End of an Errea Part Five- Brighton and Hove Albion kits 2011-2014
Errea have made their last Brighton and Hove Albion kit after 15 long years, with the club naming Nike as their “technical partner” from the start of the 2014/15 season.
The Italian company proved to be popular with fans having produced some of the best kits in the clubs history as well as being around for some of the most successful times, particularly with the move to the Amex.
In this mammoth five part series (presuming we don’t get bored and give up after three), WeAreBrighton.com takes a look back at every shirt home, away, and goalkeeper worn by the Albion that Errea came up with.
Part five focuses on the Errea kits of the Amex era, including one of the most popular away kits that the company produced during their time supplying the Albion and the final shirts we had before the change to the Nike. Thanks for the memories, Errea.
The First Game at the Amex Kit, worn August 2011
What better way to celebrate the first game at a stadium you have waited 14 years for than a special limited edition kit? This one was available for supporters to purchase and even came in it’s own commemorative box which was a novel way to justify ramping the price up. Simplistic in it’s design, it featured blue and white stripes, white sleeves, white shorts and blue socks. The red numbers on the back and lack of sponsorship all added to the feel of a kit straight from the Albion’s glory days of the 1970s. It was used only once in the 3-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, the inaugural first team game to be played at the Amex.
The First Game at Amex Goalkeeper Kit, worn August 2011
Alongside the special edition kit for the first game at the Amex came a goalkeepers kit as well. Just like the outfield players kit, it was simplistic in design and featured no sponsors logo. Had Casper Ankergren and Peter Brezovan donned flat caps and played without gloves, you could’ve been mistaken for thinking you’d be transported back in time to the 1970’s. No gloves might have actually been beneficial to Brezovan, given that it was a piece of typically questionable goalkeeping from Sexy Pete that gifted Spurs’ Jake Livermore the winner.
The First Amex Home Kit, worn August 2011 – May 2013
Statistically, this was the most successful home kit in 30 years after leading the Albion to fourth place in the second tier in it’s second campaign. It will of course forever be associated with moments like hammering Crysal Palace 3-0 at home, Vicente conducting an orchestra of flair and THAT first game at the new stadium against Doncaster Rovers. It reverted to the classic 1990’s look of blue and white stripes, blue shorts and white socks with a modern day addition of a smidgen of gold trim and it was the first (and only) home kit to be sponsored Brightonandhovejobs.com.
The Green and Black Away Kit, worn August 2011 – May 2013
First impressions were that this kit was bloody horrible and resembled the result of somebody who had drunk too much Red Bull being violently sick onto a black t-shirt. But if anything proves that you should give something new time to grow on you, then this shirt was it as ended up being one of the more popular away kits of the Errea era. Lime green and black stripes, black shorts and lime green socks was a bold and surprisingly successful mixture that also worked well with alternative lime green shorts and black socks when the occasion called for it.
The Lime Green Goalkeeper Kit, worn August 2011 – May 2013
The first goalkeeper kits of The Amex did what few of it’s predecessors had managed and survived for two seasons. Somebody in the costume department at Errea must have been going through a serious fetish for lime green at this stage in their design careers as not only was the away kit reliant on that colour, but the first choice goalkeepers shirt was based around it as well. It featured a blue and white hoop around the midriff for the sponsors logo and was teemed delightfully with navy shorts and rather oddly, blue socks that seemed to have been plucked out of the a leftover kit bin seeing as they didn’t match the kit in any way.
The Gold Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2011 – May 2013
A lime green goalkeepers kit could obviously not be worn in conjunction with a lime green away kit and so this gold number was used in conjunction with the away kit. Exactly the same in design as the first choice goalkeepers shirt, it too featured the blue and white hoop around the middle, although this time the sponsor was in a white box. It was also worn effortlessly with navy blue shorts and again those out of place blue socks.
The White Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2011 – May 2013
Two completely different goalkeepers kits wasn’t enough, and so we needed a third one with a return to white for the first time since the glorious days of Graeme Smith’s reign of terror. The blue and white hoop was replaced with a black and – our friend with that lime green fetish was back again – lime green with black shorts and blue socks. This kit didn’t have the finest of records and was largely favoured by loaned goalkeepers, with Steve Harper wearing it in a 3-0 defeat at Southampton and David Gonzalez keeping a clean sheet in the most boring game in history on the last day of the 2011-12 season away at Barnsley.
The American Express Home Kit, worn August 2013 – May 2014
Errea’s final home kit bought us one of their smartest numbers. Featuring the most white for many years, it had only two blue stripes down the front of the shirt and white sleeves with one thin blue stripe along the top. Blue shorts and white socks remained in place while the well thought out plan of having yellow names and numbers on blue and white on the back of the shirt left many fans scratching their heads as to who was who – particularly from the West and East Upper – due to the fact it was a colour combination that proved to be completely unreadable.
The Yellow Pin Stripe Away Kit, worn August 2013 – May 2014
Yellow has long been seen as the traditional away colours of the Albion and so it seems apt that Errea signed off with a return to it for their final change kit. It was the first time the colour had been used in six seasons and unlike most previous Albion away kits in the colour, it didn’t feature yellow shorts but navy blue instead. The shirt also featured navy blue pin stripes as well while yellow shorts were also used on occasions.
The All Green Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2013 – May 2014
While goalkeepers kits of all one colour have been the rage for some time, it incredibly took until their final season for Errea to join the party and provide uniforms with shirts, shorts and socks that were all the same. The first choice among those was an emerald shade of green that was used for home matches. The bizarre design of a black collar complete with a white trim made it appear like a cross between one of those fancy zip up cycling tops or a vicars outfit.
The All Red Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2013 – May 2014
If you have bothered to read the entirety of this series, you’ll know that we love our red goalkeepers kits. There frankly hasn’t been enough of them down the years to satisfy that obsession which is why the 2013-14 season’s away goalkeepers kit was one of, if not THE best that Errea produced. Worn in conjunction with the yellow away kit, it made Tomasz Kuszczak look even more handsome than he naturally did.
The All Yellow Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2013 – May 2014
Unsurprisingly given that we had a yellow away kit in 2013-14, this yellows goalkeeper kit was hardly worn other than when the home kit was used away from home or when a team visited the Amex wearing green. Just like the red and green versions, it featured a vicars collar with the American Express logo extremely distinguishable in a bold, black font.
