End of an Errea Part Two – Brighton and Hove Albion kits 2002-2005
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 Two takes in the successful play off season under Mark McGhee, the Batman kits, the time Errea delivered the wrong shade of blue and Dick Knight had to try and pass it off as an Argentina-inspired shirt and an absolutely ridiculous number of goalkeeper kits including the infamous David Yelldell Pink number.
The Play Off Final Home Kit, worn August 2002 – May 2004
The third home kit of Errea’s spell will best be remembered for it’s appearance coupled with blue shorts and socks in that most memorable of days that was the Division Two play-off final victory over Bristol City at the Millennium Stadium in 2004. It of course had some other not so great moments, such as Martin Hinshelwood’s reign in charge and the 12 game losing streak that effectively relegated the Albion the season before. The sponsors logo was frankly horrible given how cool the previous one looked and it was the first kit since 1972 to feature blue and white stripes could with white shorts and white socks.
The Batman Away Kit, won August 2002 – May 2004
How did this monstrosity ever get put into production? It is pretty horrific to think that somebody could come up with the idea of putting a giant seagull on the front of a black kit as it is, let alone the fact that said seagull ended up looking like a giant bat. It lasted one season as the away kit during 2002-03 before being relegated to third kit status the following season during which time it was used in just four league games – away at Blackpool, Swindon Town, Rushden and Diamonds and Queens Park Rangers. And it was of course the shirt used for that 5-0 defeat away at Crystal Palace in 2002. Painful memories all round.
The Batman Third Kit, worn August 2002 – May 2003
Identical in design to the away kit, this third kit at least had the good grace not to be black and so appeared less Batman-esque although the “seagull” still looked bloody ridiculous. Lasting just the one season, it was used for eight games in 2002-03 and had a fine record of being worn in just one victory – the 2-1 success against Reading at the Madjeski Stadium in front of the Sky television cameras. It’s most fateful hour came in it’s final appearance when the Albion were relegated to Division Two after a 2-2 draw at Grimsby Town on the final day of the season.
The Boring Silver Goalkeeper Kit, worn August 2002 – November 2003
One of the best things about Errea’s work down the years have been their goalkeeping kits, with some wonderful designs showered upon the multitude of men to wear the gloves for the Albion. 2002-2003 was the exception however, with the most boring designs possible used across the board. The most popular of those was the silver kit which was used both home and away. It originally came with black shorts and black socks although Dave Beasant did his best to jazz things up a bit towards the end of the season by throwing some white socks into the mix.
The Boring Gold Goalkeeper Kit, worn August 2002 – November 2003
The gold version of the most boring goalkeeping kit known to man somehow managed to stretch from the 2002-03 season into the start of the 2003-04 season, when it was the preferred choice of new number one Ben Roberts until a new batch of far more interesting kits turned up a few weeks into the campaign.
The Boring White Goalkeeper Kit, worn August 2002 – November 2003
So we already had the silver goalkeeping kit, as seen a couple of paragraphs above. What, then, was the point in bringing out a white version of it? White and silver are about as close as two colours as you get so the logic behind this one was frankly baffling. It was however the favoured choice of Andy Petterson which makes it OK in our books. Just like it’s gold cousin, it also made it into the 2003-04 season for a couple of outings, most notably in the season opener at Oldham Athletic with Roberts wearing white shorts and socks with it to look like a religious fanatic.
The Boring Green Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2002 – May 2003:
The emerald green goalkeepers kit fulfilled the role of fourth choice during it’s one season of use in 2002-2003. And it is not hard to see why it remained pretty unfavoured by the Withdean custodians, with it’s list of appearances including the 5-0 defeat at Palace and the calamitous home defeat to Grimsby Town early on in the season. It was a bit of a shame actually as this is probably our favourite one of the four, just because it is hard for somebody wearing such a vivid shade of green to look boring. Particularly when that man is Michel Kuipers.
The All Yellow Away Kit, worn August 2003 – May 2005:
For many people, the traditional away colours of Brighton are yellow and so this was a return to the past as it was the first yellow away kit in six years. The badge was dispensed with in favour of an overweight, individual seagull. For supporters, it was a nightmare to clean with many reports of said Seagull turning brown after only a handful of goes through the washing machine. It lasted two seasons and was the shirt that introduced the longest serving Skint sponsorship logo. The yellow kit had several memorable outings, chiefly in the FA Cup third round away at Tottenham Hotspur in 2005.
The Play Off Final Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2003 – September 2004:
This was more like it. Following on from the terribly plain efforts of the previous season, we got a proper set of goalkeepers kits for the 2003-04 season. Roberts’ preferred number was this green one with black down the sleeves and under the arms and a white trim. Worn with black shorts and socks, it famously stopped that Tommy Mooney penalty in the play off semi final against Swindon before going onto keep a clean sheet in the final itself. So popular it was even used at the start of the following campaign in the Championship.
The Gold and Black Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2003 – September 2004
The gold and black version of the 2003-04 goalkeepers kit was mainly used at Withdean in the middle part of the campaign once the previous season’s lacklustre efforts had been dispensed with. It was exactly the same design as the other three although a little plainer, featuring just two relatively boring colours in the form of gold and black. Just like the green version, this was also used for part of the 2004-05 campaign.
The Silver and Ruby Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2003 – May 2004
One of the best goalkeepers kits Errea produced in their early years, the idea of combining silver and ruby red would have been frowned upon by a lot of fashionistas out there but thankfully they didn’t listen to the critics, producing this wonderful number. While black was the name of the game for the shorts and socks for the gold and green keeper kits of the era, this one used navy blue to match the lettering of the Skint sponsorship deal. A criminally underused kit.
