Aston Villa Third Shirt 1991-93
‘Did Villa actually win in this shirt?’
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Aston Villa’s Umbro third shirt between the years of 1991 and 1993 was a bit of an oddity during the early stages of the Ron Atkinson reign, before Asics and Muller rode into Villa Park. The bright yellow shirt with a claret and blue trim was a bit of garish number.
The closest kit in the proceeding years would have been Hensen’s yellow away shirt of 1985-87, that also carried the Mita sponsorship logo, but was a somewhat cleaner design. Before that, in the 1970’s, Villa’s away kit of yellow with blue trim had resembled Arsenal’s of that time.
The main point of contention with the Umbro shirt was the large stamp-like badge on the front of the shit, which appears slightly odd with the badge’s writing of ‘Aston Villa FC’ sideways, while the lion in the middle is angled straight up. It’s a bit of an imperfect design and it’s surprising it was actually signed off on.
That said, there’s a collectors item element to it, as the shirt was hardly used and is often forgotten about.
It also has the distinction of being one of the final range of Umbro shirts Villa have had.
Best Player to Wear the Shirt
Let’s give this one to Paul McGrath, as he was the bedrock of the defense at the time, as Ron Atkinson was still finalising the look of his Villa team. Although, in terms of actual performances wearing the shirt, both Tony Daley and Garry Parker had decent performances in the most high profile game MOMS can remember the shirt being used in…
Best Result in the Shirt
Did Villa actually win in this shirt? The only times MOMS can remember Villa playing in the shirt off the top of our heads is in the FA Cup Quarter-Final at Anfield, when they got beat 1-0 by Liverpool and then a month later in a 2-0 league loss at Nottingham Forest (apparently, it was also used away at Crystal Palace in the 0-0 draw in the same season tbc).
In that FA Cup game, that Liverpool side is notable for fielding both Dean Saunders and Roy Houghton, who would soon join Ron Atkinson’s men and take them on the next level to challenge for the title and win silverware.
In the previous round, Aston Villa were away to Glenn Hoddle’s Swindon Town (memorable for a 18-year-old Steven Froggatt’s arrow of a goal), who like Liverpool, also played in all red. Yet, in that game, Villa played in their normal white away shirt, so it’s odd they went for the third shirt against Liverpool.
Best Deal
A couple of years ago Classic Football Shirts acquired a batch of the original shirts with tags (mostly in L & XL), which must have been kicking around in a warehouse somewhere. So, the shirts can still be found in circulation on their site or on Vintage Football Shirts in the price range of £100 to £120.
UTV
Further reductions, including £18 Villa shirts. Use code MOMS10 for a further 10% off…
