In light of the big debate as to whether Fulham's new away kit is one of the worse the Premier League has ever seen, I have taken the time out to assess the worst Liverpool kits of our time.

There’s something unsettling about a multi-national sports manufacturer managing to botch the simple task of designing a football shirt. However, whilst Liverpool have had some decent kits over the years, some of the shirts Liverpool fans have been cursed with would have been more at home in an avant-garde fashion show for Vivienne Westwood. However, we haven’t got all day, and so here are arguably the top five worst Liverpool shirts

5. 1981-82 3rd strip, Umbro

Perhaps this pinstriped number has a sense of wistfulness about it for some Liverpool fans. They did, after all, win Division 1 and the League Cup the season this shirt was worn. Further, the legendary Bill Shankly tragically died of a heart attack at the age of 67 at the start of the 1981/82 season.

However, nostalgia aside, this shirt looks more like a school PE kit than a professional football team’s jersey. The shimmering, shiny material looks cheap, and that shade of yellow is wrong on many levels. Shame on you Umbro.

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4. 1987/88 away strip, Adidas

This was the first ever grey Liverpool away shirt, and so is responsible for all it’s equally grey ugly siblings that that came along later.

If this kit were a child at school, it would definitely have been picked on profusely, and it would only have itself to blame. When has grey been part of Liverpool colours? When has a murky grey ever been part of the Reds tradition? Historically, Liverpool played in white shirts and black shorts away from home. However, in 1987/88 all hell broke loose and Adidas went with a grey abomination.

However, Liverpool did win their penultimate championship with this as their away kit, and last season they came close to winning the league again for the first time in 19 years with another grey shirt…perhaps they’re lucky?

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3. 1991/92 home strip, Adidas

Is this a Liverpool shirt, or an Adidas t-shirt? It looks like something even a Mancunian might have mistakenly picked out to wear at an early 90s rave. Seriously Adidas, we get it, your logo is three stripes, but where’s the Liverpool in this red eyesore?

Liverpool fans might still harbour fond memories of this kit however, as they lifted the FA Cup in 1992 wearing this shirt, with Ian Rush and Michael Thomas getting the goals in a 2-0 win over Sunderland. However, with Graeme Souness at the helm, Liverpool were a club in decline, finishing sixth in the league that season.

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2. 1996/97 away strip, Reebok

All hail Reebok’s first stab at a Liverpool away kit. The result: beige.

Beige? Why beige? Did Reebok think that there was some sort of intrinsic link between Liverpool and the colour beige? They must have, because they couldn’t have looked at the shirt and thought ‘that looks nice. Yes, we’ll go with the beige’.

It looks like the neutral colour people paint their bedrooms on those annoying property daytime TV shows, of which I am unfortunately all-too familiar. Liverpool need a bold colour, something representative of their proud histroy. Liverpool, under the management of Roy Evans, couldn’t even manage a League Cup or FA Cup in this kit, and I’m not surprised.

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1. 1994-1996 3rd strip, Adidas

Here we are then, ladies and gentleman. Possibly, the worst kit Liverpool have ever had. Personally, I class this kit as orange. Maybe it is yellow, but for me, it’s at least bordering orange and so the damage is done.

It’s difficult to make out the black outline of the Liverpool badge here, to the extent that it could be just another old orange t-shirt left, on the shelf.

It’s actually such an ugly colour, it leaves you yearning for the grey number, or even one of those various green fashion disasters.

Well, those were the days, and these are the kits. Apologies to those who bought and wore these shirts, we’ve all been there. Let’s just hope that next season, Adidas don’t pull out another orange number…

Any glaring omissions?

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