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The Maroon
Away Kit 2005-2007:
The first kit that Albion fans were
given a say in choosing with a public vote allowing
them to pick between all maroon and a green and
black stripe effort. The maroon won the day and the
return of the club crest in place of the brown
seagull also did - while only a cynic would point
out the fact all the training wear had already been
decided as being maroon, so it must have been sheer
coincidence that the colour won the fan vote. Used
as an away kit in 2005-06 and the third kit in
2006-07, it was made of the same tight fitting
material as the Palookavile kit which wasn't ideal
for the more rotund of supporters. |
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The
Tour De France Goalkeeper Kit 2005-2006:
In a period of time before Team Sky
even existed and Britain's dominance of world
cycling was a mere pipedream, this goalkeepers kit
showed great vision of what was to come by
channelling wonderfully the spirit of the Tour de
France and recreating its yellow leaders jersey.
Featuring black and white down the sleeves, it was
worn with black shorts and black socks with Wayne
Henderson making excellent use of it during the
memorable 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace in
2005-06. Sadly it didn't survive longer than one
season which is of huge regret. |
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The Green Tour De France Goalkeeper Kit 2005-2006:
Errea were obviously aware that
cycling wasn't a particularly big deal in England at
this point and so their contingency plan was to
produce an identical version of the Tour de
France kit but make it in green. This number again
featured black shorts and socks and was used
sparingly with the maroon kit to the point where
this is the only photo we were able to find of it,
Wayne Henderson looking in despair as The Leeds
United scored a 95th minute equaliser to rescue a
3-3 draw at Elland Road. Another jersey that was
used for just the one season. |
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The Two Tone Blue Goalkeeper
Kit 2005-2006:
2005-06 really was an outstanding
year to be a goalkeeper at Brighton and Hove Albion
and it wasn't just the Tour de France kits that made
it so. The other design was a potentially boring one
of just a small patch of secondary colour on the
sleeves. However, the colours that were used for the
two jerseys featuring this design made them
absolutely brilliant ones. First it was the return
of all that old chestnut, the different shades of
blue that coupled a dark navy blue with a sky blue
and was rounded off with navy blue socks. Not worn
nearly enough however. |
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The Grey and Pink Goalkeeper
Kit 2005-2006:
Before this snazzy little number came
along we thought it should never be acceptable to
combine grey and pink together, let alone for it to
look remotely stylish. But that is why Italy leads
the world in fashion design and Britain does not. An
absolutely stunning kit that is up there with one of
the best Errea produced, it is a travesty the only
image of it we have been able to locate is of Wayne
Henderson's (admittedley fine) rear. Exactly the
same as the two-tone blue version seen above, it was
coupled perfectly with white socks just to complete
the flair look. |
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The
Crystal
Palace Away Kit 2005:
Crystal Palace wear red and blue
stripes, which is obviously not an ideal scenario
when your three kits consist of blue and white
stripes, maroon and navy blue. The simple answer of
course is to play in a fourth kit of the season when
you visit Selhurst Park - an all white number.
