KIT UP FOR THE CUP!

Posted on 29/05/15

Once again, the FA Cup Final has all the ingredients for it to be an absolute classic. The under-achieving giants, an underdog, a steely English manager with a point to prove, and some of the best players in the world.
Arsenal and Aston Villa, neither shy of the big occasion meet this weekend in what is set to be a superb occasion. With eighteen cup wins between them, neither are shy to the biggest game in the club football calendar.
Villa, appearing in their first final since 2000 will look for a tonic at the end to a disappointing campaign. Tim Sherwood managed to keep the Villains afloat, but only just. It seems the claret and blue side of the Midlands could be on the up, but will be hoping there is no repeat of their last appearance in a Wembley final.
It came as mentioned fifteen years ago, and would be the final ever game played at the Old Wembley. Chelsea knocked on the door of the Villa defence before a Gianfranco Zola cross was spilled by goalkeeper David James, before Roberto Di Matteo smashed the ball home.
Aston Villa donned one of the final 90's kits, before they began to die out with the introduction of technology and science into the art of creating the perfect strip, and the away shirt from the 1999/2000 season can be seen here to prove it.
Before that final, their last appearance came way back in 1957 against Manchester United. A historic final where the 'Busby Babes' were in full flow. This final would prove to be a landmark, where six of the eight players who died during the Munich Air Disaster nine months later started in the game (Duncan Edwards, Roger Byrne, Eddie Coleman, Billy Whelen, Tommy Taylor and David Pegg ).
In true spirit of the Wembley anthem 'Ce Sera Sera', nobody knew what the future would be, and the Babes would lose the final, with Villa running out 2-1 winners in front of just shy of 100,000 supporters. Anyone with a keen eye for a shirt can recognise the smart style and classic look of the striped design and beautiful crest on their shirts that sunny May afternoon.
As for Arsenal, they have of course been in many more Finals in recent years, and are the current holders of the competition. Last season Aaron Ramsey scored a sublime winner to snatch victory from the jaws of Hull City. The Welsh Wizard lost in the 2008 Final with Cardiff, and wouldn't miss his chance the second time around.
Perhaps one of the best Cup final performances came from Ian Wright in 1993, to win the competition for Arsenal, and five years later he would go on to win it a second time with the club in 1998, and you can have your very own 'Wright 8' shirt on vintagefootballshirts.com by clicking here. A real 'old school' shirt from the glory days of Arsenal, with the likes of Seaman, Keown and Adams in the side.
Perhaps the best Cup winning kit on the site, has to be the 2004-2005 Arsenal shirt, where the Gunners secured victory on penalties over Manchester United. Set the scene, Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, two sides who'd been at the wars all season, where 'that' incident between Patrick Viera and Roy Keane had occured, and the Red Devils slipped to third as Arsene Wenger's could only muster second, behind new boys Chelsea. But now revenge was served, and Paul Scholes' miss sealed the tie. To make things even more historic, this was the shirt of the first team to win the Final on penalties, it's almost poetic.
With the coverage now back on the BBC, you've got a day of football throughout the schedule, if the weather's nice, pull out the barbecue and feast on football action from the likes of Benteke, Cazorla, Ozil and Delph. Hey, you could always grab yourself a classic cup shirt, there's 43 different clubs to choose from who've won it, although we may perhaps find it difficult to get you an Old Etonians or Royal Engineers shirt!