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Long-time Beesotted contributor and adidas addict, Luis Adriano, shares his thoughts on the new Brentford kits that have just been launched.

Fathers’ Day 2017 was a time to reflect on how grown up I’m finally feeling, now having a daughter older than Danis Salman was when he made his Bees debut. With all the terrible atrocities hitting our wonderful capital city recently, I spent the day considering the world she and her generation will live in. On going to sleep, I was proud of the young lady she is developing into and patted myself and her mother on the back for the maturity we have instilled into her.

On waking up this morning, my mid-forties were a distant memory replaced by my own youth as it was Brentford FC new kit release day. Responsibilities tossed aside for the day as I become a kid scratching at Christmas presents left under the tree.

Just as I used to hold the presents up to the light to see if I did have that new Evel Knievel motorcycle, I know I wasn’t the only one to play around with different filters of the dark teaser photos released to the internet on Friday.

Regular trips to the toilet at my office have become a usual occurrence for a single day in the last few Junes. An absolute obsession with the original adidas Bees kits of 1980/81 (written about on here a few times before) have meant I take a particularly keen interest while we maintain this current equipment supplier deal. 

As part of this adidas deal, our away kits do seem to be template kits so one can start looking for possibilities around the turn of the year rather than season when adidas release their new catalogues. The fact that we mix up the colour each year is ideal to keep even the most researched kit need guessing. From those teaser shots, it was possible to spot the green effort this year is a Tiro17. 

The good thing here is that Kitman Bob, ably abetted I’m told by our owner, has gone for a rare colour option that only seems to feature in foreign catalogues. Therefore purchasing it with the new club crest isn’t as scandalous if it was more readily available. Personally, I think Matthew Benham has once again shown excellent judgement and replicating a colour last used by the Bees at Craven Cottage in that kit glory year of 80/81, this will be a shirt kids of all ages (including mid-forties and beyond) will want in their collection.

The best thing for me about the adidas deal is that we do have bespoke home shirts so there is no telling what this will look like ahead of the reveal. When I was adjusting the images of Harlee and Jota in Photoshop, this new shirt did look promising. At first I thought it was very similar to our debut Championship effort of 14/15 but needed to see more detail. 

Having now seen it in all its glory, go place a bet on us making a Wembley appearance in it. It looks mostly like those worn by Terry Hurlock, Robbie Cooke and the 1985 Freight Rover Trophy Final side. The next closest team would be that which Nicky Forster took temporary control of in 2011 where we again visited the national stadium. Hopefully, this time round, we’ll be celebrating a win in it.

I made no secret of my love for the predominately white outfit from last season. A return to a more red base does seem to have pleased the traditionalists. If you’ve seen what Sunderland and Sheffield United will be wearing this year, it should be clear we have come out on top of the red and white stripe adidas kits Championship mini-league. Here’s to a season of making that happen in terms of actual points.

The kits being released the day after Fathers Day mean I missed one opportunity to receive them. Shame. I would prefer they were on sale for this. However, I’m now saving my pocket money so I can add them to my collection and escape from reality pretending I’m a kid whenever I put them on.

Luis Adriano