Emile Heskey: a unique white Aston Villa jersey worn for the first-half of a home Premier League fixture v West Ham United 18th April 2009, No.18, lon

Emile Heskey: a unique white Aston Villa jersey worn for the first-half of a home Premier League fixture v West Ham United 18th April 2009, No.18, long-sleeved, Premier League flashes but lacking 'Acorns' sponsor's logo to front, and player lettering to the reverse, the jersey has been signed by the Villa squad; sold with a signed certificate of authenticity from Aston Villa FC (2) The story of this jersey is that the referee deemed West Ham's blue & claret away jersey to be too similar to Aston Villa's claret & blue home strip. West Ham had no other kit available so the hosts were asked to change their strip. Villa's away jersey was the same blue body colour as West Ham so they were forced to wear a white shirt that had previously been reserved for use in the UEFA Cup and only worn the once in the match v CSKA Moscow (see the Curtis Davies shirt being offered elsewhere in the auction as lot 679). The jerseys had to be prepared by the club's commercial department and because of the lack of time, the first half Villa shirts had numbers but no players' names or sponsor's logo. Lettered, numbered and sponsored examples were produced in time for the restart. In this shirt Emile Heskey scored the Villa goal in his team's 1-1 draw against 'The Hammers.'