2020 The iconic Sportswear Brand Meyba relaunched with brand direction led by long time 6876 collaborator and friend Neal Heard. Working closely with Neal we have created two shirts including the legendary Barcelona Away 1982 shirt.
Barcelona 1984-87 : The Team was managed by Terry Venables & featured players of the Calibre of Bernd Schuster & Steve Archibald winning the league in 1984 but also infamous for the cursed European Cup Final in 1986 held in Sevilla.
On the 7th of May 1986 Steaua Bucharest of Romania defeated the overwhelming favourites Barcelona in a penalty shoot out after extra Time. Barcelona had all of their penalties saved by Steaua goalkeeper.
However more positively this era also produced the iconic (1982-1984) away shirt as developed originally and now relaunched by Meyba with 6876 branding.
“The number 14 had a special importance to Iconic FC Barcelona player & later Manager Johan Cruyff. The Dutchman shone wearing various shirts, and using numbers ranging from 1 to 11. At the Camp Nou, he wore the number 9, due to the regulations stating that the starting lineup should use the first eleven numbers. However, Cruyff had another favourite figure that he would use whenever possible.
When he became a coach, the number 14 was given extra importance. If a player was to be given his Barça debut off the bench, he would be handed the shirt. One such player was the club’s recent coach , Ernesto Valverde.
Others were Òscar Garcia, Miquel Àngel Nadal and Jordi Cruyff, debuting as substitutes in the Blaugrana shirt under a legend of world football.
It was the junior Cruyff who was the first player given the number 14 on a permanent basis, when LaLiga regulations changed to allow personalised numbers”
Neal Heard is Owner of Lover’s F.C fashion label. Author of the books :’Trainers’ – The first and seminal book on Trainer/Sneaker culture and design’ 2003 and ‘The Football Shirts Book – A Connoisseurs Guide’ 2017.
Neal is also Creative director of Newport County Football Cub.
Photography Daniel Jenkins / Purposeful Activity
