So Manchester United are out of Europe. With the help of his friends and family this Liverpool fan will get through this, but it does mean that we will all be denied the bizarre sight of The Red Devils initiating a sea of green and gold at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on 22nd May.

Putting the politics to one side for a moment (basically, American owners putting a club into huge debt= bad, olden days=good. I can relate), Old Trafford has had a very Carrow Road look about it for a while now and last night’s game took things to a new level. There were certainly more gold and green scarves than red, black and white and that classic bar style seems to be the default United supporter choice.

Even the celebrity fans carry the colours of proto-Devils Newton Heath. From dF favourite David Beckham to, er, one of the Sons of “Mumford and” fame, a stylishly hanging £5 number is all the rage. Plus, with an irony bypass almost tangible, most of the Salford faithful seem to ape the European tying style of the effortlessly cool Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini. The emphasis heavily on the “ape”.

Whilst all this creates an impressive image on matchdays, the truly passionate for the cause also go for NH over MU in other areas of their game attire. From Match of the Day’s crowd shots I can only assume classicfootballshirts.co.uk have made a killing on the mid-nineties retro change shirts. And Toffs must be doing pretty well on sales of the railway workers’ shirt’s replica model as well.

So this begs the question, will Nike chance their arm yet again and create another controversial Premiership away kit, this time a return for the green and gold next season? Would the Glazers block it or embrace it in some kind of “if you can’t beat ‘em, profit from ‘em” mentality that preys on the ignorant? This level of bravery even from either of these cocksure American collectives will surely prove to be a step too far but, if it was to happen, it would certainly raise a long overdue chuckle down the M62.

Not my words. Let me make that very clear. Above are the feelings of a visitor to FootballShirtCulture.com who shall remain nameless. But it does represent, if nothing else, the strong feelings that surround this brand.

Puma. The brand worn by greats such as Pelé, Eusébio, Johan Cruyff, Enzo Francescoli, Diego Maradona, Lothar Matthäus and Kenny Dalglish. But a great brand? Today? The jury is well and truly out.

During my formative years in the world of football (design), Puma was the company that went about their business quietly and assuredly. Puma King boots were the benchmark. When the Craig Johnston-designed adidas Predator was dived upon by every aspirational northern European creative midfielder wanting 30% more curl and 10% more power, much of South America looked on and scoffed. They didn’t need a boot that could make you do things you couldn’t do before, they could do everything. They just needed a boot that looked classy, felt comfortable and allowed their feet to work the magic. That boot was the Puma King.

Puma back then barely registered on the football kit design radar. The odd German or eastern European kit hardly set the world alight, but they progressed. Classy kits followed for the likes of Leeds and then Everton, amongst others, and along the way they sparked controversy with Cameroon sleeveless shirts and all-in-one kits. Overall, seemingly steady and consistent improvement in quality even led to the first pink shirt in Scottish football and a nice retro home kit for Partick Thistle, with a compromised logo.

So what to do for their next trick? I kid you not: “Scottish football’s first ever camouflage kit – also believed to be the first camouflage strip in world football which features pink.” You don’t say. Some things haven’t been done because everyone who thought of it before knew it would be awful. Respect your elders.

This was around the same time as the Feyenoord marketing disaster/masterstroke when pressure from fan groups led to the changing of already presented kits. Another reason why this kit was significant was that it showcased the new shoulder/chest V template. Before long this inexplicable feature was present on virtually every new Puma shirt released, occasionally hitting the spot with the likes of Bordeaux (who always carry a V design) but more often creating monstrosities such as the current Tottenham Hotspur white, blue and yellow-on-white number (what’s that rule about things not being done before…?).

So to this year. Are Puma hitting the spot or wide of the mark? A mix perhaps but that seems par for the course with Puma now. So much that they create puzzles whilst the odd exception excites.

