The new hue, "electric yellow", was described by the club as "a new twist on the traditional shade". Visibility issues a worry for designers since Manchester United players complained of being unable to see each other in a grey strip have been so successfully circumnavigated that it seems likely that Chelsea could now practise at night without any need of floodlights.

The shirt immediately gained admirers at the headquarters of the T&G, the union that represents thousands of road maintenance workers. "They have adopted the road workers' fashion but not their pay," a spokesman said.

Staring at the promotional photographs of Didier Drogba, John Terry and Michael Ballack, who seem to emerge out of the black night as if running to mend a pothole, the spokesman added: "I think the serious point to make is that road workers are far more handsome than these three ugly blighters."

Nicola Copping, The Times's menswear columnist, thought the strip was in line with a summer trend towards neon. "The kit seems like something from the nu-rave scene," she said. She felt it could allow players and supporters to pass from stadiums to trendy London clubs without needing to change their shirts. "You could go to Boombox in Hoxton wearing that and not look out of place," she said.

While Chelsea have sought a relentlessly modern look for their away matches, elsewhere in the Barclays Premier League the mood is swinging towards vintage.

Tottenham Hotspur's new home strip, barely adorned and white is intended to represent "125 glorious years". Fulham's new away kit represents one glorious year: designers have reintroduced the red-and-black striped shirt in which they reached the 1975 FA Cup Final.

But it is Arsenal who have gone farthest in their attempts to write their history into their away kit. Printed in grey, in a horizontal band across a white shirt, is the story of Herbert Chapman, the club's manager between 1925 and 1934.

Defenders who get too close to Thierry Henry, should the forward stay at the club, will now be able to read of Chapman's achievements of how he pioneered the use of white footballs, redesigned Arsenal's logo and introduced an extra man at the back.