Premier League champions Manchester City have unveiled their new away kit for the 2024-25 season and we can say beyond all doubt that it is nailed on to become an instant fan favourite.
While it may appear to be a fluorescent assault on the eyes to the casual onlooker, those who know will know that the jersey is almost a stitch-for-stitch remake of the one they wore on the road during the 1998-99 season.
Back then, of course, City were not the all-conquering, Pep Guardiola-coached, Abu Dhabi-bankrolled behemoth that we know today. Indeed, 25 years ago they were toiling in the third tier of English football while their local rivals, Manchester United, had dominated the decade and ended it by winning the Premier League-FA Cup-Champions League treble.
With ultra-bright yellow and navy blue stripes, the shirt was initially considered to be something of an ugly duckling back then. But that didn’t prevent it from attaining cult status among the City faithful and the original can still regularly be seen around the Etihad terraces on matchdays a quarter of a century on.
The 2024-25 version by Puma hasn’t been toned down in the slightest and the lively colour combination is still as jarring as ever. Even the thin sky blue borders between the stripes are period correct.
The 1998-99 campaign is fondly remembered by City fans for one legendary match, the frenetic finale to the Second Division playoff final at Wembley in which their side fell 2-0 down with 89 minutes played and yet still somehow secured promotion.
Gillingham looked to be on the brink of reaching the First Division (now called the Championship) when they scored their second goal in the final minute of regulation time, only for City to surge back with goals from Kevin Horlock and Paul Dickov, who equalised in the 95th minute to send the tie to extra time and the entire stadium in meltdown.
City, who had spent the season in the English third tier for the first time in their history, then earned themselves an instant return to the First Division when they won a tense penalty shootout 3-1 thanks to a vital, decisive save from goalkeeper Nicky Weaver.
Who would have thought that, a generation later, City would make English football history by becoming the first team to win four consecutive league titles, as well as winning a treble of their own?
As a salute to City’s exploits on that fateful day, the club even had Wembley hero Dickov model the 2024-25 rework of the neon and navy kit he and his cohorts wore as they wrote their names into club folklore.
It’s also not the first time that City have returned to these particular colours, having marked the 20th anniversary of their Wembley classic by once again pairing fluorescent yellow stripes with navy on their 2018-19 away shirt.
But when it comes to honouring one of the most pivotal moments in your club’s history, City can be forgiven for returning to it once again.