One interesting but somewhat bizarre idea is the Africa Unity away kit. A noble cause, no doubt, but I’m not sure every African nation turning out in the same strip is altogether empowering for patriotic players. If that’s not your bag, Puma have given Italy a kit with a pair of boxing shorts, a drawing of C3PO’s torso on the front of the shirt and a collar that evokes images of Lisa Simpson’s head turned inside out but with added national flag overkill. If you think this may not befit the World Champions then also consider that they unveiled the Italy kits in front of a backdrop covered in African flags. Apparently they had some boards left over from the Unity kit launch.

In fairness to them, one shirt that actually works in a somewhat mid-naughties guilty pleasure way is the new Uruguay Home. But they’ll need a bit more than a striped underside to a collar to claim back their reputation. Next up is creating kits and apparel for Newcastle United that under no circumstances should feature a black cat. They won’t manage it. I look forward to receiving the first photographic evidence of any sock/sweatshirt/t-shirt/pair of shorts/tracksuit bottoms that carries the famous emblem in the standard colour. Template-by-numbers sportswear design leads to mistakes that wouldn’t get made if the designers genuinely cared about the teams they were designing for. If nothing else then a Sunderland fan under their employ will make it happen. But if they can put a white cat on a modern twist of a black and white stripes (perhaps taking inspiration from their African Nations Cup shirts) then maybe people will be won over. If the superb Spurs shirt doing the rounds is the real deal then maybe that points to Puma getting it right next season.

Or maybe not. Puma seem a little bit desperate just now and arranging football matches against adidas in the name of peace smacks a little bit of getting leg ups from little brother. The once great brand just doesn’t seem to cut it at the top table anymore. Remember the Puma King boots I talked about earlier? Well, even South America’s top talent has moved over to Nike and adidas and no wonder when, good cause notwithstanding, below is how the manufacturer thinks that once wonderful boot should now look. Good luck, Puma.

The new England away kit. Most notably, the change shirt that Capello’s men will carry on their backs along with the hopes of a nation when they land in South Africa to take on the world’s best. How will Umbro’s latest Three Lion-ed offering help the players to strive for that extra 10% that turns a team into winners? Will the mix of modern technology and unashamed nostalgia carry the squad to glory?

I couldn’t give a monkey’s.

You see, as someone who looks upon himself as a Frenchman (or, to be correct, a Marseillais) trapped inside an Englishman’s body, I don’t actually feel the tug of the heartstrings when, say, a stadium erupts in the sound of imploration to the heavens that an unelected head of state should be kept out of harm’s way. Nor do I feel the need to proudly cheer as the stadium announcer reels off the players’ names: “Ashley Cole!...John Terry!...and England’s captain, RIO FERDINAND!” For me, Euro 2008 was made all the more exciting by the fact that the general stigma of a doomed England campaign was absent. Whilst I may not cheer on the opposition against The FA’s finest, I certainly won’t be weeping any of the tears of despair or joy which will accompany their final act. As a child I prioritised the national teams fortunes over that of any club side. No longer.

However, this is not to say I don’t recognise Umbro’s release of the new away kit as a significant event. It ticks all the football shirt culture (snigger) boxes. England shirt? Check. Referencing bygone days of glory? Check. Pleasing me by playing a part in the enraging of several thousand Parisiens at a Kasabian gig? Check.

Who are we kidding: Is it a red England away shirt? Check!

The England kit releases are always huge. It’s the EastEnders of the football kit world, only with everybody really talking about it. Fakes, leaks, gossip, robberies. For a couple of months FSC even beats The Mail online’s sleb news pages 2:1 in hits! (I may have to recheck this though)

Last year’s home kit launch, for instance, was massive. Umbro’s design expertise and marketing inventiveness a joy to behold as the Tailored By concept was unveiled to critical acclaim. But, whilst all white was the order of the day back then, there’s something about the red away that will always stir emotions that no other England kit quite can.  We all love a replica sky blue aertex from 1970 or a Gazza-ed Italia ‘90 model but it just doesn’t give the same impact that the red can deliver. Why? 1966.

‘66 was a great year for English football as, aside from Eric Cantona being born (in Marseille!), England won the World Cup (ish) at Wembley and wore what has, rightly, gone down in history as one of the most iconic shirts of all time. Even to the extent that both this and a recent feature in my all time favourites. Will this latest instalment appear on anyone’s list? The upcoming reviews on DesignFootball.com (due as soon we receive our review shirts. Hint, hint) may give an indication.

