Further big name signings joined Liverpool Football Club during the 1997/98 season
including Karl-Heinz Reidle, Oyvind Leonhardsen, Brad Friedel and Paul Ince. It was the
signing of Ince that caused the biggest amount of publicity, not because he was an
established international with years of experience, but due to his former links with
Manchester United. Those fans willing to give him a chance said that every player
should be given a fair crack of the whip and we should never refuse a player simply
because he was an “ex-Manc”. Hopefully those fans can now realise the stupidity of
their comments as Ince brought disgrace and embarrassment on the club. Ince is
widely regarded to be the most inappropriate and dishonourable player that has ever
worn the captain’s armband at Liverpool Football Club.

Nearly twenty years after Liverpool wore bright yellow in the Semi-Final of the 1979 FA
Cup, Reebok implemented an even brighter yellow for the club to wear in 1997. To say
this shirt was just bright though was an understatement, as its true name should have
been florescent yellow. Despite glowing in the dark, the shirt proved very popular with
the younger crowds, and the ‘air-tex’ material made this a very light and comfortable
shirt to wear.

This shirt was issued to John Barnes for the 1997/98 season. Sadly John left the club
right at the start of the season so it was only used in the pre-season.

(above) DJ 'Digger'

The only way that a shirt can be confirmed as genuinely match worn is by the presence
of a larger Carlsberg logo (27cm wide). Unlike the Ecru from the season before,
Reebok issued both long and short sleeve replicas. Recently a shirt appeared on eBay
as match worn because it had a neck label that said size XL. This resulted from a
common mistake made by many collectors that replicas had sizes in inches (ie 44/46)
and player shirts had sizes in words (ie XL). This is completely untrue and you can still
find replicas with XL neck labels. This shirt is still relatively rare, but not as hard to find
as the Ecru.

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