Tomorrow might be kit release day. There’s been no press release so far, but a social media teaser seems to suggest that we’ll get news of our new kit tomorrow.

I feel for the club when they put a kit out. There are many of us kit aficionados who think we know exactly what our kit should be. Every fan is a critic, ready to praise or pull down. The kit is our identity; even the slightest detail can make it one to avoid.

However, for the club, it’s income. They have to create a kit that remains within certain constraints (red and white, for a start) but also be different enough from a previous year or two for it actually to sell. They try to be bold; they upset traditionalists. They stick to tradition, and they’re accused of having no ambition. We know it’ll be Oxen, so some will already not like what goes out by association. Not that Oxen makes bad kits, but because they’re not the trendy kit maker of the year, maybe Hummel or Adidas.

Even considering all that, we have had some great kits over the years and some absolutely honking efforts. Whatever the club releases tomorrow cannot hope to topple the three unreal home kits I’ve picked here. However, if they drop the new basketball top with a badge on it, in yellow and blue, it would still be better than the three I’ve selected, which were, for want of a better word, disgusting.

FYI – I’ve only picked kits from my Imps lifetime, which is why the obvious winner, the early 80s Adidias kit, is not included.

 

Be Burned – 2018/19

 

I’ll never forget the day I first saw the Kwik Save bag. I hoped that over time, perhaps it could be saved by us getting promoted and smashing our rivals all over the park. We did that, created a huge, historic season, and I still see an awful shirt when I think back. Most shirts I don’t like can become classics with decent players in them (I hated 2020/21 at first), and yet this one will never land with me. In my eyes, it is the worst shirt we’ve ever worn.

The sponsor is awful, not that it should matter, but if you block out certain letters, it says ‘tosser’ across the front. We were going for futuristic with a hint of tradition, but we just got a mess, in my opinion. I know some people who liked it, but I imagine they’re the people with mint green bathrooms, fluffy piss catchers around the toilet and woodchip wallpaper.

 

Burn – 1992/92

Oddly, there are few colour pictures I can find of our 1991/92 and 1992/93 kit. We had different sponsors but the same shirt, and I’m pleased we did because it is a classic. Sadly, it was a template, the same as Exeter City (who had the much cooler Carling as a sponsor), but it is a thing of beauty. From the swirly print in the material to the interesting take on the old/new badge, it felt to me like this was our kit, this was our identity.

Maybe it’s because it was the first kit I owned as a teen, the first I wore to play in the park. Maybe it’s because it represented a time when we were able to go to a few more matches, when a few proper players, such as David Puttnam were with us. Maybe it is the use of black trim, something I feel is important in our kits.

I don’t know what it is, but this is one of my favourite Imps kits of all time.

 

Be Burned – 2001/02

Where to start with this kit? White shorts? Not for me. Squares? No again. Is it because it is a template kit also worn (in different colours) by Bristol Rovers? An awful season that almost saw us go bust?

I just can’t stop thinking of the cons of this abomination on Imps’ kit culture. I also cannot think of a single thing I like about it. Maybe Justin Walker played in it? Peter Gain? When you’re reaching like that, you know you’ve got a stinker.

That said, like the other three awful shirts on here, I do own it…..

 

Burn – 2017/18

This is one of my favourite Imps’ kits in recent memory. In fairness, we’ve had some good ones, and maybe 2021/22 would have featured if we’d had a steady sponsor and it hadn’t become so tightly associated with Chris Maguire. That’s an issue with kits – a good one (2012/13) can play a role in a bad season and (in my eyes at least) lose value.

I loved the kit we wore on our return to the league. It felt ‘classic’ Lincoln City, red and white with nice black trim. There was an air of traditionalism about it, but it also welcomed in a new era. I was delighted we wore it at Wembley, showcasing not just how good we were by winning, but also how stylish red and white (with subtle overtones of black) can look.

 

Be Burned – 2000/01

A kit perhaps isn’t just about the shirt, and red shorts are a huge issue for me. If that was the only problem with this shirt I could live with it, but it is just awful. Poor Justin Walker played two seasons with us, and he wore some of the absolute worst shirts you’ve ever seen.

I’m not sure if it’s the way the red and white fade to pink or the graffiti-style print, but this is a truly horrible shirt. I did buy it a decade after it first dropped on eBay for 99p, but it’s never one I think I’ll wear to retro shirt day.

I’d rather go topless. In winter. Away at Bolton.

 

Burn – 1996/97

Is this a great kit, or is it a kit that symbolizes a great era? It’s an interesting question.

Today, this shirt would flop. It’s got a non-traditional badge without the Imp (woke, cancel culture etc etc), it’s baggy, the collar sits awkwardly and the awful foam sponsor and badge had a habit of coming off.

They’re the cons, but the pros? it’s beautiful. Look at it. It’s like your first love, ingrained on your mind 30 years later. Think back to those times, carefree late-teenage days when your crush sat in the pub, hair flowing like a waterfall, summer dress showing simmering skin, eyes boring a hole through your heart and soul, and you felt the first flushes of real love. That’s this kit for me. Ok, so in actual fact, she had a bit of acne, slept with different blokes every weekend and liked happy hardcore, but you saw beyond that. You saw the beauty. You saw in her, not her, but you, your changing hormones, your evolving feelings, your halcyon days, never to be repeated.

That’s me when I look at this kit. I see Gareth Ainsworth flying down the wing. I see us in the national newspapers for Shearer’s debut. I see a great supplier (not that it matters), red and white, and it is so ‘of the time’. It is Britpop, it is my carefree summer of drinking in the pub. It is beating Manchester City, of little Lincoln giving the establishment a black eye once or twice. It was my first flush of real football love.

It is a classic.