A Stuart Pearce The Leader T-shirt from around 1993. I actually had an original of this back in the day. I pretty much didn’t take it off for a two-year period, and that included running half marathons in it.
I’ve still got the photo of me looking not quite so fresh-faced, wearing The Leader as I crossed the finish line in the 1993 Robin Hood half. Betcha I could still duck under my one hour 45-minute timing for that particular race.
I have questions about this T-shirt. The first is that The Leader is obviously playing on the popular song title of a convicted paedophile. Oh dear. You couldn’t get away with that these days.
There’s also Stuart Pearce Promotions. It’s not an official Forrest product, but something that Psycho obviously went about doing himself. I don’t think image rights were a thing for professional footballers in the early nineties.
Then there’s that iconic picture: on my days, those thighs, that bulge in his shorts. Don’t focus on that bulge in his shorts, Jase.
I think it’s the celebration following the goal in the 1991 FA Cup Final. That had a happy ending, right?
The T-shirt itself is in surprisingly good nick for something that is over three decades old. I can’t see any visible sweat marks under the armpits.
I did have the thought that maybe it is my original that I sold around 10 years ago that has now come back to me, but the lack of sweating under the armpit suggests not.
Christ, he was such a hero of mine at the time, and remains so to this day.
