Hummel – THE KIT RAIL

As the new Motherwell top has just recently been released I thought that there was no better reason for me to fork out mine and the old man’s collection of Well’ tops and talk about a few of my personal favourites.

First up we’ve got one of the oldest from the collection with the away top from the 87-89 seasons. Made by Matchwinner, this Well top looks way ahead of its time with the two thick claret and amber stripes along the shoulders. The collar also looks great as it features a mainly claret collar with a smaller amber trim wrapping round the neck. The one thing that does show this jerseys age is the badge on the centre of the chest that has been embroidered onto the top instead of nowadays where it is usually a patch stuck on. What better sponsor to have on the front than Ian Skelly.

Next up we’ve got another away top but this time it’s from the 99/00 season and is made by Xara who now unfortunately don’t produce football kits as they made a few memorable Motherwell kits such as this one. This was the second time ‘The Steelmen’ had ever had a black away kit and definitely one of the first in recent memory not to feature either claret or amber throughout. A black kit with tiny tramlines running up and down the top that included the Xara ‘X’ every so often. Similar thin black lines were used at the edge of the white collar to give the shirt that bit more detail. You also can’t beat an embroidered MFC badge on an away kit.

Taking the third spot on our list is the only home top to feature and it’s Admiral’s first Well top coming in the 91/92 season although the second season it was played in as it is the same top as the famous 90/91 Scottish Cup winners top with the difference being instead of Ian Skelly as the sponsor, it’s phone company Motorola. You can read more on this when I covered the 91′ semi final top not too long ago.

One of my favourite tops that is a bit love or hate for some Motherwell fans but I think it is stunning. The only Hummel top to feature on this list but its a cracker. Being used in the 92/93 and 93/94, Hummel only made the home and away for these seasons before moving on. Keeping the Motorola in black along the front, it’s behind the brand that is the unusual part with the white and claret diagonal broken stripes makes this jersey unmissable. The claret collar with amber trim really completes this top along with the proper Well badge.

Last but not least and my personal favourite Motherwell FC jersey has to be the black away kit from 05/06 that features a Zoom Airlines sponsor along the thick claret sash. Fitted with a thick claret collar with a black and claret trim to match the shirt and a pretty deep V-neck makes this recent design feel old school along with the claret and amber trim around the baggy sleeves.

This is my favourite top as I was the mascot at the time this jersey came out and it’s always nice to look back at pictures of my younger self kicking a ball about the famous carpet of Fir Park. Here is a pic of a young specky me modelling the jersey and a fan.

Igor Budisa – FC Schweinfurt 05 02′

FC Schweinfurt 05 are a fourth division German side that currently play in the Regionalliga Bayern and just missed out on promotion into the third flight of German football by means of playoff after finishing second but being crowned champions after Türkgücü München were top of the league for the 19/20 season before it was cancelled, due to the pandemic, was removed from the league and placed into the division above and the rest of the league continued without them.

FC 05 were a regular in the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga divisions in Germany from the 1930’s to the 1970’s but now mainly yo-yo between the 3. Liga, Regionalliga Bayern and the Bayernliga Nord which is the third, fourth and fifth divisions.

This jersey comes from a one time match between FC Schweinfurt 05 and Motherwell FC at the end of the 01/02 season with the well’ travelling over to the town of Schweinfurt in a friendly as North Lanarkshire in Scotland is said to be its twin town and both teams wanted to celebrate this fact. Twin town meaning that both towns share planned activities and visits.

Unfortunately for Motherwell, the Germans beat the Scots 3-2 with most of the steelmen’s players being brought straight out the youth academy. As this was a council trip, Motherwell also had a trip to a local vineyard planned but with most of the team being made up of young boys, most weren’t old enough to take part in the tasting.

The player in question today is journeyman midfielder Igor Budiša who has racked up appearances at 16 different clubs, starting and finishing his career with Croatian side NK Osijek also playing for teams in Germany, Hungary, Greece, Russia and China.

This top is different to most as it does not contain a badge anywhere with the only branding being the name of the team along the back above the number. Hummel have obviously tried something very different in using a zip on the collar instead of using buttons or just a flat collar.

Also the Hummel branding being used on a diagonal replicates the blue hazard stripe design on the sleeves. All the lettering and numbers are made from felt which looks fantastic with the 3D style numbers.