Football fans are in for a huge treat as a collection of Newcastle United shirts dating back to the 1980s offer a chance for shoppers to get their hands on some retro memorabilia.
What's classed as the world’s biggest vintage football shirt collection is now in Newcastle and among the 3,000 items for sale are around 1,000 tops guaranteed to delight the Toon Army. Classic Newcastle United shirts, ranging from the 1980s to the present day, are available to buy and among them fans can expect to find such legendary names as Alan Shearer, Les Ferdinand, Andy Cole and Faustino Asprilla.
The collection, which also includes stock featuring hundreds of other teams and national clubs from around the world, is on sale at a special pop-up shop in Eldon Garden shopping centre from April 7 to April 16. Prices will start at £10 for recent team jerseys while rarer ones are set to fetch up to £300.
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Ciaran Gold, head of retail at Classic Football Shirts; the Hyde-based company bringing the collection north, said: “Newcastle is one of the UK’s great footballing cities. A considerable number of our customers are proud members of the Toon Army and some of the kits the club has had over the years are simply iconic.
"It’s somewhere we’ve always wanted to bring our touring pop-up concept and we are very excited to be bringing close to 1,000 Magpies kits with us." It's these that take pride of place on the rails at the shirt-fest sale which will feature only genuine tops.
But other local teams aren't forgotten about as there is a "significant showing" for Sunderland and Middlesbrough supporters too, alongside choices catering for visiting supporters, such as Wolves and Leicester fans, who are set to travel up to attend upcoming games at St James' Park. Keen buyers need not be too worried if there's a rush on for the most sought-after shirts as stock will be replenished throughout the run of the pop-up to ensure that they remain available to buy.
Ciaran said: “Everyone can go home with a shirt that is part of footballing history. Whether it is a Newcastle shirt from the Shearer era or one of our clearance lines, they all have a story behind them."
Even fairweather fans or those with only a passing interest in the game might still enjoy a scout about as the 40-year collection is, he suggests, "an incredibly nostalgic experience". He added: “I like to think our stores and pop-ups are part-shop, part-museum.
"Customers in our stores regularly spend hours trawling through the rails as they are taken on a trip down memory lane that simply doesn't exist anywhere else in the world on this scale. We have been online since 2006 but physically seeing all these shirts in one place really resonates with our customers.”
The Classic Football Shirts pop-up launched on April 7 at Units 12-14 of Eldon Garden Shopping Centre and the last day of trading will be April 16.
