On November 14th 1903 United played Ashton Town at Bank Street, a fixture arranged as part of the transfer to United of Ashton's Joe Schofield and Charlie Wright earlier in the month. Alec Bell's father had died recently and "out of respect the United turned out in new black and white jerseys".

Without any photographic evidence we asked Dave Moor at Historical Football Kits for his opinion on the most likely design of the shirts. He suggested a vertical striped shirt would be the most likely style. United's change kit at the time was a blue and white striped shirt.

United's Bobby Charlton attacks the Tottenham defence in front of almost 37,000 at White Hart Lane. Spurs won the game 3-2.

The FA Charity Shield had traditionally featured the League Champions against the FA Cup winners, but Tottenham's League and Cup double in 1960/61 meant this was impossible. As an alternative Tottenham faced an FA XI side that featured United's Bobby Charlton.

We have included this kit although it was not worn by United, as it has often been confused with United's third kit for 1961/62.

 

According to John White's 'Manchester United Miscellany' (published by Carlton Books in 2005) United wore an all green kit for the game against Drumcondra Select XI on August 4th.

The game was a testimonial for John Whelan, Liam's brother.

We have been unable to uncover photographs of United in this, and if you can help with a photograph, please contact us.

Alan Gowling scores one of his four goals in a game United won easily 5-1.

It appears from the photograph that United wore a variant of their third kit - all blue - for the visit of Southampton to Old Trafford in February 1977 - perhaps Southampton had travelled without their change kit?

Please contact us if you have any more information on this mystery kit.

A truly remarkable shirt. The photographs were sent to us by Dave Wright who was given the shirt by his aunt who worked for a company in Congleton that manufactured sports kits in the 1980's.

The label identifies the shirt as a "sample" but we do not know how far along the development process the design was. We have no evidence that the shirt was ever presented to United and rejected by the club. It may well have been rejected by the adidas management at an early stage.

If you have any information on this shirt, or any design samples, please contact us.

We have discovered several examples where a player's name has been mis-spelt on the back of his shirt.

Clockwise from the top left: David Beckham in the Charity Shield in August 1997; Olé Gunnar Solskjær's change shirt for the second half at Newcastle in November 2002; John O'Shea against Real Madrid at Old Trafford in April 2003; Tomasz Kuszczak in the League Cup tie at Crewe in October 2006.

All photographs submitted by Daniel Gellatley.

AIG Chief Executive Martin J Sullivan at Old Trafford in April 2006 together with Ji-Sung Park, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gary Neville.

During the press conference to announce United's record breaking sponsorship deal with AIG in April 2006, several United players were photographed in the 2005/06 home kit with the AIG sponsorship logo. The shirt was never worn in a match, competitive or otherwise, as Nike produced a new home kit for the 2006/07 season. Many thanks to contributor Dermott McCarthy for the information.

Launched to commemorate United's first European Cup triumph in 1968, this Nike replica shirt was never worn by United in a game. It could be purchased in a plain version or later with the 2009 UEFA Champions League sleeve patch and the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup Winners central chest badge (similar to the shirt worn in the Champions League semi final at Arsenal).

The basic design of the shirt was used by Nike for the 2008/09 third kit.

Many thanks to Tommy Nielsen for the photographs.

United's shirts featured the word "Believe" printed into the inside of the shirt under the club badge. This was the first time the club had such a feature on their shirts. The design was also included on the replica shirts.

Contributor Daryl Sivakumaran sent this photo of Chicharito's shirt worn in the Champions League game against Marseilles and showing the "Believe" wording on the inside of the shirt.

United's shirts featured the word "Relentless" printed into the inside of the shirt under the club badge following a trrend started in 2010-11.The design was also included on the replica shirts.

The photograph above shows the insides of the home and goalkeeper's third shirts.