End of an Errea Part Four – Brighton and Hove Albion kits 2008-2011
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 four looks at the final seasons at Withdean Stadium, as Gus Poyet transformed the Albion from the shambles on the pitch that we’d all grown accustomed to into a slick unit playing beautiful attacking football.
Off the pitch it wasn’t quite so smooth as we followed up the season when both kits were white with a campaign in which all three kits were blue, necessitating the use of five different kits in a season including having to borrow Leicester City’s away shirts for our visit to the Walkers Stadium in January 2009.
The White Backed Home Kit, worn August 2008 – May 2010
The new kit for 2008 should have represented a brave new start for Brighton and Hove Albion – a new sponsor in the shape of IT First and the return of Micky Adams at the helm. As it was, this particular home kit is best remembered for two seasons of struggle until the arrival of Gus Poyet. A return to a more traditional home shirt following the largely blue number of the previous two seasons, it featured stripes on the sleeves and a white back with white shorts and socks and was worn in such memorable encounters as the 1-0 defeat to nine man Walsall and the 4-1 home loss to Scunthorpe.
The Yellow and Blue Away Kit, worn August 2008 – May 2010
So, we had a home kit featuring blue. Why could nobody see there might be a problem with an away kit featuring blue as well? This was another popular Errea effort with yellow and navy blue stripes and a navy blue back and was most regularly used with navy blue shorts and socks, although on occasions it was also worn with a mixture of yellow shorts and yellow socks. It spent 2008-09 as the away kit before becoming the third choice kit the following season when it had it’s most famous hour in Poyet’s first game at the helm away at Southampton.
The Coventry City Third Kit, worn August 2008 – May 2009
So we had a home kit featuring blue and an away kit featuring blue. Why could nobody see there might be a problem with an away kit featuring blue as well? Lasting just the 2008-09 season and being worn in only a handful of away games against teams who wore red or white, the Coventry City inspired number had it’s fair share of highlights including a come-from-behind draw away at Cheltenham Town and an improbable Tommy Fraser bicycle kick at Hereford United. The Johnstones Paint Trophy dream also ended in it away at Luton Town and with that, the second Micky Adams Era.
The Green, Black and White Goalkeeper Kit, worn August 2008 – May 2009
Following the unusual situation of two seasons without changing goalkeepers kits, 2008-09 bought with it four new ones that all lasted just one campaign. All of the same design, the most popular of the lot proved to be the green, black and white number being modelled by John Sullivan. It was a somewhat bizarre design that featured a black sleeve, a little bit of black rolling over the shoulder and a big white panel at the bottom. Coupled with black shorts and black socks, it probably ranks as one of the worst keeper kits Errea produced, especially given the high standards of the previous few years.
The Yellow, Black and White Goalkeeper Kit, worn August 2008 – May 2009
The second choice goalkeepers kit for 2008-09 was exactly the same as it’s green cousin except that the main colour was a paler version of yellow, making it an extremely poor imitation of the beautiful Tour de France kit of 2005-06. It was mainly used in away games, usually with the Coventry City kit due to fact that it clashed with the yellow and navy away shirts in another example of the brilliant thinking about colours that defined this particular season. John Sullivan sported it when the Albion slipped into the League One drop zone for the first time after a last minute defeat away at Tranmere Rovers in December 2008.
The Red, Black and White Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2008 – May 2009
It took until the 10th season of Errea’s technical partnership with the Albion for them to supply a traditional red goalkeepers kit, and it wasn’t really worth the wait. Exactly the same design as both the yellow and green kits, it mainly appeared at Withdean against teams who didn’t wear red such as Colchester United on the day Adam Hinshelwood scored that most wonderful of own goals.
The Black, Sky Blue and White Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2008 – May 2009
While the design remained the same, there was at least one goalkeepers kit in 2008-09 that had something a little different about it. This was the first ever Albion goalkeepers kit to be predominantly black, with the sleeve taking on a sky blue colour and the strange white panelling remaining. This shirt was hardly used, with it’s most notable contribution coming in conceding four goals in a 4-1 Withdean defeat to Nigel Adkins’ Scunthorpe United.
The White Fourth Kit, worn December 2008 – May 2009
Who didn’t see this coming? With a blue home kit, a blue away kit and a blue third kit, it was inevitable that at some point we would come up against a side wearing blue and have a bit of a problem. That finally happened in the visit to Shrewsbury Town for the Southern Semi Final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, meaning that a special “one off” white shirt had to be commissioned. Exactly the same design as the Coventry kit but featuring white and blue as opposed to sky blue and navy blue, it was needless to say not a one off and had to be used away at Millwall as well later in the campaign.
The Leicester City Away Kit, worn January 2009
If having to release a fourth kit because all your other three isn’t farcical enough, then having to play in the oppositions away kit must rank as even more of a joke. Yet that was what the Albion found themselves doing for the visit to Leicester City. With the match day referee unsuprisingly not happy with any of Micky Adams’ sides three blue kits, the Seagulls were forced into wearing Leicester’s away kit along with their own yellow shorts and the Foxes’ yellow socks. Perhaps we should’ve asked to keep the kit as it actually secured one of the more impressive results of the season, a 0-0 draw against the eventual runaway League One champions.
