A unique Aston Villa outfield No.1 claret & blue home jersey prepared for David James in season 1999-2000, team-signed to the front, and signed by Jam

A unique Aston Villa outfield No.1 claret & blue home jersey prepared for David James in season 1999-2000, team-signed to the front, and signed by James on the reverse 1, short-sleeved, Premier League flashes to sleeves, the reverse lettered JAMES; with a COA from Aston Villa FC (2) As a contingency at the start of each season, Aston Villa requested Reebok to produce an outfield home and away jersey for the goalkeepers in the squad for the possibility, albeit remote, that for tactical reasons one of the goalkeepers was instructed to play in the outfield. Interestingly in David James's case he was asked to do this in 2005 by Manchester City boss Stuart Pearce who in the match v Middlesbrough subbed midfielder Claudio Reyna for his reserve goalkeeper Nicky Weaver, and ordered James to play as a centre-forward, much to the astonishment of City's ?5m striker Jon Macken who Pearce had at his disposal on the bench. To add to the surreal nature of the day, the kit man could not produce a James No.1 outfield jersey, but did have one for Weaver, so James's sported a City outfield shirt reading WEAVER 1 Similar Villa shirts for Peter Schmeichel and Brad Friedel form the following two lots.