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65% successful

• White short-sleeved shirt. Deep white v-neck, with thin red and royal-blue stripe in middle. White cuffs, with thin red and royal-blue stripe in middle. Thick royal-blue panel across shoulders, either side of v-neck, with slightly thinner red panel directly underneath, across collarbone, either side of v-neck. Thin royal-blue line across breast, either side of base of v-neck. Emblem underneath thin blue line on left breast on a white embroidered patch. New-style embroidered red logo on right breast, underneath thin blue line, overlaid with 'Admiral' in royal-blue title case lettering at the bottom, all within a white border. Red numbers on back in updated Admiral font from 1978.
• Royal blue shorts, with white drawstring. White seams, with a thick red vertical stripe in the middle and a thin royal-blue vertical stripe on each side of the central red stripe. New-style embroidered red logo on left thigh, overlaid with 'Admiral' in royal-blue title case lettering at the bottom, all within a white border.
• White socks, with red and royal-blue stripe across tops (the same as for the 1974 white kit).

• The Admiral logos were removed from the shirts and shorts for the duration of the 1980 European Championship final tournament in Italy.
• A lighter, cellular material was used for the main body and sleeves of the shirts worn against Kuwait and Spain in 1982. The red, white and blue yoke across the shoulders and collarbone was polyester.
• A white logo with 'Admiral' in red was worn at the base of the first digit of the shirt number against Kuwait (apart from the number four, where it was positioned where the horizontal and vertical lines cross) and for every game in 1983 in which the shirt was worn, apart from the final game in Luxembourg.
• A white logo with 'Admiral' in red was worn on both of the digits of the shirt number against West Germany and Luxembourg at Wembley in 1982.
• Against West Germany at Wembley, the Admiral logo at the base of the number two on the back of Gary Mabbutt's shirt was positioned at the right-hand edge of the digit.
• Against Luxembourg at Wembley, the Admiral logo at the base of the number two on the back of Phil Neal's shirt was positioned at the left-hand edge of the digit.
• Only Paul Mariner wore an Admiral logo at the base of his number for the final game that this shirt was worn, in Luxembourg, after he changed his shirt following a blood-stained head injury sustained when he scored the second goal, his last for England.
• For the three games in which this kit was worn at the 1982 World Cup final tournament in Spain, England wore white numbers on the right thigh in a different font to that on the back of the shirt. Against Czechoslovakia and Kuwait, the Admiral logo was positioned above the number, whilst against Spain (below), it returned to its usual position, on the left thigh (apart from on goalkeeper, Peter Shilton's shorts).

• At the beginning of the 1981-82 season, against Norway, a new sock design was introduced. The red and blue stripe across the tops was replaced by a thick royal-blue hoop, overlaid with red Admiral logos, but without the 'Admiral' lettering.

• England reverted to the original sock design, without the Admiral logos, for the three games in which this kit was worn at the 1982 World Cup final tournament in Spain.
• The second sock design was then used for the last twelve games in which this kit was worn with white socks.

28 - Kenny Sansom

24 - Paul Mariner

23 - Phil Neal

• 29 players made their international debut in the shirt, including John Barnes, who went on to win 79 caps, and Terry Butcher, who won 77.

• Thirty players won their last cap in the shirt, including Dave Watson (his 65^th cap), Kevin Keegan (63^rd) and Emlyn Hughes (62^nd).

• Eleven players won all of their caps in this shirt, including Garry Birtles, Steve Foster and Derek Statham, who won three caps each.

9 - Paul Mariner

7 - Trevor Francis

6 - Tony Woodcock

• Nine players scored their first international goal in this shirt, including Bryan Robson, who went on to score 26.

• Fifteen players scored their last international goal in this shirt, including Kevin Keegan's 21^st.

• Six players scored all of their international goals in this shirt, with Luther Blissett's three, all coming in one match against Luxembourg, at Wembley, in 1982.

11 - Kevin Keegan

5 - Phil Thompson

4 - Mick Mills, Bryan Robson

3 - Ray Wilkins

2 - Dave Watson

1 - Trevor Cherry, Emlyn Hughes, Phil Neal

• Only three of the nine had not captained England before (Cherry, Neal and Wilkins).