The Second Red and Black Away Kit, worn August 2009 – May 2011
Realising the error of the previous season, the new away kit introduced ahead of the 2009-10 season featured no blue but instead harked back to arguably the best kit that Errea ever produced, the red and black stripes of a decade previously. This version featured red sleeves, black shorts and red socks and lasted two campaigns with its greatest moment coming in the second of those when Peterborough United were absolutely dismantled 3-0 at London Road on the day Poyet’s side firmly established themselves as the outstanding team in League One.
The Emerald Green Crop Circle Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2009 – May 2010
2009-10 saw another new set of goalkeepers kits, but Errea dropped the number on offer down from the four that had been standard across the previous 10 years to three. These featured a bizarre crop circle pattern in a lighter shade of the main colour of the shirt. In the emerald green case, that meant a paler green for the crop circle. This was easily the most popular of the three on offer for 2009-10, being worn in the majority of home games as well as on that historic day away Southampton when Poyet took charge of the Albion for the first time and Michel Kuipers celebrated victory by losing his mind.
The White Crop Circle Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2009 – May 2010
Second choice of the crop circle kits was this absolutely beautiful white number. Featuring grey as it’s secondary colour, it was the best of the three on offer in 2009-10. On the pitch, it had something of a mixed bag; there was the horrific Tuesday night away at Norwich City when Graeme Smith conceded four, but it was also the kit used when we got our first glimpse of Sexy Pete Brezovan as the big Slovak saved a penalty on his debut in a 1-0 win at Exeter City. Always teemed very nicely with black shorts and black socks.
The Charcoal Crop Circle Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2009 – May 2010
The third and final of the 2009-10 edition of goalkeepers kits came in the form of this charcoal coloured number. The phrase “criminally underused” seems to have cropped up far more than can be considered healthy during this series, but we make no apologies for using it again when it comes to this kit. With a secondary colour of grey, it was one of the most unique kits that Errea put together in their 15 years yet was unfortunately given only one really big outing when Kuipers modelled it superbly in the 3-2 FA Cup Fourth Round defeat away at Aston Villa.
The Goodbye Withdean Home Kit, worn August 2010 – May 2011
The Albion bid farewell to Withdean was bid farewell with a special kit for the 2010-11 season which will always be remembered as the one worn when the Albion romped to the League One title in one of the most impressive seasons in the clubs history. Blue shorts were used for the first time since the Gillingham days 12 years previously while blue socks also returned for the first time since 2002 – coincidentally the last time the Albion had lifted the third tier title. The shirt was predominantly blue with a series of thin white stripes, featuring a tag towards the bottom listing Withdean’s trophy haul. There was of course one more in the cabinet by the end of the season.
The Green Spiderman Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2010 – May 2011
To the untrained eye, the 2010-11 goalkeepers kits could have looked exactly the same as the previous seasons efforts. Except they weren’t – the crop circle design was out and in it’s place came a huge spider in the middle of the shirt, using the same lighter shade technique that had been pioneered in 2009-210. The green one was the most used of these with Casper Ankergren choosing to wear it in virtually every game he played, whether home or away. Coupled with black shorts and black socks, it is the goalkeepers kit that remains synonymous with the League One title success.
The Yellow Spiderman Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2010 – May 2011
Second choice for 2010-11 was a vibrant yellow version of the Spiderman kit, featuring a slightly faded shade of yellow for the the spider design and black shorts and socks. This kit was used on the road in conjunction with the red and black away number and also appeared in the odd home game against sides who wore green, most notably on the evening we beat Dagenham and Redbridge 4-3 at Withdean to secure promotion to the Championship.
The Red Spiderman Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2010 – May 2011
True red was back after a years absence and it also received the Spiderman treatment. Light red and dark red were put to good effect on the shirt that made its debut along with Mitch Walker in the final game of the 2009-10 season against Yeovil Town. It was rarely seen after that with Ankergren choosing to use it only when he was forced to, normally against sides away from home who wore green – which basically amounted to a 2-0 victory over Plymouth Argyle.
The Dagenham and Redbridge Away Kit, worn February 2011 – May 2011:
Another season, another kit colour clash disaster. This time it came about thanks to Dagenham and Redbridge wearing red and blue stripes, which meant that neither the home kit nor the red and black away kit were going to be of much use for the Albion’s first ever visit to Victoria Road on Boxing Day. Step forward a brand new all white kit with a slight bit of blue on the shoulders. This was exactly the same design as the white fourth kit introduced in the 2008-09 season, with the only difference being the badge and Errea logo moved from the centre of the shirt to the left and the right respectively. As it was, the original trip to Dagenham fell foul to snow, meaning the kit made it’s debut in a 0-0 draw at Leyton Orient in February – no, we’ve no idea why we couldn’t wear the home kit either – and was used in the rearranged game against the Daggers, a 1-0 win courtesy of a Glenn Murray header which meant the Albion won eight games out of eight in a marvellous March.
