When I first heard about Darlington football shirts having the names of their fans printed on them I thought it was a fantastic idea, but a pipe dream that would never really come to fruition. Well, they certainly proved me wrong.

The red away shirt has some 900 names embroidered into the design and I think Darlington have every right to feel pleased with themselves. It's not only a fantastic design idea, it's actually a real belter of a shirt.

The dark red is perfectly suited to housing the black text of the names which run across in neat thin lines, disguising them from a distance.

However, it's not just the design that should be appreciated, it's the sentiment. In a world where football shirts are mass produced for global sales, it can be easily forgotten that they're supposed to represent the communities the team originates from.

I'd love to see some other sides take on the mantle of involving fans (maybe not so literally) in the design of their shirts, because they more than anyone really deserve it. It really irritates me when a kit manufacturer take it upon themselves to come up with one design and just replicate it across teams. This was the case last season with Real Madrid and Chelsea having identical shirt designs. Granted, Real have now changed theirs but it just shows a complete lack of thought for a teams unique image.

I can handle teams throwing money at players, and I can even cope with many of them charging a fiver for a decent pie, but I don't think it's at all fair when clubs let big name manufacturers dictate to them the design and image of their side.

I'll finish with a quote from Darlington which illustrates how things should be: "Rather than release something we were not entirely happy with we decided to delay the launch. Having seen the new kit we are delighted with the way it looks. I am sure that once Darlington fans see their football shirts they will agree it has been worth the wait."

I'm sure they will!