Regardless, tributes have come and gone and this one will eventually go the same way, most likely to be replaced with another colour next time up. But whatever the innovation, whatever the tweaks, whatever other “high watermarks” through history New Umbro will throw into the mix, 1966 will always shine through.

Now, I used to be slim. I had a good-ish body, even if my chest was somewhat underdeveloped and my backside, well, slightly overdeveloped by pies and sitting around. But I could carry it off because I'm reasonably tall. I could wear a Small from most shops and football shirts in that size were no problem.

I'm not slim anymore. My old football shirts can just about be shoehorned over my chest breasts but there's a whole load of highly unattractive bulging and stretching that appears around my midriff. The backside that was large is now even larger and forms a shapeless trinity with my inflated hips and legs. Where once I could squeeze into size S shorts that left little to the imagination, now I'm clinging on to M with dear life.

I'm overweight. By a stone and a half at the last check. I'm approaching thirty. These things happen. But why oh why did adidas choose now to start producing their shirts in Techfit?!

You see, a long, long time ago there was a sportswear company called Kappa. They came up with the Kombat range. Tight shirts that hugged the body and accentuated all those lovely contours. They wouldn't have looked great on me but I ran the London Marathon two years ago so back then I could have carried them off.

The thing is, they didn't supply any teams I liked. Sure, I could have gone and got a Gremio or Roma shirt but trying that hard has never been me (and it'd've felt like I was cheating on Santos and Milan!). But what if adidas had shirts like that? They made Liverpool, Marseille, Milan, France, Spain... The list goes on and on.

So here we are. Techfit shirts for Argentina, South Africa, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Russia, France, Spain... and the club sides are bound to follow. Gone are the days where you could distinguish an international player from his solely domestic counterpart by the size of his gut. Finely tuned athletes in each of Europe's top divisions will soon have their physiques more clearly on show than ever before.

But why do I care? Fat b$%tards like me can just get the Formotion equivalents. When the shirts popped up on FootballShirtCulture most commented that they intended to do exactly that. "What are those rubber strips around the shoulder?!" we all cried, "I'll save myself some money and get the Formotion ones instead."

Yep, good for us. Thrifty and sartorial in the same breath. And then we watched France beat Republic of Ireland in Dublin.

So a France shirt that had sullied the memory of winning teams from 1984 and 1998 by *gasp* breaking and redirecting the torso stripes suddenly made sense. This reimagining of a classic iconic design not only CPR'd fresh life into it but now also became an extension, animation and highlighter of the impressive bodies that it encased. So it's obvious what Lassana Diarra said to Keith Andrews: "You'll never make it to a World Cup until your abs are coloured white, white, white and red"

Anyway, enough of this. I can feel my a*&e expanding more and more as I type. I'm off to the gym.

Nike have a got a cheek.  Love them or loath them (it's the former for me since they brought back the Bumblebee) they do exactly as they please.

A couple of seasons ago, to great uproar, they released a white Arsenal shirt.  Not the first white Arsenal shirt by any means but a shirt that, if you squinted and, er, looked at it from 200 metres away, would be entirely indistinguishable from a shirt of The Gunners' North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.  Reaction was huge, publicity was even more huge, sales, well, let's have a think...

Next season, Arsenal will wear white away from home (or "3rd") again.  But this time the full kit won't be a white and redcurrant pseudo-reversal of their home colours.  No, this time the shirt has only hints of colouring and the shorts will be slate grey (I won't indulge whatever Nike have called it).  Slate grey... time to get squinting again.  Surely that'll look a little bit too much like a dark blue?  Like Tottenham Hotspur wear.  Y'know, like Arsenal are wearing their biggest rivals' whole kit in away matches.

For the record, the shirt's classy, it does have redcurrant pinstripes, it has a good cut and a proper collar.  The team has actually worn the full kit too and it doesn't necessarily make you think of Spurs right away.  But isn't there a principle here?

