The Football Shirt Collective

Rob Hogg takes a look back on happier times for Villarreal with this tribute to the 2003/4 shirt that Riquelme wore to pull the strings for the el sumbarino amarillo.  If you like the shirt have a cheeky bid for it on eBay.

Villarreal used to wear the same white and black combo as their close rivals, Valencia. It was only in 1947 that they changed to the colours they have nowadays, the result of the President’s son failing to get to the shop before they had sold out of everything except yellow. The Villarreal players agreed to keep the colour of their football shirts, and taken on by a revolutionary spirit, dumped their black shorts for blue.

The blue shorts stayed in place right up until 2002-03, at which point it was decided to make the kit all yellow. This shirt comes from that final blue thighed season - from a time that is no doubt intrinsically linked in the minds of all fans of el sumbarino amarillo with an emotional victory over SC Heerenveen in the Intertoto Cup.

Villarreal went all the way to the semi finals in the Uefa Cup, making for one of the chronologically longest cup runs in history. The club’s quest for glory was only halted by Valencia - giving a rather provincial ending to a tour of triumph that had taken them all over Europe.

Villarreal, Kelme, 2003/4

The boys in yellow had some big names in that time. Playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme was enjoying his best football in Europe, having been rescued from rotting on the wing at the Camp Nou. The Barca coach at the time, van Gaal, had called the catalans’ signing of Riquelme a ‘political decision’ - unlike van Gaal’s subsequent decision to play a number 10 with no pace right out on the flank.

Alongside the reinvigorated Riquelme, there was also space on the team sheet for old championship manager legend Sonny Anderson, back for a brief cameo in La Liga after years in le French wilderness, as well as our old friends Pepe Reina and Fabrizio Coloccini.

Sadly, Villarreal are going to spend this season in the second division after a calamitous campaign last year. But to finish on a metaphor and some emotion, let’s hope that it won’t be too long before the Submarines surface again.

Do you have the Villarreal shirt? Let us know @thefootballsc or if you like the shirt have a cheeky bid for it on eBay. 

We caught up with Chris Mann (@equaliserblog) to discuss all things; Paul Ince, Real Madrid and Michael Owen cereal ads.

1.       What was your first ever football shirt? 

The England shirt from World Cup ‘98. I insisted that ‘Ince 4’ be put on the back. God knows why.

2. What is your favourite ever football shirt? 

Real Madrid’s 2001/02 centenary kit. Plain white and without a shirt sponsor. It was a beautiful piece of understated elegance and seemed to fit with the magnificent football the team played that year. 

Real Madrid, Adidas, 2001/2

3.       What is your favourite ever goal?

Sticking with the World Cup ‘98 theme, I’ll go with Michael Owen’s brilliant run and finish against Argentina. It’s not the best goal I’ve ever seen, but as a nine year old it captured my imagination and provided me with my first sporting idol.

His career might have fizzled out recently, but I think people forget just how breathtaking the speed and confidence of the young Owen was to witness.

He gets a lot of stick, but I will always have a soft spot for him and his retro cereal endorsements. 

You can share your classic football shirts by; tagging them to our facebook page, sending us a link to them on twitter, or pinning them on our Pinterest board - and we will publish the best on our blog.