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.

The Final Day of the Season - "FOOTBALLLLLLL!"

What an end to the best Premiership season ever.  High drama at the bottom with Bolton down on the final day, but it was the team that stayed up, at their expense, that were part of the real fireworks.


Queens Park Rangers gave the blue half of Manchester the biggest scare and saddest low before the greatest high in the last 44 years.  If Manchester City matched Manchester United's result they would be Champions of England for the first time in 44 years.  United were away to Sunderland and everyone knew they would do their part and pick up 3 points to put some pressure on their noisy neighbours.  City were expected to do the business at home, and comfortably, against a scrapping west London side in the relegation dogfight at the bottom of the table.  
The form book had it down as a home win. QPR are awful away from home.  City are brilliant at the Ethiad (dropping only 2 points there all season!).  It was a home win banker... Or was it?

QPR were 1 nil down after a mistake from Paddy Kenny 5 minutes before half time.  The stadium, an unopened pessure cooker, poked a hole in the lid and released some steam with Pablo Zabaleta's first goal of the season.  That whole was stuffed closed when Djbril Cisse pounced on a Jolean Lescott mistake to fire past Joe Hart.  The tension and expectation was rising again when ex-Manchester City player Joey Barton went on an idiotic spree of aggressive behaviour, elbowing Carlos Tevez in the throat (some say he might have deserved it after his behaviour this season - and the swing out at Barton moments prior) but the knee to the back of Sergio Aguero wasn't justified, neither was the attempted head butt of City captain Vincent Kompany (who didn't 'drop his spuds' as Barton accused Alan Shearer of doing when Roy Keane had a swipe at him years ago during a strange anti-Shearer rant on twitter after the game) before being escorted down the tunnel.  Anyway, with that maniac off, the game could continue.  What wasn't in the script was Jamie Mackie's diving header shortly after putting the away side 2-1 in front! QPR were playing with a freedom that eluded City on this, the biggest of occasion in their recent history (FA Cup winners last season).  The lid on the pressure cooker that was the Ethiad was firmly tightened and the heat was turning up, and fast.

With the time ticking down and the news filtering through that United were 1-0 up at Sunderland and cruising many City fans began to fear the worst, and some even left the Stadium before the 90 minutes were up, deflated and abject that they were throwing it all away on the last day.  Some will have thought they were cursed and this just wasn't their day.  Those that stayed will have thought the same thing when a Mario Balotelli header was kept out from 4 yards by an excellent Kenny save (who did more than enough to atone for his earlier error).  The multi-million pound squad assembled by the classy Roberto Mancini who had been so ruthless infront of goal all season was now hitting the corner flag with snap shots and seeing efforts roll harmlessly out of bounds for throw ins.  Mancini on the sideline was a joy to watch.  The Italians gesticulations were so emotional that the neutral couldn't help but get caught up in it all.  He was marching up and down his side line with no regard for the technical area or the 4th official (who to his credit kept out of it) he was crouching, jumping, running, punching the air in disgust, swearing bloody murder (in a mixture of Italian and English from what I could lip read) and looking lost at times with what to possibly do next.  Thanks to the Joey Barton affair City had 5 minutes of added on or 'Fergie time' to save themselves and their season.  Another corner for City followed, the 90 minutes was up, David Silva swung in an inviting ball and Edin Dzeko did what Balotelli couldn't from 6 yards.  His header was barely nestled in the back of the net before the ball was being picked out and sprinted back to the half way line with.  The crowd cheered, but seemed to urge more than anything, as the occasion and energy got too much for some and they broke down in tears of raw emotion.  What followed was nothing short of miraculous.  On the edge of the QPR box heading centrally into traffic Sergio Aguero, the Argentinian forward who has been fantastic for City all season, played the unlikeliest of give and goes with Mario Balotelli, the Italian forward who has been fantastic entertainment all year (but not necessarily on the pitch).  Aguero after passing to Balotelli, who tried to turn, kept on the move, Balotelli after almost losing control under pressure managed to poke a ball, from a seated position, into the stride of Aguero who rather than lashing at it, took a lovely first touch into space around the despairing lunge of ex-City man Nedum Onuoha (who made contact) before thumping the ball in for City's 3 goal, with their 44th shot to end 44 years of hurt and being the 'second team' in Manchester.
Cue bedlam.

City fans screamed, yelled cried, jumped, collapsed and went absolutely insane.  With almost the last kick of the game, on the last day of the season in the sunshine of Manchester the noisy neighbours had done it, and done it the City way, with a struggle, but with the quality of a billion dollar organisation.  Mancini and his 40+ strong backroom staff flooded forward, leaping hugging and going bananas.  The day, and the title was finally theirs after 44 years of waiting.

The team who wins the league undoubtedly deserves it, and the best team in Manchester won it this season, and will plan to continue doing so for the foreseeable future, but they will never win a league in quite as dramatic a fashion as that. Incredible.


As Paul Merson narrates fantastically here...

David De Gea - ready for a run in?

