Eight of the most beautiful away kits in Premier League history - including Arsenal and Liverpool classics

We’re firmly in the middle of kit reveal season, where the assorted manufacturers of the world get the show us all the various ways in which they’ve butchered time-honoured pieces of clothing and provide us with garbled slices of ad-speak to explain their crimes.

There have already been a few absolute clangers dropped this summer, such as Barnsley’s eyeball-assaulting and bizarrely all-American effort – we hope you can see the announcement below, but blame that bug-eyed weirdo in charge of Twitter if you can’t – and Liverpool’s blurry quadrants that make their players look like Minecraft characters.

Of course, one can’t be too unkind about attempts at genuine originality, even when they’re rubbish – but we can instead cobble together a list of eight unique kits from days gone by to take the edge off all the tosh that we’re being forced to look at right now. Mind you, two of our favourites are just from last year, so there’s still some quality to be found.

We’ve stuck with away kits (or third kits, because who can really be bothered checking whether a kit was second or third or sixteenth, if it’s Arsenal?) because even the most iconoclastic manufacturers don’t tend to fiddle about with the home jerseys too much – but please enjoy eight classics of seasons gone by, at least in our opinion. And if the response from the time one of these was released is anything to go by, most of you will disagree with at least one of them vehemently.

Liverpool 1995-97

The classic green and white quarters upon which the coming season’s pixellated effort is based – and evidence of the virtues of simplicity. No pixels, no nonsense, just a stylish design done in a relatively minimalistic fashion. Also evidence of the virtues of baggy sizing and big collars, without which many Nineties kits would have been nothing. Just imagine those classic Fiorentina tops if they weren’t three sizes too big for Gabriel Batistuta.

Southampton 2022-23

A rare treat from a club who normally create kits designed solely to bore the pants off of the viewing public – an elegant, almost art deco-style swirl of blues and golds, whipping together to form the foaming waves of the Solent. It’s imaginative, beautiful and would frankly make for some absolutely gorgeous wallpaper. Evidence of the virtues of complexity, I suppose, at least when it’s in the hands of Hummel.

Arsenal 1991-93

Opinion on the famous ‘bruised banana’ seems to have swung from side to side over the years, revered by some generations as a classic and reviled by others as needlessly busy and a bit too brown for comfort. We lean towards the former, but perhaps that’s just because anything looks good on Ian Wright. Adidas chucked the rather busy design onto quite a few clubs’ kits at the time but somehow it’s stuck with Arsenal, and is now a staple of retro football fashion websites and a great way to advertise not just your support for the Gunners but also your appreciation for craft ale.

Blackburn Rovers 2006-07

The Rovers have had quite a few cracking kits down the years, but this simple colour switch from their classic home jersey is probably the best of the lot. Bold but elegant with exactly the right amount of little white details to set it all off beautifully. Also may be bolstered by the fact that everything looks good on Morten Gamst Pedersen.

Coventry City 1995-96

Stripes made from two different shades of purple with yellow trim really doesn’t sound like it should work. We’re not entirely sure why and how it does work. It certainly isn’t the models, with all apologies to Gordon Strachan. But somehow this Pony effort comes together beautifully, and the attention to detail is immaculate, down to the little gold button on the collar. Fabulous.

Crystal Palace 2022-23

This is exactly the correct amount of design flair. An elegant template with just that little twist of genuine originality to elevate it well above the mundane – the blurry lines just work somehow, in a way that’s tough to entirely put a finger on. Good thing I don’t work in fashion journalism, isn’t it? But I can conclusively state that the clincher is the circular collar, which is practically perfect.

Newcastle United 2009-10

Yes, I know. I promised controversy, and I deliver. This much-maligned Newcastle shirt was unflatteringly compared to custard creams and a deck chair at the time, but I say… I like custard creams. They’re delicious. And deck chairs? Gloriously comfortable, decadent even. The two-tone yellow stripes are beautiful and the centred badge, normally an abomination, works brilliantly here. Sadly, the backlash put Adidas off trying the same colour template again. Heathens, the lot of you.

Tottenham Hotspur 1994-95

Tottenham’s mid-Nineties shirts are a testament to the power of a good-looking sponsor’s logo, and their yellow away effort of the era is a classic partly as a result. The one jazzy sleeve, all black and grey checks jutting out at odd angles, works wonderfully well with the bold simplicity of the rest of the top. Umbro had some lovely kits in this era, and this might be the best of a lot.

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