of the other brands that were making kits that season will be a real blast from the past to some, and unheard of to others. He's a list of who else supplied kits during the first Premier League season


Umbro - 11
Admiral - 4
Adidas - 2
Ribero - 3 (Crystal Palace changed from *Bukta to Ribero in December)
*Bukta -1
Brooks -1
Asics -1
Nike - 0


The first Premier League winners were Manchester United and they wore Umbro, in fact Umbro and Manchester United won 4 out of the first 5 Premier League titles with Asics and Blackburn picking up the 1994-5 title.  All of these first 5 titles were won by Scottish managers (x4 for Alex Ferguson and x1 for Kenny Dalglish).  It wasn't until 1997-8 that a team managed by another nationality other than Scotland won the title, that man was of course Arsene Wenger as he lead his Arsenal team to the title sporting their Nike kits.
Between 1998-2001 United again dominated the league, winning 3 consecutive titles (the first team to do so in Premier League history) and again, they did it all wearing Umbro.  The 2001-2 season saw Arsenal win the league the last day of the season at Old Trafford to pip United and clinch their League and Cup double, again another win for Nike.  Nike signed a huge multi-million pound deal with Manchester United to replace Arsenal and that was good business for them as Manchester United won the title the following year 2002-3. Arsenal and Nike were back at it winning the 2003-4 title with their "invincible's".
2004-5 saw the arrival of 'the special one' Jose Mourinho in England and he swiftly lead Chelsea, wearing Umbro, to the back-to-back titles (2004/5 - 2005/6).
Nike had a hat-trick of titles with United following Chelsea's brief domination, before coming back on the scene in 2009-10 wearing Adidas kits (picking up the German brands first Premier League title) and the first Italian to win it, with Carlo Ancelotti doing a super job in his first season.
2010-11 Manchester reclaimed the title for their 12th in the past 20 years and again did it wearing Nike.


Umbro have come back into the fold for the first time in 6 years with Manchester City's triumph, to claim their 10th league title, compared to 8 for Nike, and 1 a piece for Adidas and Asics.  Had Umbro kept hold of the Manchester United contract they would have been sitting on 15 wins.  Instead they have slowly lost teams to their rivals, although maintaining the England National team's manufacturing rights.
20 years ago Umbro had half the league wearing their gear as they dominated the English game, now due to the emergence of other brands and their superior financial clout Umbro are down to 3 teams, the Champions Manchester City, the relegated Blackburn Rovers and the mid table Sunderland.

There's been some crazy shirt designs and kits during the 20 years of the Premiership, some iconic, like the Umbro collar that Cantona so famously flicked up or the grey shirt Sir Alex did away with at half time away at Southampton.  Hopefully we can continue to see more good, bad and ugly kits in the future, and maybe we'll see Nike finally over take Umbro as the kit supplier of England's Champions, but if Umbro manage to hold onto Manchester City though, there could be a few more titles coming their way.


Table of League winners with kit makers.

• 1992/3 Manchester United - Umbro
• 1993/4 Manchester United - Umbro
• 1994/5 Blackburn Rovers - Asics
• 1995/6 Manchester United - Umbro
• 1996/7 Manchester United - Umbro
• 1997/8 Arsenal - Nike
• 1998/9 Manchester United - Umbro
• 1999/2000 Manchester United - Umbro
• 2000/1 Manchester United - Umbro
• 2001/2 Arsenal - Nike
• 2002/3 Manchester United - Nike
• 2003/4 Arsenal - Nike
• 2004/5 Chelsea - Umbro
• 2005/6 Chelsea - Umbro
• 2006/7 Manchester United - Nike
• 2007/8 Manchester United - Nike
• 2008/9 Manchester United - Nike
• 2009/10 Chelsea - Adidas
• 2010/11 Manchester United - Nike
• 2011/12 Manchester City - Umbro

Totals

Umbro =10

Nike =8

Asics =1

Adidas =1

I couldn't finish the list without a quick mention of 2 new brands who will be working with Premiership teams next year, two American companies will take over Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.  Warrior will make Liverpool's kit (as well as Lacrosse equipment Stateside) as they move away from Adidas and rising power Under Armour will make Spurs kit as they move away from Puma.  There's been some random and classic brands making kits throughout the Premiership years, here's some you might be surprised by...

Brooks, Lotto, Kappa, Le Coq Sportif, Canterbury, MiFit, Burrda, Errea, Vandanel, Macron, Fox Leisure, Clubhouse, Pony, Nutmeg, Loki, Avec, Reebok, Mitre, Uhlsport, Fila, CCFC Garments, Saints, Diadora, Joma, Xara, Hummel, Lonsdale, Airness, Jako, JJB, Champion and even no manufacturer for some...WBA 2002/3.

End of Season round-ups

It's getting close to that time with the end of the Premiership season drawing to it's conclusion this weekend, and the Championship nearly wrapped up after the playoff final and the Champions League final clash in bit over a week.

