THE VITALS:

Team: England

Brand: Umbro

Era: 2012 (Used for the 2012 UEFA European Championships, and during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Campaign)

Name/Number: Parker #17

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

Although the colour of the 1 on the back of the shirt has faded in parts and there are signs of wear, bobbling and light staining; I would still consider this shirt to be in very good condition.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: 42

Pit to Pit Measurement: 20.5 inches

Shirt Length: 31.0 inches

Made by Umbro 'in their Tailored by Umbro, Made in England' range of shirts which they introduced in 2012 – the dimensions suggest that this shirt is best suited for a size extra-large; however, use your own discretion before deciding if it will be the right fit for you.

DESCRIPTION:

After 28 years in tandem with one another – Umbro and England would be parting ways at the end of 2012! Their final collaboration would be the home jersey used at the 2012 European Championships; in what the third and final in Umbro’s ‘Tailored in England’ range of shirts. Seldom do you ever see a canon of shirts follow each other so seamlessly, however, Umbro achieved that with their final three presentations of England’s home shirt! This final iteration would utilise a grandad style button collar, while red accents returned after blue was used previously and a brand new name and number set was also created for the home strip. Although England would bow out of Euro 2012 at the quarter-finals after an agonising penalty shoot-out defeat against Italy; ‘The Three Lions’ returned home to a grateful nation who were proud of the country's efforts after Roy Hodgson’s very late appointment as manager following Fabio Capello’s sudden resignation in February 2012. Euro 2012 would also go down as the last major competition that both Theo Walcott and Jermain Defoe featured in for the national side.

THE SEASON(S):

After a fantastic 2011 that saw England go unbeaten and waltz their way to Euro 2012; Fabio Capello would drop the bombshell that he would be resigning with immediate effect after the FA’s decision to strip John Terry of the England captaincy in early February 2012 to leave the FA with just six months to find his replacement to lead the guide the national side at Euro 2012!

Stuart Pearce would take on caretaker duties for England’s friendly against the Netherlands on 29^th February and he would oversee a dramatic 3-2 defeat at Wembley. Still without a manager – England would be drawn against: Sweden, France and Ukraine in Group D at the European Championships.

It wasn’t until 1^st May that they announced that Roy Hodgson would be the new England manager and his first night in the dugout came on 26^th May where his tenure got off to 1-0 win over Norway, before he masterminded a 1-0 win over Belgium on 2^nd June ahead of their curtain raiser at Euro 2012 against France on 11^th June.

Nearly eight years to the day of their classic meeting to kick off Euro 2004 – England and France would battle to a 1-1 draw with Manchester City team-mates Samir Nasri and Joleon Lescott scoring for their respective countries. One of the games of the tournament unfolded in Kyiv on 15^th June when England overcame Sweden 3-2 in a see-saw encounter. Qualification to the quarter final would be achieved after Ukraine were edged 1-0 on 19^th June to set up a meeting with Italy on 24^th June. After a goalless draw unfolded after 120 minutes – England would exit the tournament on penalties in Kyiv.

In view of the tumultuous preparations – the national team were greeted back home in very high spirits with enough being displayed to really inspire hope that the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 would be an even greater success! Those fires were further stoked on 15^th August when England and Italy met again in a friendly in Switzerland and England came from 1-0 down to win 2-1 ahead of qualification for the World Cup which would begin in September.

England got underway with a 5-0 win over Moldova, before held to a 1-1 draw at Wembley by Ukraine. 2012 would end with a win, draw and defeat; with San Marino being beaten 5-0, before a 1-1 draw unfolded against Poland in their final qualifier of 2012 and lastly, being beaten 4-2 in a friendly away against Sweden.

The notable players that season(s) were:

Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, Andy Carroll, Darren Bent, Stuart Downing, Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck, Ashley Young, Frank Lampard, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner, Steven Gerrard, Scott Parker, Jack Wilshere, Jordan Henderson, Gareth Barry, Joleon Lescott, Ashley Cole, Micah Richards, Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Rio Ferdinand, Chris Smalling, Phil Jagielka, John Terry, Kieran Gibbs, Glen Johnson, Joe Hart, Robert Green, Ben Foster