Getting Shirty In Shrewsbury!
Posted on: Sun 03 Feb 2008
Saturday afternoon was a busy one in more ways than one for kit manager Michael Cain.
The afternoon began when the usually-reliable Cain realised he'd forgotten to pack both of Mark Stallard's white shirts which meant the experienced City striker, who went on to play over an hour as replacement for the injured Lenell John-Lewis, looked as though he was going to have to wear a shirt belonging to one of his team mates, unless a blank one could be found.
"Mark was okay about things but I didn't want to let him down so I decided to see if any of our fans could come to my rescue," revealed Cain.
"Fortuately one of them came up trumps and kindly handed me their shirt so my next challenge was to get Stalls' name and number on the back.
"Shrewsbury's kitman was very helpful in that respect, although as he didn't have enough black letters for the name it meant that he had to put some blue ones on instead!
"My thanks go to him and to our supporter and I'll make sure he gets a replacement shirt on Monday."
If the Stallard scenario wasn't enough, a cut above Lee Beevers' eye early on in the match saw him go on to wear no fewer than six different shirts during the game.
It was like the reading of the lottery results as 5 (twice), 6, 20, 29 and 18 all found their way on to Beevers' back and as a result, Cain found himself constantly flitting between dugout and dressing room.
"Fortunately the gaffer brought 20 players with him so there were plenty of spare shirts for Lee to wear," he added.
"All I seemed to be doing was putting the bloodied shirts in soak and by the time I got back to the dugout there was another one there waiting for me!
"The main thing though is that we won the match and full credit to the lads for that."
But what did the two players in question think about things?
"I'm just pleased I got home without having to change my tracksuit top on the coach," said Beevers, whilst Stallard added: "I don't know whose shirt I ended up with but it was a bit tight!"
It would be kind of cool to have a member of the team you followed to an away game wear your replica jersey on the field. I believe the fan got his jersey back autographed as well as other team related items.