Billed as a one off, the club stated that it
wouldn't be available to buy by supporters but that
was of course reckoning without Paul McShane popping
up with a 79th minute header to secure an historic
1-0 victory. Never one to miss out on an opportunity
to cash in, a limited number of shirts complete with
inscription went on sale. |
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The Blue Backed Home Kit
2006-2008:
The Albion's return to League One
after relegation from the Championship also saw the
return to the more traditional shade of blue for the
home kit. This was in fact one of the bluest kits
we'd had since the 1980s with both the sleeves and
the back being completely blue. It was rounded off
with the now traditional white shorts and white
socks. The club crest also made it's return after
the use of a seagull on it's own on the Argentina
kit. Lasting the two seasons of 2006-07 and 2007-08,
this was to be the final regular season home jersey
that would feature Skint as a sponsor. |
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The
White
Away Kit 2006-2008:
Buoyed by the success and popularity
of the all white one off Crystal Palace kit of the
previous season, a permanent white away kit was used
for the first time since 1993-94 in 2006-07 and
continued it's run as third choice kit in 2007-08 as
well. There shirt featured a minimal amount of blue
trim with the shorts and socks also being blue which
meant that it was easily interchangeable with the
home kit. Bizarrely the sponsor was also in white
which at times could make it a challenge to see -
not least when chasing around Carlos Tevez in an FA
Cup third round hammering at West Ham. |
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The
Aqua and Gold Arrowed Goalkeepers Kit 2006-2008:
It really was a true golden period in
terms of Errea's goalkeeper kit designs as their
2006-08 produce continued the excellent work of the
previous season. It is rare that we find a number
one jersey that survives more than a year as first
choice but a sign of how good this stunning aqua and
gold number was is that it did exactly that being
used consistently in 2006-07 and 2007-08. Featuring
a bizarre arrow pattern on the sleeves and very thin
stripes on the front, it went together magnificently
with navy shorts and socks to be one of the most
successful keeper kits of the entire 15 years. |
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The
Navy and
Gold Arrowed Goalkeepers Kit 2006-2008:
This navy and gold arrowed kit was
another absolute beast which will unfortunately
probably be best remembered for Wayne Henderson's
untimely slip in the 90th minute away at AFC
Bournemouth on New Years Day 2007 that all but ended
his Brighton career. Featuring the same design as
the aqua and gold, it merely replaced the aqua with
navy blue for startling effect and was the only one
of the keepers kits of the 2006-2008 period to
feature shorts with an accompanying arrow pattern.
Rarely used, particularly after Henderson's error
after rumours abounded it was in fact cursed. |
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The
White and
Gold Arrowed Goalkeepers Kit 2006-2008:
Not enough goalkeeper kits feature
white and a colour other than prominent black for
our liking and that is something that was addressed
in glorious style with this particular effort.
Again, it took the arrow design of used white as
it's mean colour along with the gold but what was
more impressive was the fact that rather than take
the aforementioned easy way out of black shirts,
gold shorts were used alongside it to complete a
thoroughly foreign and flair looking number. Throw
in white socks and you have a kit that although a
nightmare to clean did however look amazing. Even
when losing 4-1 to Crewe Alexandra. |
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The Maroon and Gold Arrowed
Goalkeepers Kit 2006-2008:
Criminally underused in its first
season of 2006-07, this number really took off with
Michel Kuipers' return to first team duty in 2007-08
after the maroon third kit had been ditched. It
effectively became second choice goalkeeper uniform
behind the aqua in that campaign, being used
regularly away from home in particular in
combination with the all yellow away kit that came
into being that season. The combination of maroon
and gold was particularly pleasing with the standard
issue navy blue shorts that seemed to be the norm
around this time accompanying. |
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The Goldstone Anniversary Home Kit 2007:
Just shy of the tenth anniversary of
the last game at The Goldstone, Doncaster Rovers
made their first visit to Brighton since that
fateful April 1997 day for a League One Withdean
encounter. And what better way to mark the occasion
- not to mention getting the tills rattling - than
with a one off special edition kit for the game? It
was identical in design to the shirts, shorts and
socks used when Stuart Storer wrote himself into
Albion folklore with the Skint logo even being
changed to use the same lettering as the Sandtex
sponsor from back in the day. Even the numbers on
the back were in red for old times sake. |
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The All Yellow Away Kit 2007-2008:
Obviously having a blue and white
home kit and an all white away kit led to a few
problems. Namely, what the hell happens when you
face a team in white? With the maroon third choice
kit consigned to history, the answer was a new away
number of all yellow. Originally, it was intended to
be used as just a stand alone shirt that would go
with the current combination of blue shorts and
white socks but it was very quickly realised that is
was nothing short of an insult to Brazil for
Brighton to wear such colours and so yellow shorts
and socks were deployed. |
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The Goodbye Skint Home Kit
2008:
The last game of 2007-08 saw the
Albion say goodbye to Skint as club sponsors after
nine years. And just like when all good
relationships come to an end, it was decided to
celebrate with a one-off shirt for the visit of
League One champions Swansea City to Withdean. It
harked back to the ever popular first kit that both
Errea and Skint were involved in from 1999, with the
same sponsors logo, shirt design and white
shorts-blue socks combination. Added was a little
gold and the inscription "team mates" above the
sponsor logo. Brings a tear to our eye still to this
day. |