The Sky and Navy Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2003 – May 2004
You might have already noticed that Errea liked mixing differing shades of blue and this was no different. A sky blue shirt featuring navy blue panelling with navy blue shorts and socks was a nice break from the norm. As the poor photo we have had to use to illustrate it indicates, (Roberts saving a penalty away at Tranmere Rovers, if you are wondering) this was another kit that was hardly worn, only being used on the few occasions we faced a team away from home who wore all white, such as Tranmere and Port Vale.
The Argentina Home Kit, worn August 2004 – May 2006
There is only so much you can do in terms of designing a blue and white striped kit – or so we thought. For Brighton’s two season stay in the Championship under Mark McGhee, the clubs traditional shade of blue was replaced by a lighter colour, reminiscent of such footballing institutions as Argentina and and Huddersfield Town. It was later revealed that this wasn’t actually deliberate, but that somewhere down the line the wrong shade of blue had been selected, by which point it was too late to change the design. As far as Albion kit cock ups go, this is arguably the best of the lot.
The Christmas Tree Goalkeeper Kit, worn August 2004 – September 2005
Brace yourselves, 2004-2005 was an absolutely ridiculous season for the number of goalkeeper kits used with NINE new shirts appearing over the course of the campaign.. This was the favoured one, an all dark green number with black under the sleeves. There was a lot of variety this season with the kit being worn with black shorts and socks and then with green shorts and white socks on other occasions. It was this green number that was notably worn by Chris May on his only first team appearance after replacing the injured Kuipers for the final few minutes against Nottingham Forest in 2005.
The Golden Present Goalkeepers Kit, worn August 2004 – September 2005
The best of this particular design, the gold goalkeepers kit made the wearer look like he was in fact a Christmas present which meant it went very well with the above green design. This was another that featured interchangeable shorts and socks which were normally gold and white respectively and it was used in the early part of the following 2005-06 season as well, with Wayne Henderson showing a paricular liking for it after his arrival on loan from Aston Villa.
The All Red Goalkeeper Kit, worn August 2004 – September 2005
The first proper red goalkeepers kit in Brighton and Hove Albion history was worn frequently away from home by Kuipers in the first half of the 2004-05 season and then became a big favourite of Rami Shaaban during his brief spell as number one. This particular number had a plethora of short and sock options to go with it, with black shorts and socks, red shorts and black socks and red shorts and white socks all being mixed and matched. You just never knew what you were going to get.
The Coventry City Goalkeeper Kit, worn August 2004 – May 2005
The Albion still hadn’t learnt by this point that having a blue goalkeepers kit when you wear blue is a little bit pointless. This one resembled a Coventry City kit in both colour and design with sky blue shirt and navy blue under the arms. It could only ever be worn away from home when the Albion wore their yellow kit despite there being no colour clash, such as away at Spurs in the FA Cup, and was paired with wither sky blue shorts and white socks or navy shorts and socks.
The Palookaville Kit, worn October 2004 – May 2006
Not many football clubs can have introduced a special kit to promote a music album, but that is exactly what the Albion did in October 2004. Originally intended as a one-off, the Palookaville kit was worn at home against Sheffield United for a game in which Withdean was rechristened Palookaville for the day to promote Fatboy Slim’s latest album. It proved to be extremely popular and subsequently lasted a lot longer than one home game, becoming the third kit for both 2004-05 and 2005-06. It’s skin tight material was however less flattering on some of the larger of the Seagulls fanbase.
The Green, Black and White Palookaville Goalkeeper Kit, won October 2004 – May 2005:
Four standard goalkeepers kits for the season not enough? Didn’t think so, hence the decision to introduce another five Palookaville goalkeeper kits. The first of which was the most regularly worn, a green shirt with white sleeves and black trim. It could go with any number of combinations, including the black shorts and white socks shown here against Sheffield United or green shorts and white socks as was worn away at Sunderland a few weeks later. Made of the same tight fitting material as it’s outfield brother, it looked particularly good on Kuipers’ muscly torso.
The White ‘That isn’t a goalkeepers kit’ Goalkeeper Kit, worn October 2005:
This one caused chaos when the pictures of it were released, with many people suspecting that it was in fact a fourth outfield kit of the season. No, it was just a totally unneeded seventh choice goalkeepers jersey. Worn with black shorts and white socks, it was used a grand total of once in the annual defeat away at Crewe Alexandara.
The White, Gold and Red Palookaville Goalkeeper Kit, worn November 2005:
Exactly the same design as the green, black and white one, this one featured a white main body, red sleeves and a gold trim which from a distance actually looked more like vomit yellow. Blink and you’d have missed this one seeing as it was only used once, in the famous 1-0 win over West Ham United at Upton Park in 2004.
The Green ‘That isn’t a goalkeepers kit’ Goalkeeper Kit, worn January 2005:
The same as the white Palookaville goalkeepers kit, this green one was also worn only once in the Albion’s shock 2-1 win away at Sheffield United in January 2005 at a time when Kuipers was sending out a real fashion statement by also sporting an afro.
The David Yelldell Pink Goalkeeper Kit, worn February 2005
This kit was never meant to be worn in a competitive game. A handful of fans managed to buy it thanks to a special order through the club shop, but in 2005 wearing pink was still considered an incredibly gay thing to do. Especially in a city full of backwards people, such as Leeds. So when the Albion went to Elland Road and the referee changed into yellow at half time, the same colour as Albion debutant goalkeeper David Yelldell was wearing, the young Blackburn Rovers loanee was forced into wearing the only other keeper kit that the club had to had, meaning 45 minutes in front of the home support in the pink shirt. The abuse was something else but Yelldell put on the performance of his life in a 1-1 draw. The pink shirt was disappointingly never seen again and Yelldell was gone shortly after as well, playing just two more disastrous times for the Albion.
