OK, so these Blackpool shirts by Puma won’t win any awards for individual design, but in our opinion, they sum up 2020 quite nicely.
Last season, as optimism and fans returned to Bloomfield Road after the fall of the Oystons, the Seasiders signed a sponsorship deal to promote the town as a holiday destination.
That coincided with a League One campaign which was ultimately curtailed due to the Covid-19 crisis, and as Puma took over kit duties from Erreà for the 2020-21 season; home and away supporters were still largely locked out of the club for their own safety.
Therefore, the Tangerines’ home shirts have been telling us to “Visit Blackpool” right at the exact time that we, erm, can’t Visit Blackpool.
In fact, in October 2020 after travel rules and lockdown measures had been relaxed, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon specifically told Scots not to visit Blackpool.
How’s your luck eh?
Ok, the timing may have been unfortunate, but this shirt serves a niche interest of ours in featuring the club’s name across the midriff like those generic Millwall shirts worn by Teddy Sheringham and Terry Hurlock in the 1980s.
If we were really collecting shirts from 2020 to bury under the centre-circle of Wembley Stadium in our kit capsule, then this may well be the first we’d wrap up for future generations to find.
This is a perfectly functional football shirt that shows that template designs aren’t always the source of all evil.
Generic, ironic, and perhaps one day iconic, we love this Tangerine dream and hope that home and away fans can return to Blackpool early in 2021.
Sartorial Soccer 