At the height of the age of Health and Safety, Adidas prepared Chelseas players for any unexpected occupational hazards with a kit made from reflective high-visibility material, and turned them into a group of lollipop ladies. Yet this shocking look was more influential than it first appeared, and fans who breathed sigh of relief once the season was finished were due to be disappointed. After a decade of reasonably sensible and attractive kits between 1997-2007, this kit marked a return to the garish. Teams as diverse as Wigan Athletic and Barcelona copied this style with similar hi-vis outfits, and other teams have since emulated the look with luminous colours of one sort or another. More recently colourful and highly decorative kits have returned as once again as clubs and kit makers battle to stand out from the crowd. For example Manchester Uniteds recent table-cloth pattern and Liverpools inexplicable attempts at modern-art design with their change kits. Just as we thought we were safe, Chelsea and Adidas have dragged us back to the artistic days of the nineties. They have a lot to answer for.
