Nineties Kit of the Week: Southampton (1993/95)

There are all kinds of reasons to dislike this kit, from the fact that it puts a massive manufacturer’s stamp over itself, to the fact that it breaks up Southampton’s classic stripes, to the general sense of unnecessary extra ’90s detail all over it.

But in my typical contrary fashion, I actually like it quite a bit (I might feel differently if I were a Southampton fan, mind). The main reason for that is its indelible association with one of English football’s greatest cult heroes: Matthew Le Tissier. Okay, so he wore Southampton’s standard striped shirts for many more seasons than he wore this one, but there’s just something about this shirt that seems to make it the quintessential Le Tiss image – maybe it helps that it was worn in the season where he was arguably at his best, scoring 25 goals and winning the BBC Goal of the Season award.

But to be honest, I just think it’s a pretty nice design. Red, white and black always go well on a football kit, but a lot of the time the spacing and distribution can muck up the combination – here, despite the bizarreness of the design itself, everything’s quite well apportioned. There was also a pretty lovely away variant, too:

And you have to say that Dimplex – a manufacturer of domestic heating appliances – is one of the most brilliantly ’90s, utterly nondescript, sponsors to appear on a Premier League shirt.