The thirst for live football has largely been slaked by Euro 2024 over the summer, and the opening of the domestic transfer window provides news and intrigue. There’s no polyester transfer window however, football shirts, training tops, jackets and more are changing hands 24/7, twelve months a year. As ever, our eyes have been fixed on auction sites online, seeking Hull City merch to bolster existing collections. Here’s the offerings from June (writes Mike Carter)

Starting, as always, with player specification shirts, this Bernard Mendy worn 2008/09 home shirt by Umbro sold for just £52. It took a couple of listings for this shirt to sell, after initially being added with a reserve price. At £52 we’re filled with non-buyers remorse here.

This Ahmed Elmohamady worn 2015/16 third shirt by Umbro was listed at auction with a start price of £119.99. It appears to be dual signed by Elmo on both numbers. The best offer option was used to secure this shirt for its new owner – fairly sharp after it was listed too. We’re told the offer which was accepted was in the region of £200!

Onto replica shirts that have gone under the virtual hammer… The next two shirts are a pair of replicas from the 1980s, the decade when bonafide replicas became a thing. The first is a 1986-88 home shirt by Admiral in size medium and sold for an offer, after initially being listed at £149.99. There is the odd fault with the shirt, but overall it appears to be in good condition.

The second 1980s replica was a home from the 1988/89 season by Matchwinner, also in size medium. £175 was paid by the new owner for this shirt. I’d almost consider this a steal, based on the condition of the shirt. There won’t be many about in this condition!

This lovely 1993/94 away shirt by Pelada in size XL was available in June. It sold for £93 after two bidders placed 19 bids over 5 days in a good old bidding war to compete for new ownership! This is the lowest value we’ve covered this style of shirt sell for with the last one to sell for around £130 in November 2023.

The next few shirts are what we would call desirable and affordable! First up in this bracket is a 2001/02 away shirt by Patrick in XL that sold for just £21. An absolute steal!

If you were in the market for a 2016/17 third shirt by Umbro, the ‘Cactus Purple’, you’d have done worse than to look at this one in size XL. It sold for £23, once again, the lowest price we’ve covered in Auction Action! Typically, 2014-23 Umbro third shirts have held their value, but they’ve evidently dropped in value as part of a broader crash in shirt sale prices.

This next one is strange: Firstly, it was listed as a ‘match prepared’ 2018/19 third shirt. It isn’t, as it has duelling competition patches, one from the Sky Bet Championship and the other from the FA Cup. Eight people decided to take a punt on it though, placing 19 bids on it. It sold for £23 at the end of the auction cycle. A very strange one indeed!

Now we move into the printed replica market, and first up is this 2012/13 third shirt (or 2011/12 away – if you prefer) printed with the name and squad number of James Chester in size small. It was listed at auction with a start price of £15, however the best option feature was exercised, meaning we are unable to confirm the final sale price.

The cynic in me says that the next three shirts were all purchased from the club shop in the end of season sale at £15, with player names and numbers applied at time of purchase with the intent on moving these on for more once the availability dwindled…

Anyway, regardless of that there was a 2023/24 home shirt printed with (Liam) Delap and #20, a 2023/24 away shirt printed with (Fabio) Carvalho and #45 then finally a 2023/24 third shirt printed with (Lewie) Coyle and #2. All three shirts were brand new, with shop retail tags still attached and listed at £59.99 with the best offer feature available.

In May, Hull City announced a partnership with Matchwinner, with officially licenced, limited edition merchandise based on original pieces from the 1990s released soon after. As with the Kappa retro stuff, some couldn’t resist the coin-eyed meffery opportunities to capitalise on the limited nature of these items and seek to flip them on popular auction sites.

We have seen a bit of this already with the first launch, which saw a retro version of the 1990-92 home shirt sell at retail for £40 and the 1992/93 track jacket available for £45.

Prices we’ve seen paid online for the 1990-92 repro shirt are £70 and £72 for size small, £92 for a medium and £95 and £100 paid for a pair in size XL.

The two Matchwinner jackets that we’ve seen sell sold for £68 for a size large and £56.51 for a size XL. There will be a second batch of these available in the near future, so don’t dive in out of FOMO unless you’re absolutely desperate.

That’s your lot for this month – caveat emptor – there are coin-eyed meffs about.