Retro Celtic Football Shirts: A Beginner’s Guide
If you are a fan of the Celtic football team, or even just trying to buy gifts for the Celtic FC fan in your life, you might be wondering about buying a retro Celtic shirt or other items of retro Celtic kit. These are popular forms of team memorabilia and make great gifts for any dedicated supporter of the team – particularly if they have been a fan for a long time and feel nostalgic for certain long-gone strip designs, numbers, or specific retro Celtic away shirts. But, if you have never bought a retro Celtic football top before, you might find the world of classic football shirts a bit intimidating and confusing. Why are there so many? Why are they all so different? How old does a Celtic shirt have to be in order to count as “classic” or “retro”?
We are here to help clear up the mysteries of buying retro Celtic tops. We have put together answers to all of the questions above and more! So whether you are a Celtic fan looking for the perfect memorabilia for your home or just looking to buy a gift for a Celtic supporter, read on below to find out what you are dealing with and how best to get started.
What are Retro Celtic Tops?
Retro Celtic Tops are the football shirts worn by the popular Celtic FC team in previous seasons and years. Celtic are one of the biggest teams around, so their shirts tend to be popular memorabilia, meaning that they get snapped up fast when put on sale! That means that there are a lot of them out there, and many of them are available to buy online.
Classic Celtic Tops include both Home shirts and Away shirts, which have different designs. They will also usually feature the number of one of the players of the team from that season – so if you are particularly fond of a specific player, you can try to buy the shirt that matches the one they wore in that particular season. It can be harder to find specific numbers, though!
Why are there so many different styles?
You might have noticed that there are a huge number of different styles of retro Celtic shirts available, from green and white stripes to plain green or even yellow. That range is so wide because the kit gets redesigned every season. The Home shirt stays pretty much the same, aside from changing sponsorship deals and different logos, but the Away shirt changes a great deal between seasons. While one season's away shirt might be black and green striped, the next could be white with a single green stripe. Football shirts are constantly changing, which makes specific years of classic kit easier to identify!
How old does a Celtic Shirt have to be to be Classic?
There is no definitive answer to this question. In most cases, you will find any shirt that is not from the current year listed as “classic” or “retro,” but some retailers might not stock recent years. As a general rule, if you can't buy that particular shirt currently from official team licensed retailers, it is probably treated as a retro or classic Celtic football top.
What do Retro Celtic Shirts Look Like?
Most of the retro Celtic tops you can find to buy online will be that classic, instantly identifiable pattern of green and white stripes, with a sponsorship badge across the chest. In most cases, that is likely to be from either Magners or Tennents, the most regular sponsors of the Celtic football team. Other than sponsorship, classic Celtic football home shirts have not changed much in decades. There are also the Celtic away shirts, however, which come in a wider range of designs. Many of these are white with a single green stripe, or sometimes black and green striped. Other seasons of away kit for the Celtic team have used plain green or even occasionally plain yellow shirts. Mostly, though, you will be looking for football shirts with some sort of green stripes across them!
Why Buy Retro Celtic Tops?
There are many reasons that people might want to buy classic Celtic shirts. They might be trying to complete a full collection of all the different styles worn by the team over the years, or they might have a particular emotional attachment to a certain season or a certain player no longer with the team. Classic football shirts are a great memorabilia option, combining both team support and a specific time period to create something that can be very personal and very meaningful.
What are the different types of Retro Celtic Shirts?
There are two main types of Classic Celtic shirts, each of which comes in a range of different styles. These are the home kit, which does not change much and tends to stay in the classic green and white stripes, and the away kit, which changes every season. These two types look very different!
The home kit is always green and white striped, but the sponsorship badge on the chest changes between seasons. It is often either Magners or Tennents, the most frequent sponsors of Celtic FC, but sometimes other brands take their place. The away kit, however, varies in color wildly – those shirts can be far harder to spot.
Sometimes, you might also find training shirts or staff shirts, which tend to be in plainer colors. These are much more uncommon, however!
Conclusion
There are many different retro Celtic FC shirts available on the market, and a good condition, authentic shirt can make a great memorabilia item for either yourself or an important Celtic supporter in your life. That classic green and white Celtic stripe is an iconic design, but there are so many other designs that have been important parts of the team’s history at one time or another. Whether you are looking for a specific player's shirt or just the design used in a year that means a lot to you, it should be possible to find a high-quality, good condition retro Celtic top for purchase online to brighten up your home or someone else's!
