Pack those sunnies. Is this the best football shirt ever?

After the excitement of the new Brentford shirt being revealed on Monday, the club has gone one better with Tuesday’s announcement of the new Adidas goalkeeper top. Championship visitors such as former Bee Jordan Rhodes (now Blackburn Rovers) and Wolves Nouha Dicko may be familiar with Griffin Park from previous seasons but I’ll bet they’ve never faced off against one like this before.

Check that Championship kit list, lads – boots, shin pads, shirt, sunglasses. This is less a goalkeeper’s shirt and more the result of some LSD induced design meeting. If ever there was a lesson in not doing drugs then here it is (metaphorically, of course – kids, don’t do it).

Yet despite the initial shock – and I honestly thought when I saw a leaked picture on Monday that it was a fake, with somebody just turning up the contrast on Photoshop – I think the club and Adidas have stumbled on a stroke of genius.

The club really are promoting this with the line: Brentford FC blue and purple goalkeeper kit.

Sartorial genius from Brentford – as seen on the clubshop website (link above) where you can order it now

It is so shocking, so lurid, so bad that it is actually genius. Whatever it does to our opponents, I know what it is going to do to my already dwindling piggy bank. Unless the away shirt turns out to be some form of lost Da Vinci masterpiece then rather than lining up for that, I think I’ll be opting for ‘GK’ as my second choice shirt next season.

And in other shirt news, I wandered up to the club shop on Monday evening where the new home kit is sitting in the window. I’m still very happy with the design of this, despite the observations floating around cyberspace about the sponsor’s logo, and note also the ‘Osca’ style at the end of the sleeves. Thanks to Luis Adriano for that tip off and, for the record, you should also check out his excellent Beesotted piece on our new kit. I’m glad I’m not the only one with shirt obsession.

The other interesting point was the use of ventex style material (teabags) in the armpit region. An interesting choice, given the controversy around the perforated back form two seasons ago although, to be fair, only a small area this time around.

I’m sure that the marketing chaps would call this something like ‘air flow technology designed to help players keep cool’. That said, given the bespoke design of our kit, perhaps ‘Mr Brentford’, Peter Gilham, has been involved in the creative process.

Being as it features ‘teabags’, has he offered his P.G. Tips?

Teabag armpits – a statement of design fact rather than a comment on anybody’s personal hygiene