The Premier League is back and so are the stripes of black leather sneakers with white soles that run through technical areas across the country.
After managers prepared for the opening day of the season by donning their favorite footwear, casual viewers of late-night highlights were jolted awake on their couches by an alarming sight, and it wasn’t Erling Haaland who got off to a great start. with two goals in his league debut.
Instead, it was Bournemouth manager Scott Parker’s latest fashion statement as he oversaw a 2-0 win against Aston Villa. in a striking light gray suit with four white stripes on the sleeve along with an… interesting tie with a kite.
Usually one for a well-organized look, this was one of Parker’s most divisive efforts since his Fulham jacket days, especially with his Thom Browne-designed jacket retailing at £1,650.
Bournemouth manager Parker turned heads in his luxury jacket (Photo: Steve Bardens/Getty Images)
Perhaps it was a cry for help after Parker warned his team were missing “a lot of areas” ahead of his return to the top flight earlier in the week, but his impressive opening day result would suggest otherwise. Whatever the reason, we hope you’ll keep your receipt.
But what about what the other 19 Premier League managers look like? Let’s review the winners and losers of opening day fashion…
the suit squad
Good vintage fashion is no guarantee of success if last weekend’s results are any measure for the genius group of Leicester’s Brendan Rodgers, Aston Villa’s Steven Gerrard, Southampton’s Ralph Hasenhuttl and Crystal Palace’s Patrick Vieira.
Leicester were the best of this ill-fated group with a draw at home to Brentford, as Rodgers sported a classic dark blue suit with matching tie.
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers kept things simple in a dark blue suit, with a Burberry belt adding a touch of style (Photo: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
A little unoriginal perhaps, but harmless and less serious than Gerrard’s suit, which included a burgundy and blue club tie.
The suit-and-tie duo in club colors could now be the managerial equivalent of their club’s dependable stalwart who wears shirt tucked into shorts and socks pulled up to just below the knee (but not higher or lower). on reasonable sized shin guards. Even Sir Alex Ferguson, once again looking and casting the longest of shadows on a new manager at Old Trafford this weekend, had dismissed this gaze. Someone alert the LMA: this classic could be disappearing.
Aston Villa head coach Steven Gerrard: a proud wearer of the club’s colors (Photo: Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images)
If the club’s colors are old guard, then Vieira, in a navy blue affair and no tie, and Hasehuttl’s signature fashion waistcoat look to be the future. In fact, the Southampton manager may well have the Premier League’s best dressed award ahead of time. I wish his team looked half as good as him. Sigh.
The occasional contingent
A new era has arrived and there is nothing we can do to stop the casuals from encroaching on the footballing heritage of coaches who fall into the ‘suit’ or ‘tracksuit’ categories. This sports gang that wears t-shirts and polo shirts is here to stay if their four collective victories and one draw tell us anything.
First up is the hybrid duo of Graham Potter and Erik ten Hag, both at Old Trafford at the weekend. The Brighton manager wore a casual polo shirt under a blazer, while Ten Hag wore a T-shirt with some tasteful detailing in red and black. A fine effort from both of them, befitting their current position as managers making a splash in English football (or trying to make it, in the case of Ten Hag) and much more genial than the efforts of Frank Lampard and Steve Cooper, who, with a an unbuttoned gray polo shirt and a zipped up sweater, respectively, gave off serious “Dad trying to make an effort” vibes.
Everton manager Frank Lampard entered ‘dadcore’ territory (Photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
At the other end of the spectrum were Marco Silva, Mikel Arteta and Antonio Conte with a team quite similar to Lampard and Cooper, but much, much more handsome. Perhaps it’s the European style of Conte’s fitted blue polo shirt or the fact that Arteta’s long-sleeved black dress, coupled with his pristine hair and pensive gaze that clutches his chin, make him seem less world-weary than he is. the two men from Romford and Pontypridd.
Even in fine weather, Silva’s plain black jersey was the most casual of them all, but it is perhaps safer at his fourth English club to avoid branded clothing for fear of choosing an old Hull City jacket without realizing it. who has to lead. a team at Craven Cottage.
Marco Silva: Back in black (Photo: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
Two men unmistakably on their clubs’ brand complete the set in Leeds’s Jesse Marsch and Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, who fell into the “are they managers or could they be at the other end?” category. Marsch’s gray knit sweater was Stone Island-esque, while Guardiola wears clothing from the Italian brand regularly, as do most of the male contingent of any visiting crowd.
PEP 💬 Yes, it was an excellent performance. What we didn’t do against Liverpool in terms of competitiveness, we did today. #ManCity pic.twitter.com/6TwzWCht9A
— Manchester City (@ManCity) August 7, 2022
The tracksuit brigade
Ah, back to “proper soccer men.” Nothing catches the head coach’s eye more than a full club tracksuit these days and, let’s face it, you can’t go wrong with a head-to-toe effort worth a full £349.99 if you bought it all from the club shop.
The elite candidates for this, of course, are Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel, with Wolves boss Bruno Lage highly praised but still possessing too much hair to need a club-branded cap to complete the look.
Speaking of hats, let’s take one off casual king David Moyes, who, at 59, is now the Premier League’s oldest manager and was showing it off in his ill-fitting West Ham training shirt that looked to have been pulled from the ironing pile, and then thrown away with a minimum of thought. This is a man with no time or interest for anything other than a practical solution to his game day needs, and good for him.
West Ham manager David Moyes keeps it casual on club merchandise (Photo: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
Completing this group were Thomas Frank from Brentford, looking dapper in a nicely cut Brentford blue polo shirt, and Eddie Howe, all three buttons fastened on his Newcastle polo shirt as he stood with folded arms on the touchline at St James’s. ‘ Park. Some seven years after his first Premier League appearance as Bournemouth manager, the fact that Howe’s look on match day still carries the vibe of a “PE teacher all the girls had a crush on” is impressive. .
Fashion of the Weekend Winner: Ian Wright
He may not be a manager, but whether intentional or a sublime act of coincidence, Ian Wright effortlessly went on his way to respond to Alan Sugar’s Twitter nonsense this summer by donning a glorious pink long-sleeved T-shirt for his stint with Match. of the day Saturday.
Come Valery 😂@alanshearer with the great lyrics 😆#MOTD pic.twitter.com/kkuia1p9ic
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) August 7, 2022
Last month, she answered Sugar’s surprising question about the balance of male and female pundits working on coverage of the Women’s European Championships with a sizzling video.
This time the 113–goal The former Premier League striker’s shirt spoke after the former Tottenham owner took to Twitter to ponder whether Wright would have worn Arsenal’s pink away strip.
Wrighty is a national treasure.
(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Sam Richardson)
Source: theathletic.com