EXCLUSIVE
David Seaman may not have liked it, but almost 30 years later his 'Fruit Pastilles' England shirt has become iconic.
The legendary ex-England and Arsenal goalkeeper joined talkSPORT as part of Football Shirt Friday, with fans coming together to tackle bowel cancer in memory of former Three Lions captain and World-Cup winner Bobby Moore, who died of the disease 31 years ago.
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It's only right then that he was asked all about that Euro 96 goalkeeper kit.
"I hated it!" he told talkSPORT.com when quizzed on his first impressions of the kit he wore three times. "I really hated it, if I’m honest. I know it’s got the Three Lions on it, but it just wasn’t me.
"When I first saw it folded up on the place where I get changed, for England, by the way. Then I saw the shorts and they were even worse! They were like an actual tube of Refreshers."
The three-time English top flight champion continued: "I can’t remember who we played against, but the first time I wore it we’d lined up to do the national anthem.
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"This was in the days where we used to face each other doing the national anthem. A couple of their players were laughing at my kit! Honestly, the steam that was coming out my head…
"The press asked me afterwards ‘oh David, what did you think of the shirt?’ - I was like ‘s***!’ and they printed it!
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"But then it became a big seller - kids loved it."
Nowadays, Seaman doesn't quite hate the colourful kit as much as he did when he first pulled it on, but whilst it was an honour to wear any England shirt, he says this one holds mixed emotions.
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That's due to the Three Lions crashing out of Euro 96, with now-England manager Gareth Southgate missing the pivotal penalty against Germany in the semi-finals.
"It’s got good and bad memories," he said. "You know, it’s got the England badge on it and that’s the shirt we wore when we lost to Germany on penalties.
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"Where as the other one, the yellow one, is the one I wore against Spain when we won on penalties [in the quarter-finals].
"So, it’s got mixed memories for me."
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Have any shirts given it a run for its money?
"Well, you get these dayglow green tops, which I don’t mind but there’s none I don’t think that are worse than the 1996 one!
"Also, because I’d been at Arsenal for a long time, I had a little bit of an influence on what I’d want to wear, as in what colour.
"But obviously I didn’t have any influence on [the Pastille shirt].
"I said no to the dayglow and pinks. I like black, I’d always liked black. The black kit I wore for Arsenal was cool. I even had a black kit for England which was cool in the 2002 World Cup, my second World Cup.
"It looks alright, black kit, ponytail, tash - it was alright!"
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Your favourite shirt you wore as a player?
"My very first kit for Arsenal was really special. It was sponsored by JVC, it was Adidas, it had the old Arsenal badge on it. That was pretty iconic.
"I loved that, and then the England shirts, they’ve got the badge on them and that’s all that matters. It could be any colour - I know I like criticising that one but like I say, it’s got the badge on it and it means something.
"I just thought [the Arsenal one] looked good, we won the league in it. It was my first season at Arsenal and yeah it was just special."
Your favourite shirt as a fan?
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"I wore a light blue one for England that was quite nice. David James wore a light blue one.
"I like them plain - obviously!"
Which shirt were you wearing during your favourite moment in football?
"The one that I’ve got is my red, white and blue England top, so you know. It was blue shorts, dark blue socks. That would’ve been about ‘97 when Princess Diana passed away.
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"That’s because I was captain, the only time I was captain for England.
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"It was the first game after she passed away and that’s why it’s got some good and sad memories about it."
Friday April 26 marks this year's Football Shirt Friday. You can donate to the Bobby Moore Fund here to help tackle bowel cancer.