Liverpool's top 10 away & third kits of all time - ranked

The mid-90s was when football and fashion started to become increasingly intertwined, and when the 'Spice Boys' era began at Anfield.

Liverpool was among the trendiest clubs in England at that time, a fact helped by strips such as this one from adidas, a green, white and black effort featuring the iconic 'three stripes' branding down the side of the shirt and shorts.

The New Balance era at Anfield was a pretty successful one, given Liverpool became European, Premier League and World champions wearing the American brand's kits.

Their away and third offerings, generally, were a little hit-and-miss - their deep purple, burnt orange and mouthwash blue efforts should be swiftly forgotten - but this all-black effort for the 2016-17 campaign hit the right notes.

Especially when it was christened with a memorable away win at Arsenal, in which a certain Sadio Mane scored a never-to-be-forgotten debut goal.

"He has won the cup for Liverpool, all by himself!" So said commentator Clive Tyldesley after Michael Owen's late, quickfire double had sunk Arsenal in the 2001 FA Cup final in Cardiff.

The second leg of a historic cup treble for Liverpool was secured in this gold and navy Reebok effort, which may not be the most aesthetically-pleasing of jerseys - some, of course, would argue that no Liverpool shirt should feature the colour blue - but which will always have a place in the club's history thanks to Owen's escapades at the Millennium Stadium that day.

Green and white was very much the theme for Liverpool away shirts for much of the 1990s, and one of the more ambitious efforts was this 'quartered' version for the 1995-96 season.

Although associated with failure - it was worn at Wembley in the famous 'White Suits' FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United - it was a popular kit at the time, one good enough to inspire a retro version during the New Balance era.

Iconic sponsor? Tick. Simple colour scheme? Tick. All that was missing for this beautiful, mid-80s kit was a bit of success. Liverpool lost the 1987 League Cup final to Arsenal wearing this white, black and red effort from adidas, in a season where Everton were crowned league champions.

Still, just look at it. You'd be happy wearing that now, wouldn't you?

Perhaps the biggest stir caused by a Liverpool strip came in the summer of 1996, when they launched their away kit, introducing the football world to the word 'ecru'.

The kit arrived on the back of the 1996 FA Cup final, in which Liverpool players had been criticised for wearing cream-coloured suits, but after a famous, Beatles-themed launch, the new away kit became one of the Reds' biggest sellers.

And let's be fair, it's easy to see why, isn't it?

The first football jersey this correspondent ever owned, and what a beauty it was too. This grey adidas effort will forever be associated with players like John Barnes and Ian Rush, and was worn in the season Liverpool became league champions in 1989-90.

It has been mimicked several times in the past, most notably by Reebok for the 2008-09 season - think Fernando Torres at Old Trafford - and no wonder.

Just like the home version from that era, it's a bona fide classic.

It is fair to say that Nike haven't always got it right since taking over from New Balance as Liverpool's kit manufacturer in 2020. But they certainly struck the right note with this effort, a re-make of the classic ecru away kit of the 1990s.

And of course, by beating Manchester United 5-0 at Old Trafford in it, Mohamed Salah and Co. ensured the strip will be even more fondly remembered than the original.

Oh for simpler times, eh? Times without shirt sponsors and sleeve sponsors, without names and numbers and ridiculous prices and ever-changing jerseys.

This Liverpool away strip from the late 1970s - worn here by the great Ray Kennedy - is simplicity personified. White, red and black, with gold branding for the badge and manufacturer's name, it was worn unsuccessfully in the 1977 FA Cup final, when the Reds lost to Manchester United, but remains to this day a popular retro piece.

So it should, too. It's a beauty.

When we think of the classic Liverpool away colours, surely we think of yellow with red trim right? You might remember the 1997-98 version, perhaps - Steve McManaman away at Arsenal, anyone? - or the less-successful efforts of 2006-07 and 2014-15.

But this is THE prime version. Yellow shirt, red pinstripes, Umbro branding and Crown Paints sponsorship. Kenny Dalglish scoring worldies, a moustachioed Graeme Souness prowling midfield like a bear with a sore head, Ian Rush racking up goal after goal.

Nothing comes close.