The start of David De Gea's Manchester United career was rocky. During his opening game in England he was beaten twice by city rivals Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley. He followed this up the next week by letting a soft Shane Long shot in at the Hawthornes against West Browmich Albion. These goals gained a lot of media attention and critical inches in the press as everyone asked whether De Gea was fit to be the new #1 at Old Trafford.  The key factor to both these matches was that the mistakes didn't end up hurting the team as United won both games.  Although going behind in both to 'mistakes', they turned it around to win 3-2 and 2-1 respectively. The team had bailed their 21-year-old Spanish keeper out. The next couple of games showed some improvement from the man signed in the summer of 2011 from Atletico Madrid (then 20 years old) for around 17 million pound. Sir Alex Ferguson was keen to replace the retiring Edwin Van Der Sar with a talented and confident number 1. 'He's outstanding replacement for Van der Sar,' Ferguson said at the time of signing. De Gea's first game in front of the Old Trafford faithful was an easy one, a 3-0 win and his first clean sheet against a Tottenham Hotspur side slightly off the pace and understrength. The next home game at Old Trafford saw a big moment for the young man in the infancy of his United career. 1 nil up against, then title challengers, Arsenal at home, the potent Robin Van Persie had a chance from the spot to make it one-all (1-1) and change the complexion of the game. De Gea, unlike so many before and since, managed to keep out the Dutchman's spot kick with a smart save and maintain the Red Devils 1-0 lead. That amazing game ended up 8-2 to United and De Gea was fast becoming the established #1 that Fergie and Eric Steele his goalkeeping coach had hoped he'd be.


Comparisons with his predecessor were obviously going to happen, especially at a club as hit and miss with their goalkeepers as United.  From the recent greats of Peter Schmeichel, Fabien Barthez?! and Edwin Van Der Sar to the flops of Massimo Tiabi, Roy Carroll and at one stage an overweight and questionably sober Adam Goram - there has been some real uncertainty between the sticks since Schmeichel left United in 1999. Like all goalkeepers big mistakes will be replayed for years and decent saves will be forgotten about after one repeat on Match of the Day. After this iffy start De Gea went on to suffer something that all the past goal keepers at United, excellent and 'other' would have nightmares about...

Losing 6-1 to the enemy. The noisy neighbours, Manchester City.

This was United's biggest home defeat since 1955 and De Gea was the man who shipped all six. De Gea on the day looked lost and completely out of his depth as his defence went missing in front of him and the expensively assembled Man City front line ran through at will and dispatched their finishes with the minimum of fuss. The wispy bearded Spaniard who does look rather like a chipmunk or beaver would have done anything to scamper up a tree or into a dam for solace, privacy and escape. It was one of those days when he would have wished the Old Trafford pitch would swallow him up. After this defeat and latter statement declaring that De Gea's eyesight was troubling him - turns out he's longsighted, (insert joke here... 'That's why he's so bad at dealing with LONG shots!' 'Everyone could see that coming from a mile away... except De Gea') Anders Lindergaard got a chance for United and played a few games with mixed results but no real mistakes. Lindergaard was only beaten by brilliant and unstoppable efforts if anything - Newcastle United's Yohan Cabaye with a wonderful freekick and Demba Ba's superb volley on the turn in a 3-0 defeat for the Reds at then St. James Park (now the SportsDirect Arena?!) Even English youngster Ben Amos got a league debut and kept a clean sheet before De Gea coming back in. It seems the break has benefitted De Gea and the competition for his place has made him hungrier to succeed at Old Trafford.

Then of course was the infamous doughnut incident in which he ate a Krispy Kreme in Tesco without paying for it (it was a quid and change and he is reported to be on 70k a week) again causing a lot of column inches to be inked about the keeper in an unflattering light.

After watching him get put through his paces this summer during a training session at American University by Eric Steele during the clubs tour of the US.  I wasn't overly impressed with De Gea and more importantly neither was Steele from the way he was coaching the new man, before their game at FedEx field against Barcelona. The Spaniard's training style was technically solid but flat and lacking in the intensity and courage that you associate with top keepers.  He was going through the motions and Steele was having none of it!  The goalkeeping coach was constantly in the ear of De Gea about finishing his reps or not stopping the play till it was dead. Obviously it's a new team, staff and environment but Lindergaard and Amos were setting the bar higher than the new big money signing and frankly showed him up at times with their quality and determination. One other simple factor that has improved for De Gea since this early summer work and will have helped him almost more than anything else is his English.  He may have also put on a few pounds to deal with the physicality of the Premiership, as he looks a little more robust than during his summer workouts (must be all those doughnuts eh?!)
-He has been taking English lessons and has admitted it has helped with his communication to his defence already and will surely make the dressing rooms at Old Trafford and Carrington a more pleasant place to be with the pranks and jokes of players like Rio Ferdinand now not lost on the Spaniard.


This has been a season of highs and lows for the new United goalkeeper and it was always going to be a birth of fire in one of the biggest teams in the world in one of the most physical and exciting leagues. One important fact that must not be overlooked or belittled is United's league position throughout the season. They have always been there or there abouts with drops in form (and of the ball) from their new goalie and the men in-front of him but they have still found a way to grind out positive results and turn a loss into a win which is what has made them so great over the past 15 years in the Premiership.

With 10 games to go and their new goalkeeper finally looking to have found some solid form, United are ahead of the team that beat them 6-1 earlier this season and are now back in the driving seat.  Whatever happens this season, De Gea will get his eyes fixed this summer and come back stronger and more prepared than ever after his topsy turvy debut season in the Premiership.  The keeper will have a massive role to play in the run in and I wouldn't bet against him coming up trumps when called upon.  He is a young man who seems to be finding his feet in a time in which he is losing his eyes.