• Four defenders wore this shirt when they captained England for the last time (Hughes, Mills, Thompson and Watson).

England celebrated the end of the barren spell that was the 1970s, by qualifying for the finals of the European Championship as the tournament expanded to eight teams.

In the six years that England had been wearing Admiral kit, they had experienced successive failures to win their qualifying groups in the European Championship and World Cup, but the arrival of Ron Greenwood as manager in 1977 had seen a new optimism and the run-up to Europa '80 in Italy was filled with a genuine belief that England were about to reclaim lost glories.

A new kit design was commissioned to commemorate the forthcoming event and was unveiled for the first time prior to the game against Spain in March, though England wore their 1974 kit for the last time in Barcelona.

Admiral came up with an even more flamboyant effort. Remember, this was the time when England stood behind the union flag, not yet the cross of St George. So, it was red, white and blue that comprised the outfit and England emerged looking like they were carrying the union flag on their shoulders. It was a shock for the traditionalists, who still yearned for the success of the sixties, when England were bedecked in plain white shirts and navy shorts. In later years, however, this second and last Admiral home shirt took on cult status and was much sought after by collectors.

The game chosen for its debut was a prestigious Wembley friendly against the world champions, Argentina, who numbered, in their ranks, a 19-year-old called Diego Maradona. The prodigy would have his day in the future at England's expense, but on this occasion, it was Kevin Keegan and company who stole the show. A convincing 3-1 victory made the world sit up and take notice. Who could stop England now in the little old European Championship? Italy, that's who. Before that, just four days after Argentina, Wales were to burst the England bubble with their biggest ever victory against their illustrious neighbours, who would argue that it was an experimental eleven that travelled to Wrexham.

England never really got going in Italy, in their modified kit, without the Admiral logos. Rioting fans and tear gas interrupting the opening game in Turin didn't help. Neither did some strange team selections against the host nation, three days later.

The Admiral Sportswear brand was sold to another company in 1980, but the Football Association continued to honour the contract that they had signed.

The following World Cup campaign was a rollercoaster ride of emotions, with England qualifying despite suffering three defeats on the road. When the time came, England hit the ground running and finally began to show their true potential, despite the loss of Keegan and Brooking through injury and a mysterious set of inconsistencies in the kits that were worn in Spain.

A new set of lighter shirts was sent out for the Kuwait game because the players had complained that the red polyester ones worn against France had been too heavy for the hot conditions. The suppliers took the opportunity to slip an additional Admiral logo onto the back of the shirts, though strangely, it had disappeared for the game against the hosts. This cannot have been a FIFA ruling as Austria and Northern Ireland wore manufacturers' logos within their numbers, and Belgium's kit contained an inordinate number of Admiral logos, seemingly without restriction. The following season provided more evidence of a lack of clarification as to exactly what the rules were regarding these additional logos:

• Denmark (European Championship) - it appears that they had planned to wear the logos, but were presumably told not to by UEFA, as the logos were coloured in with red felt pens, rendering them invisible.

• West Germany (Friendly) - the logos appeared in both digits (presumably acceptable for friendlies).

• Greece (European Championship) - England wore the red change kit without logos within the numbers (as per UEFA regulations?).

• Luxembourg (European Championship) - the logos appeared in both digits (had the rules changed?).

• Wales (British Championship) - the logos appeared only in the first digit (and this would be the same for every game for the rest of the year (except the last game in Luxembourg - see above).

England continued to wear the kit until the end of the contract, which coincided with their failure to qualify for the 1984 European Championship in France. Once more, England were in a trough and the FA looked to start afresh with a new kit manufacturer, one with a more stable future. It turned out to be an old friend...

The shirts displayed at the top of the page were worn by Kevin Keegan (number seven, first two photos from the left), Kenny Sansom (number three) and David Johnson (far right). Sansom's was worn after the 1982 World Cup and sports the additional Admiral logo at the base of the number. Our thanks to Simon Shakeshaft, curator of the National Football Shirt Collection at England Match Shirts, for supplying the Keegan and Sansom shirt photos from the Neville Evans Collection. Johnson's, without the Admiral logo, was worn against Belgium in the 1980 European Championship (thanks to Richard Clarke's 'Three Lions - England Match Worn Shirts' Facebook Collection).