While you’re enjoying football at all times of the day and night, and I suspect certain late night games have been more tempting than ever, Classic Football Shirts (the book) is the perfect accompaniment for not just rejoicing now, but also as a celebration of the sport itself, as it embraces and honours the most unique or iconic shirts in the history of the modern game.

If you’re of a certain age, let’s say in your late 30s or 40s, then there’s an opening introduction from Classic Football Shirts co-founder Doug Bierton that you’ll likely resonate with. While I am just old enough to remember the beginning of the Premier League, or the Premiership as it called until 2007, I recall those ‘92-93 football shirts and their over-sized glory. There was also something about that change from the old First Division to something more exciting, more fascinating than what had come before, and I don’t think it was just the big sponsors and bright colours – although let’s not disregard I was the perfect age in my younger teens, nor Brian Deane’s winner against Man United to grab the first-ever goal in the new format for Sheffield United, yes I’m a Blade and forever more, and that moment certainly helped.

But even then, and before, the classic ‘big’ teams and their football shirts did seem to evoke an equal sense of nostalgia and romantism but it’s not for things lost, but because it felt so beyond the everyday. A good friend was a Man Utd fan, and I remember that 1990 to 94 era vividly as well, especially as they became the team of that time. So yes, I digress, but the Classic Football Shirts book has encouraged this reflection, as its contents included ranges across the decades with stories of epic moments in sporting history, directly connected to player who’ve graced the grounds of many, and left an indelible mark on anyone who watched them play.

Classic Football Shirts, also a website in case you weren’t aware, started out just as a passion/obsession (that fine line) for Uni friends Doug Bierton and Matthew Dale, as well as help from Doug’s younger sibling, Gary! The trio open up this superb insight and collection with their own memories of how things commenced, and how it didn’t so much get out of control but became an unintended labour of love, and one that’s not just an honour for them but also an understandable appetite that’s taken them to some astonishing places.

Interspersed with essays from Rory Smith, who reveals more about them literally traipsing the world for special or rare shirts, to their own stories on how they came to get their hands on original classic designs. Whether through luck or substantial commitment on contacting to the right people across the Globe, this is a crazy story that takes us through the love of Channel 4’s Football Italia – when football in Italy was at its modern peak and the shirts and players that came with it – all the through the history of the football shirt, onto designs becoming more important than anyone ever anticipated.

Of course, those patterns and shapes and colours – for every team out there in club and country – have eventually found a path that balances individual identity and uniqueness and represents all kinds of cultures and connections. The book offers us such a wealth of fantastic football shirts featured, this is easily one of those brilliant coffee table books you can pick-up and dive into at any time of the season. And Classic Football Shirts commemorates it through the ages, from all those influences, to modern classics, through particular footballers becoming synonymous with the shirt itself, think Henry [14], Beckham [7], Messi [10], Zidane [10], Pele, Maradona, Gerrard, Rooney, Ibra and beyond – all the way across to brands and colours – think that Nigeria shirt, as well as Nike and Roma, Adidas and Ajax, let alone the rest of the makers like Admiral, Le Coq Sportif, Umbro, Lotto, Diadora and beyond. If you’re a fan of such things, it’s an absolute treasure trove.

Classic Football Shirts is the football fans version of modern art, it’s the crests, number fonts, inventive designs, timeless teams and impeccable players who’ve slipped what would become an iconic shirt over their head and taken those designs into sporting history. A highly enjoyable love letter to the sport.

Classic Football Shirts is available now from Ebury/Penguin: https://amzn.to/4eztpxH

Visit their website here: https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/