Almas Roma 2003/04 Home Shirt

A club founded in Celtic's image, dressed by Celtic's brand, in a template twinned with Celtic's: this shirt is a circle closing. Umbro gave Almas its 2000s gradient hoops, with a grandad collar, buttoned placket and the embroidered double diamond, and the result could walk out of Parkhead were it not for the 1944 panda on the chest and California Catering, a Roman banqueting firm, in discreet lettering below. On the back, the touch no big club can offer: a 15 cut from black vinyl and applied by hand, the battle number of some Lazio Eccellenza midfielder, with match marks to prove the service. It is match worn shirt from Rome's neighbourhood football, played at Sant'Anna, between the tombs of the via Latina and the training sessions of kids dreaming of being the next Pellegrini. Of all the pieces in the collection, this is the one that settles the argument: the green and white pattern is not collected, it is inherited, and eighty years ago there were Romans who chose to inherit it from Glasgow.