This kit symbolises a changing economy, a changing demographic of football fan. Pink (or salmon, as my evertonian mate tried to justify it) kits are in. They’re more than acceptable in the brave new noughties world of the premier league. Granted, this is also a nod to Everton’s 1890-91 title winning side’s kit, so it’s not entirely driven by an increasingly monetised sport. However, turn your attention to the sponsor. One to One. Now rebranded as T-Mobile. This represents a societal change, manifesting itself in the sponsorship of our football teams. The mobile phone boom was in full swing and everyone was after a bite of the cherry. Where better to garner advertising coverage for the working man than the Premier League? A burgeoning telecom economy using a burgeoning premier league with rapidly growing viewing figures and new audiences to proliferate profits.
As far as the 2001-02 season went for Everton, it was all change. Walter Smith was out mid-season and David Moyes was in. From an aesthetic standpoint it was all change too. They had dazzled opponents in the first half of the season with Abel Xavier’s bizarre bleach beard-hair combo, unparalleled since. He departed across Stanley Park to Liverpool in January (in slightly less acrimonious circumstances than Nick Barmby’s transfer 18 months earlier) and seeking to replace the level of confusion that Xavier’s bleached bonce no doubt caused opponents, they cloned Thomas Gravesen, producing Lee Carsley to join him in the toffees midfield. A proportionate response. Pink was seemingly abandoned in favour of a more restrained approach. A host of whites and yellow away kits followed before pink returned, in shocking fashion, to Goodison park for the 2010-11 season. A more similar ‘salmon’ kit was brought back into Evertonians’ wardrobes almost a decade later, in 2019.
Luke Connelly
Keep up the good work - my favourite away kit though it pains me greatly to admit it, but I've always had a liking for Man Utd's white shirt from the 80s with the Adidas 3 vertical stripes on the left side and black shorts.
John B