When I was 19, I played for a Sunday team that was run by a fat man who owned a sports shop. On the last day of one season, he asked the team what colours we would like for the next season. After much banter over a beer or two, we agreed on mauve and green stripes with red shorts and light blue socks. On the first day of the next season, we turned up ready to wear our trendy and smart yellow shirts and black shorts whereupon the fat man produced a bag full of, you've guessed it, mauve and green shirts, red shorts and light blue socks

We had a terrible season until we switched to our lucky all red away kit and started winning. Last year, students at Durham University told us that teams that play in red are more successful than teams in other colours - well, we could have saved the taxpayers' money and told them that.

The worst colours of all time are probably Coventry City's all chocolate, Norwich City's yellow with green blotches (known as the "Canary Pooh" kit) and, not to forget, Hull City's "tiger" shirt. Norwich City also have a great claim to fame in that their change strip of all dark green appeared in the club shop for 2 years, but was never actually used. Below, Mexico cover their options in case any colour is lucky.