Of Basketball Superstars and Liverpool Away Kits

I woke up this morning earlier than usual but kept to my normal morning routine. At breakfast, I had my bowl of cereal in front of me, my 2 year-old son on my lap and my mobile within reach. I checked the top stories on the BBC News app and then scrolled almost all the way down to the bottom of the page half-hoping to see Chelsea trounce United in their Champions League encounter the night before. On seeing a picture of Wayne Rooney’s face firmly planted on the pitch in a very awkward position (what the hell was the man up to anyway?), I quickly came to the conclusion that it went United’s way on the night.

Bored, I kept on scrolling and managed to catch two names that wouldn’t normally be seen together sharing a headline: LeBron James and Liverpool. I scrolled back and as strange as it seemed, the headline didn’t lie, LeBron James becomes minority stakeholder in Liverpool.

Eh? What the...

Always one to be skeptical of the media, I went straight to Liverpool’s official site but there was nothing to confirm the Beeb’s report except for a piece of news in the Transfer Gossip section of the site (out of all places). It didn’t carry the usual, This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club disclaimer either so, it must be true then? Bah...but do I care?

Actually, no. OK, admittedly it is a bit strange but as long as it doesn’t have any negative impact on the club (and for the life of me, I can’t figure out how it could), LeBron James is just another shareholder.

So now, to the more important things in this world, Liverpool’s all-new 2011/2012 away kit. There have been two rumours that have been doing the rounds lately. Firstly, there was the rumour where the away kit would be a white kit with light blue (blue?!) highlights that resembles the Adidas stock template seen on the likes of various pub teams around the world, Olympique Marseilles and FC Dynamo Kyiv. If this ever got released, I suspect FSG would be thankful that away kits are changeable on an annual basis.

The other one looked more realistic and to be honest, I actually quite like. A yellow kit with red pinstripes down the front started popping up on eBay from Bolehland’s “Grade A” sellers (where else, eh?) and that was enough to get the rumour mill going.

Fortunately, the official store put an end to these two rumours by sneaking in a short description that can be seen in this screenshot here.

The new Liverpool FC Away Kit, the kit worn by the players on their domestic travels during the 2011/2012 season, will feature Solid Grey/Silver/Red colour way and we are confident it will become and instant fans favourite.

Solid Grey/Silver/Red. Not white. Definitely not blue and not yellow either. Oh, and to the muppets that never seem to get the idea of the black teaser jerseys, it’s not black either. I’ve always liked the grey away kits and hopefully, the one that’s going to be officially released tomorrow (that's next week for the rest of us who failed to pre-order) would follow in the tradition of all the previous gorgeous grey kits. Grey is good. So, that’s another couple of Euro out of my bank account and into the club’s coffers.

Over in Miami, I’m sure LeBron wouldn’t have any complaints.