Obviously, a lot of thought goes into football kit design: it’s not just the colour that’s got to be decided, there’s the materials, the trim, the way the pieces fit together…it’s a work of art, and a piece of finely-tuned technology. Unfortunately, it seems that success on the field might not be due to any of these things, and could simply be down to whether there’s a collar on the top or not. This article over at EPL Talk suggests England’s chances of World Cup success might be diminished thanks to the current collar design – as seen on some unusual models in the pic above, but it does at least say that England “currently rock the finest football shirts on this here planet Earth”. Cheers!

This week it was confirmed that the National Football Museum would be moving from its current base at Preston’s Deepdale stadium to the Urbis building in the centre of Manchester. There’s plenty of argument going on around the announcement, from Prestonian angry at losing the Museum to Mancunians angry they’ll be getting it! (Or at least, losing Urbis as it is now). It’s interesting to note that the NFM was an inspiration to the current England shirt and the entire ‘Tailored By Umbro’ idea – as explained here.

Of course, we can’t ignore the other massive talking point of the week so far – the Henry handball. Was it deliberate? Should the game be replayed? Has his reputation been tarnished? There’s been a lot of over-the-top comments spouted over the past few days, perhaps understandably so, but one of the most reasoned dissections is over here at TwoHundredPercent.

Domestic football returns this weekend, and perhaps we’ll get something controversial to take our minds off Monsieur Va Va Voom? The two biggest games are Liverpool against Man City, and Man United against Everton – where Wayne Rooney returns to his old club. There’s been rumours this week that Everton’s latest teen sensation, Jack Rodwell, has caught Fergie’s attention, but the BBC’s Phil McNulty makes an eloquent argument for why Rodwell should stay at Goodison in his latest blog here.

Of course, with 2009 starting to draw towards a close, a lot of people are using the opportunity to look back over the last decade. Here at Umbro, we’re trying to find our most popular kit of the decade, and you can vote for your favourite season-by-season here. Also getting in on the act are the folks over at Who Ate All The Pies, who are trying to find the best players for each position from the last ten years. Head over here to vote – there’s some surprising names on their shortlists.