The review shows will be full of the goals at Old Trafford when United destroyed Arsenal, and then again for when City destroyed United. It will show the tears of the Wolves and Blackburn fans relegated and the t-shirts of support for Suarez (before his 8 game ban), it will have a montage of Fabio Capello's tenure as England boss, and some of Roy Hodgson's head banging antics in the WBA dugout.

Bloggers, journo's and twitterers will all have their say on the season so here is mine...

This is a great time to look back on my good, bad and the ugly for the season.

The good - Papisse Demba Cisse, 'The Cockney Mafia' the 'Toon'.

He's been a revelation for a wonderful Newcastle side this year, with his 9 million pound move in January showing that smart and effective deals can be done in the window and guys that score in German can score in England. His second goal at Stamford Bridge a couple of weeks ago during Newcastle's brilliant 2 nil win has my vote for goal of the season, with Peter Crouch's stunning chest and volley against Manchester City a close second, and Luis Suarez's long distance blast against Norwich picking up the bronze. Cisse has scored remarkable goals since his move, bettering Alan Shearer's record for goals in his first 12 games, NOT an easy feat. Newcastle have been terrific for the majority of the season, and although I think Alan Pardew is a complete weapon, it's hard to argue with the job that he, and the Cockney Mafia have done at St. James, oops, I meant the Sports Direct Arena this season. Will it finish with Champions League football a year after being in the Championship? We will see.  Pardew has done a good job and is in the running for manager of the year, he's not my cup of tea however and I'm interested to see how he fares next season now other teams are aware of Newcastle and they will probably sell some players this summer.

Swansea have been sensational too, and I really enjoyed watching Paul Lambert's Norwich City.




The bad - Liverpool (and Arsenal)

Arsenal haven't been good, like Chelsea and Liverpool this season, when a lot was expected from them. A truly terrible start from them including the refund inducing performance that ended in a 8-2 hammering at Old Trafford where a pissed up Tony Adams would have offered more backbone than the players on show looked like it could end Arsene Wenger's time in charge of the Gunners. He survived and so did they, but without the goals of RVP they wouldn't be anywhere near the Champions League places, and it's only really down to his goals and the poor play of the other teams around them that they are in with a shout. Tottenham should have had 3rd spot, or 2nd sown up. Chelsea have had a mad season sacking AVB, bringing in Di Matteo, winning the FA cup final, losing 3rd, 4th, or even 5th in the league, by solely concentrating on the Champions League final, which they won't win. Arsenal, will be there or there abouts, because they do have the PFA player of the year and golden boot winner RVP (for now at least). Liverpool with that man would probably be where Arsenal are now. Instead they have a 35 million quid caveman who didn't score enough, a Urugyuan superstar who missed 9 games of the season through suspension at a crucial time and fires hot and cold, and a squad of piss-poor players. Everton may well finish above their city rivals this year for the first time in recent memory, fans will blame long cup runs, and bad luck in front of goal this season for not getting more points on the board. 30+ times the Reds have hit the woodwork at home this season, and missed more penalties than anyone else, but so what? You have to get the ball in the net and make your own luck. Dalglish's signings (Adam, Henderson, Downing, Carroll) haven't lived up to expectations or been anywhere near good enough all season. It's back to the drawing board for King Kenny as he finds his team as close to the relegation zone as they are to the Champions league spots. Not good enough for a moneyball inspired team of highly paid players. Without the cup runs (and in truth, even with them) this has been a bad, bad, bad season for Liverpool.




The Ugly - Blackburn Rovers, Steve Kean & Venky's.

Steve Kean has held 'dignity' in the face of torrents of abuse throughout the whole season. Venky's the Indian poultry firm stood firm with him even after protests, sit in's and planes flying over head with messages of distaste for the Scotsman. The Venky's group bought the team with promises of Champions League football within 4 years, they achieved relegation and the hate of most of the home support within 2. The rumour mill had them signing players like Ronaldinho, but instead the agent put in charge of the clubs transfer dealings signed his own son (who is yet to play a first team game), and put one of the men he represents, Steve Kean, in the hot seat. Steve Kean should step down, there is nothing heroic in what he's doing, pledging to stay on. It's been an awful season, he's been an awful appointment and sadly for Blackburn, if it'doesn't make changes, will turn into a truly awful club. All this after good old Jack Walker had helped win them the Premiership in 1995 (still one of only 4 teams - soon to be 5, to do so). Steve Kean said "We're absolutely devastated. The players are numb inside the dressing room" after the turgid defeat to Wigan (who have been excellent over the past 8 games in comparison to Blackburn's hideous form). Kean seems to be 'numb' himself to the reality that surrounds him. As long as he is at the helm and Venky's run the club, there will be a poisonous atmosphere around the club. Kean looked like a drowning rat during Monday night's defeat and subsequent relegation, sadly for Blackburn he doesn't look like he's going to jump ship!
Wolves were crap, Bolton too.