The classy Umbro goalkeeper designs of the mid-to-late-1980s may well give credence to these catalogue pages’ claim of the double diamond brand being “The Name of the Game” - certainly between the sticks.
Amongst several references to England’s topsy-turvy showing in the previous year’s World Cup, this 1987-88 teamwear showcase also features a mismatched outfield Everton mashup on the cover.
An odd choice, but the glove and, particularly, shirt selection for custodians within get things back on track. The heavily-padded pinstriped examples - named “Mexico” for obvious reasons of topicality - were classy, but just a taster of the further delights…
High-profile endorser Bruce Grobbelaar modelled the - ahem - “Grobbelaar”, which featured diagonal shadow stripes, but there were also shadow hoops and shadow, well, 1s to be had. An Umbro-porting cat even got their own manufacturer’s patch, reminding everyone which shirt number was being looked out for.
Thanks to Jimmy from The Glove Bag - tgbjimmy on Twitter - for bringing this to our attention.
