Herald Sport's 100 Most Memorable Scottish Kits: Numbers 33-27 featuring Dundee United and the Ryder Cup

And what about those other items in sport, the colour schemes, race suits, helmets and clothing that meant so much to so many?

Read more: Herald Sport's 100 Most Memorable Scottish Kits: Numbers 40-34 featuring Celtic, Rangers and Andy Murray

Every reader and aficionado will have their own ideas on this one, just like they will know the outfits that made them cringe.

Over coming days, we will be counting down to what is the Most Memorable Scottish Kit of all time, and what makes the most famous – and infamous – designs over the years.

If you’d like to vote or have a say on what colours make it on to the top 100, either contact us through Twitter, @hssport, or through the Herald Sport Facebook page - and let the debate commence.

Pictures: Herald Archive, SNS group, Getty Images
Graphics: David Moor (Historical Football Kits)

33. Glasgow City 1977 Queen's Jubilee

HIT: The thing with football shirts is that they have to be all things to all men, and women. They have to sport traditional designs and colours, while making them different enough that supporters want to wear the latest model.

Being all things to all was easy for Umbro with this one-off pieced together for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee game at Hampden in May 1977 
(on a Tuesday afternoon, kick-off three o’clock), when a Glasgow Select played the English League.

As Ian Paul, writing in The Herald observed; “Glasgow’s first tactic failed. They came out in a strip which was a conglomeration – and that is a word – of all five city colours, a move which could have been designed only to blind the English. In fact it seemed more to mesmerise the city players . . .” I’ll leave you to work out what colours belonged to who.

But red and yellow shorts and black and white socks were maybe just a tad OTT. Then again, everyone was equal on this day, except for the result. Sandy Jardine from the spot and captain Kenny Dalglish scored to give Glesca a 2-1 win.

32. Dundee United 1979 - 1983

HIT: For all its subsequent incarnations, various manufacturers and designers have hit upon the same problem when coming up with the latest Dundee United kit, namely, how can you improve on the perfect original.

United had gone orange (or tangerine if you prefer) in the late 60s, my own flirtation with the all-orange kit coming on Christmas morning 1973. Why? I ask myself that every December 25th.

But, in 1977 the introduction of black shorts just set the United kit off to a tee, and but for a hardly noticeable re-jigging of their badge two years later (from straight text to ‘DUFC’ appearing at an angle), this outfit accompanied United through the most successful period in the club’s history.

Back-to-back League Cup wins (against Dundee and Aberdeen respectively) put United on the map, and in 1983, no-one could deny United the title ‘best in the land’ when taking the Championship.

Ironically, all three pieces of silverware were clinched at Dens Park.

Think of this kit, and you immediately see the likes of Hegarty, Narey, Sturrock, and Milne strutting their stuff. Magic days, magical kit. 

31. Scotland (Away) 2014 - 2015

MISS: Scotland first played in the colours of the 5th Earl of Rosebery, one of the SFA’s earliest patrons and benefactors, in 1881, and again at various times up until the early part of the 20th century.

No-one could ever accuse the Scots of not standing out, bedecked in primrose yellow and rose pink, Rosebery’s racing colours.

Maybe Adidas thought they would be on to a racing certainty as well when they introduced this as Scotland’s change kit, primarily for the 2016 European Championship qualifiers.

If this kit was based on tradition, then what has become a tradition of non-qualification for major tournaments continued during this campaign.

We did finish our group games with a rousing win against the might of Gibraltar wearing this offering. As if that made it better.

However, as we saw with the ‘beach towel’ shirt of the late 90s, a winning team can get away with wearing just about anything.

Unfortunately, this was anything but a winning Scotland team, and like their attempted fashion statement, were panned.

30. Rangers 1990 -1992

MISS: This strip (as the picture suggests) wasn’t short of coverage given who was sporting it at that time.

That, and the fact that Rangers were continuing to win on the pitch, were really the only distinguishing features about this shirt.

What made it more memorable (and entirely the reason why it gets such a high rating against better looking kits) was that this was more a business and commercial venture for the Ibrox club.

Admiral had gone bust in 1982, and this was seen in some quarters as a partnership that could benefit all concerned. Except it didn’t.

The jersey itself was underwhelming in its design, and, by all accounts, felt slightly plastic and sticky, especially when you got a sweat on, something that could easily happen when it came to washing the aforementioned garment.

There was a tendency for them to turn purple (with some of the early originals), but it was nothing compared to the official shellsuits that went decidedly mauve after just a few machines washes.

After two years, Admiral’s deal with Rangers sank without trace, dumped before the ‘92 Scottish Cup final.

29. Ryder Cup 2014

HIT: As we saw the other day with Colin Montgomerie’s infamous ‘hot cross bun’ rendition, there are ways of tastefully utilising the Saltire in kit designs.

Other examples that didn’t make the final list included the colour scheme on the Ecurie Ecosse Vauxhall Cavalier run in the British Touring Car Championship during the early 90s, and don’t forget how Rangers neatly included the Saltire on their home kit in 2006, across the right shoulder. Imagine that.

However, flying the flag - especially the Saltire - hasn’t entirely been the domain of Scots, as Europe’s golfers showed during the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in 2014.

It was the first time Scotland had hosted the famous trans-Atlantic competition since 1973 when Muirfield was the venue, and Paul McGinley’s team were defending the trophy they’d retained so dramatically at Medinah.

Only one Scot made the European team, Stephen Gallacher. But the Europeans paid tribute to the home of golf by wearing the famous cross of St Andrew on the opening day.

An inspired choice, and an equally inspired performance.

28. Celtic (Away) 1989 - 1991

MISS: Celtic had utilised yellow in away kits several times, dating back to a third-choice outfit in 1970. Indeed, the season before this top was offered up, Celtic’s away kit had been green shorts with a yellow shirt, which had a ‘ghosted’ diamond pattern woven through it.

However, whether it was in an attempt to jazz things up a bit, or just a lack of ideas, this became Celtic’s away ensemble from the beginning of 1989, and it wouldn’t have helped any New Year hangovers.

Contrasting chevrons, arrows and vertical stripes, in no particular order, made this one look just a bit too busy.

Some thought it looked like a hi-viz vest, others a scout shirt with lots of badges draped across it. Funnily enough, around 2005, driving through London, someone walked off a building site wearing this very top.

So the quality and production values of this Umbro weave can’t be challenged!

The one saving grace for this top is that you remember it with a shake of the head, unlike the catastrophe that would supersede it, chronologically and in terms of ‘memorable’ status.

27. Scotland (Away) 1991- 1993

MISS: A  mention across the page of the Earl of Rosebury and his racing colours may have you wondering who was involved in the colour scheme that afflicted this Scotland change kit of the early 90s.

Screaming Lord Such perhaps, or maybe a colourist who only worked in the dark?

It is perhaps a blessing that this kit wasn’t allowed out in daylight too often during its time in the Umbro wardrobe.

The poor kids who represented Scotland at the Toulon Tournament in France in 1991 were subjected to wearing this in a match against their French counterparts. Some never fully recovered, although that also could have been something to do with coming up against a young Zinedine Zidane.

Some of the photographs you see of this kit, those wearing it look quite happy, with broad smiles. Maybe that’s just bemusement at being asked to wear it.

I always thought these coloured shapes had been knocked up on one of those spin art toys; there was no design, only a splurge of colour. I don’t know how many were sold, but few were kept for sentimental reasons.