The fact is, teams and manufacturers alike need to rotate kit designs and that involves using new colours each season for the change strips.  They make kits to sell and if the white has returned then it means that last time it sold well.  Did it and does it please the diehard guys in the flatcaps whose visible affiliation comes in the form of a 25-year-old bar scarf and a pin badge?  No, but their controlled-price season ticket (if they still renew it) is not a prime example of how Arsenal pay back banks or pay Arshavin's wages.

And so, yes, next season Arsenal will wear red shirts without white sleeves, all blue or white and grey.  Because new kits sell.  Last summer the "Anfield kit" would have been popular with almost all but kits change and their statistics must tell them, Nikesenal that is, that the change should be significant.

And they're not the only team.  Manchester United have been wearing blue again recently and next season their away shirt will carry a blue chevron, so maybe the approach is aimed at distant markets.  A conversation in a pub in Bangkok is best for Manchester United if two gentleman expressing love for the Manchester teams that wear red and blue respectively are in fact talking about the same club.  Same for the three men in Tokyo who like the London teams that wear red, white and blue.  Turn that plural into the right singular and Arsenal are laughing.

But there's surely a limit.  Would Rangers accept a green and white hooped third shirt from their supplier, Nike-owned Umbro?  Could traditionalists in the East End stomach a blue Celtic shirt?  Even, say, to promote the Nil by Mouth campaign?  I doubt it.  But would I buy the latter?  In a heartbeat.

Sting like a bee.  A nice summing up of a style of marketing and particularly appropriate today as we see the worst kept secret in football design finally made official:  Celtic's "bumblebee" away kit has returned.

The strip was originally an Umbro design from 1996-98 and split opinion.  Some said it was ugly (they were right) and some said it was inspired (they were right too).  As gaudy 90s kits go, it was up there with the best of them.  Luminous and cluttered, the beauty was in the basic idea of having a hooped away shirt that hinted at green and had an acceptable alternative to white.  The finished product bore a passing resemblance to a common flying insect and the Parkhead faithful had something to wear that was a departure from the usual uniformity.

Ever since, and building momentum, the Celtic fans have hoped for and requested some kind of a return to the Bumblebee.  There has even been a petition!  As Umbro had designed the kit, once Nike took over hope seemed to be fading but soon Umbro were to become a wing of the American giant and doors reopened.  The mock-ups have been doing the rounds for a few months but the finished article has arrived and few are disappointed.

The marketing machine has been working overtime on this and why not.  The international third strip has been met with a lukewarm reception (I don't care what anyone says, kilt shorts are neato!) and this was always going to be the club and Nike's trump card.  Were we supposed to see the guy in the bar in Madrid?  How did we know for months before release that the bee was back?  Did the genius of wheeling out the old Paul McStay quote, "There's a buzz about the place." and releasing Bumblebee-themed training wear catch us unawares?  We may have been manipulated to within an inch of our lives but it was a rollercoaster ride with a sublime climax.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Nike have got it right because they listened to the fans.  More than most, Celtic hold meetings with supporters groups where a multitude of matters are discussed, including the playing wear for coming seasons.  The Bumblebee has no doubt cropped for years and the powers that be have now declared the time is right.  The reprise is simple, plain even, with the full effect of the hoops in all their retina scarring splendour.  A nice cut, the sponsorless long-sleeved version almost elegant, and a representation of an ideal.  We can ask for little more from a football kit.

But Celtic aren't alone.  Blasts from the past are cropping up everywhere.  Last season's Liverpool away, for example.  Not universally greeted originally in the late 1980s but it certainly stirred the emotions when revisited a year ago.  Next season, Celtic's rivals Rangers will be wearing a shirt that reflects an old 80s checkerboard pattern.  Guess what, the fans love it. 

Everton fans hated their Le Coq Sportif "v-neck" design twenty five years ago but its return has been met with both healthy debate and not insignificant support.  If nothing else, the many new retrospective and retrogressive designs have got fans excited about the new kit releases again.  While some have gone for the classic and timeless, such as the Manchester City and England approach, there seems to be a fashion for the obscure and cult.  It's a surefire way to create McStay's beloved "buzz".