My First Football Shirt: Graeme Le Saux

Ex-England and Chelsea left-back Graeme Le Saux has donned some banging shirts in his career.

The Blackburn Rovers title winning Asics big collared shirt, a whole host of Chelsea x Umbro classics and the timeless England shirt from France '98 kit but nothing came close to the feeling he got from wearing his Liverpool shirt when he was eight.

Artwork:  Season Annual for Your First Football Shirt

Speaking to us exclusively in Your First Football - an illustrated book of 30 interviews with footballers and famous fans about their first football shirts - Graeme Le Saux revealed his first and favourite football shirts and favourite football moment.

What was your first football shirt?

A Liverpool shirt when I was eight years old that I got for Christmas. It reminds me of that amazing team that dominated English and European football along with Nottingham Forest, who I also really liked then.

Also reminds me of being glued to the TV in our house in Jersey when they were on, then spending the next few days pretending I played for them, either in our small garden kicking ball against the wall (or occasionally the patio door!), in the park, or on the beach.

The player I pretended to be most of the time was Kenny Dalglish. He was my absolute hero. It was surreal when I ended up playing for him, but I never did tell him I used to pretend I was him in my back yard!

What is your favourite football shirt?

Most of the kits from the 1978 World Cup. Peru, Argentina and Brazil all stand out. I prefer the classics to many of the kits I used to have to wear! It was such an iconic tournament and the first World Cup I really remember watching. I was 10 and England hadn’t qualified, so I was just supporting anyone I fancied on the day and I remember being transfixed by their shirts. I really loved them at the time and now I appreciate them even more these days, as they really look like so much love and hard work went into them with hand-sewn emblems and embroidered badges.

When I first started playing, our shirts still had that look about them and I remember swapping shirts with a player when we played against Russia’s B team and it had an embroidered hammer and sickle on it. I remember being really happy with the swap!

What is your favourite football moment? 

There’s so many to mention, thankfully! Scoring against Brazil, winning the Premier League with Blackburn and beating Real Madrid in Super Cup are definitely up there. Also, playing in World Cup [in 1998]; getting there was tough and we played a phenomenal match against Italy in Rome to qualify. I feel very fortunate that I had so many highlights and so many moments and achievements in my career that I’m really proud of. I played nearly 500 games and only 10 minutes outside of the top flight. I played against and with the best players of my generation, which was such a privilege and I think my whole career is really one massive highlight

This is an extract from Your First Football Shirt.  An illustrated book of interviews with footballers and famous fans with 100% profit for CALM + Willow charities.  Grab yours here.