Chelsea player Didier Drogba has been buying dozens of his own football shirts to increase the club shop's sales and persuade team-mates of his popularity with fans.

The 29-year-old, originally from the Ivory Coast, has reportedly spent thousands of pounds on replica shirts in a bid to try and convince his team-mates he is just as much of a crowd favourite as they are.

The £24 million striker, who was named Premier League top goal scorer for 2006-2007, has had less success in shirt sales compared to John Terry and Frank Lampard who reportedly taunt him about it on the training ground.

One Chelsea insider claimed Drogba visits the club shop up to 10 times a week and on one occasion walked out of the store with 40 shirts priced at approximately £45 each, setting him back £1,800.

The first-team regular could easily get shirts free of charge but the £70,000-a-week centre forward is paying like any other customer to improve his shirt sale statistics.

Everton officials have admitted they have been overwhelmed with the response to the recently released pink replica shirts .

1,000 of the specially commissioned shirts went on sale on Monday at various retail outlets, with a donation of each purchase being donated to the Breast Cancer Campaign. The limited edition shirts were an instant hit and the final few remaining were sold out on Tuesday morning. The pink shirts were part of Everton’s second annual Ladies Day in October 2007, which raised over £10,000 for breast cancer awareness. A small number of the shirts were commissioned to support the event along with a series of other special events throughout October.

The success of football clubs could be down to the colour of their shirt, according to new research. Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest - many of the successful football teams of the past 50 years have worn red kits, which is no coincidence according to the findings.

The research, involving academics from Durham University and the University of Plymouth, has been published in the Journal of Sports Sciences. It suggests that simply wearing a red shirt has given football teams an advantage, thanks to our deep-rooted biological response to the colour.

By Chris Simpson

One of the very best excuses that you will ever hear in the game of football came back in April '96 when Alex Ferguson blamed this Umbro kit for his sides dismal first half performance and duly sent them back for the second 45mins in a completely different rig-out!

At The Dell, the compact former home of Southampton F.C, Matt le Tissier inspired the Saints to a 3-0 lead against the mighty Red Devils because -it is claimed- the Man Utd players were unable to pick out their teammates as they merged in with the crowd.

Swapping to a blue & white affair during the interval did not achieve much as the match finished 3-1 but it instantly brought infamy to a shirt which had already sold in vast numbers.

Production, apparently, was brought to a halt a full 2yrs early but having already been 'a factor' in defeats to Arsenal and Liverpool it was never to be seen again.

The corresponding fixture the following season seen an improvement of sorts as United ran out in the same blue & white shirts they finished the previous game with and scored three goals. Unfortunately for them though this was not enough as another dazzling le Tissier performance led to Southampton winning 6-3!

The special retro kit to be worn by United for Sunday's Manchester derby has been unveiled.

The strip, which has been specially designed without kit manufacturer or sponsorship logos, is based on the kit worn by the Busby Babes in the 1950s - in recognition of this week's 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster. Manchester United held discussions with Nike about producing a one-off kit for the Manchester derby which takes place on 10th February 2008.

Just like the stars worn on the shirts of national team players to symbolise their status as FIFA World Cup winners, so the FIFA Club World Cup has its own emblem. AC Milan, victors at Japan 2007, will now be able to wear this symbol to commemorate their world-beating triumph.

At a ceremony at the Home of FIFA in Zurich, FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke officially presented a badge to AC Milan's CEO Adriano Galliani to honour their club's victory at the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup. This new badge will also be provided to the winning club of all future editions of the competition. Milan will wear the badge on their jerseys throughout 2008 until the new FIFA Club World champion is crowned in December this year.

Home shirt circa 1978/79

Manufacturer: Le Coq Sportif

Sponsor: Super Tele (French magazine)

It’s common knowledge that football shirts back in the day came a little tighter than those we’re used to in 2008. Indeed, St Etienne’s late ‘70’s polyester satin vintage is not so much a shirt to be worn as one to be painted on, a fit far more in keeping with those streamlined jerseys adorned throughout the Tour de France.

St Etienne however could claim a paralleled popularity with France’s no. 1 sport (the town is coincidentally renowned for the manufacturing of bicycles), especially so over the period that this shirt was in play.

With players like Santini (future France national coach), Rocheteau (‘l’ange vert’ – ‘the green angel’) and the newly-signed duo of Dutch master Johnny Rep and French legend Michel Platini all pouring themselves into these classic green & white liveries, the Loire town side boasted great domestic success – as well as progress to the quarter-finals of the ‘79/’80 UEFA Cup - before a downturn in fortunes in the 1980’s.